holmedown

When I got my Plat I didn't get 100% bonus miles on my last leg (6,500 miles) just the gold bonus (was already gold)

JDiver

Hmm. I think that might have been an error on AA's part - AA usually assigns the miles due for the status earned whilst on the flight AFAIK.

Flyer4life

As long as you sign up before the date of the flight, you are fine. If you call tomorrow, you can still sign up to begin the challenge as of Mar. 16, however, if you had taken a flight on Mar. 16, it would not count towards the challenge. The key, though, is to have signed up before you leave on the trip. When you call, they will give you the choice of Mar. 16 and April 1, at least that's what happened to me.

ijgordon

Did you even read what you wrote?
Nothing like a little self-contradiction. You implied that bonus miles count toward elite upgrades, since in your earlier post you made the above statement. Even if that is not what you meant, I made the correction that she would not have her 4 upgrades after the first round trip as you stated. Unless of course she connects from somewhere further west than DFW, but no mention is made of any connecting flights.

Truly

Hello all,

For those interested, I am indeed flying from JFK.

Anyway - I decided to sign up for the challenge yesterday. The CSR told me that it is not possible to register for both challenges at once. He did say I could sign up for the Gold challenge and then sign up for the Platinum challenge once I completed Gold, but I thought that was too risky and decided to just skip to Platinum.

Honestly I just didn't feel like taking the time to call back and try for a less strict CSR ... I'm sure I will regret this at some point when I realize how many miles I gave up, but oh well.

Thanks again for all your help everyone. I am really looking forward to having some status! (especially after flying Continental about 20 times last year and not getting anything, it's amazing to me that I'm going to get AA Plat. after only one RT!)

- Truly

richarddd

Congratulations.

For what it's worth, the GLD challenge would be worth 25% of 3635 miles (JFK-CDG) or about 900 miles. Not really worth a tremendous fuss. As mentioned in earlier posts, you should get the PLT bonus of 100% of 3635 for the return leg on which you make PLT.

AAND

Well, originally we didn't even discuss how many miles... it was more of a rough estimate of about 5,000 miles from the U.S. to Paris (OK, this is high for JFK, but she didn't say until recently). In any case, she would have been much closer to the upgrades by signing up for both. This is a silly thing to argue about IMO... the tone of your post was unnecessary though.

AAND

Just FYI, I think the standard procedure is to call and sign up for one, then call again until you get somebody willing to sign you up for the other. Some people have gotten both at once, but I think that's more rare. So, point being, if you decide you still want to do GLD too, just call back and ask for it. They won't cancel your PLT challenge.

Truly

Hello all,

It's official, I am now Platinum! Thank you everyone for all your help. I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself.

For those of you who track such things, here is what hit my account:

03/25/05 PLT CHALLENGE BONUS-REG MEMBER 0 3,635 3,635
03/25/05 AMERICAN AIRLINES 121 C CDG JFK 3,635 909 4,544
03/19/05 AMERICAN AIRLINES 120 C JFK CDG 3,635 909 4,544

I believe the 909 miles are the 25% business class bonus, and obviously I got the 100% bonus on completing the plat. challenge. I didn't do the Gold challenge.

I also have a question for the experts. I need to go to CDG again and I'd really prefer to fly out of EWR, which would mean Delta or Continental. I have no status with them but I'd be flying bus. class, so I would get the bus class checkin, priority security line, and use of lounge. In other words the only benefit I can think of for going AA again is that I'd earn some of those upgrade stickers. The downside is I'd have to fly out of JFK and I live 15mn from EWR. Am I forgetting anything? Are those upgrade stickers worth schlepping across Manhattan for?

- Truly

tom911

Have you looked at EWR-BOS-CDG on AA, or even EWR-ORD-CDG? The mileage bonuses as a Platinum would make it worthwhile for me.

Gardyloo

It's still semi-early in the year, but if you're going to be doing a lot of transatlantic and/or premium-class flying you probably ought to consider getting AA EQPs whenever possible so that you can extend your Platinum status (or even achieve EXP) past next February. So I would look on the schlep to Queens as an investment.

Flyer23

You only get the 100% bonus miles on the qualifying leg if you qualify for PLT via a challenge. If you qualify for it via BIS miles, you just get the GLD bonus. Same for qualifying for GLD -- GLD bonus miles for the last leg when qualifying via challenge, no bonus miles for the last leg when qualifying via BIS miles.

Truly

I have to fly out on a Sunday night and go straight to work Monday morning so the idea of adding a leg is just too painful to contemplate, no matter what the bonuses!

- Truly

Truly

Very good point! I don't actually expect to do much more transatlantic/premium-class travel this year... so far only two more trips are planned - this one and a trip to Rome (in Coach) in May. So I doubt I'll requalify unless things change significantly at work. I suppose it can't hurt to focus on one airline though just in case. And, I will get the benefit of the FF mileage bonuses every time I fly AA. Even if it does mean I have to sit in traffic....

- Truly

tazi

Make sure they gave you the 3635 miles towards upgrades. They screwed up on my recent challenge and I had to call them to have it added.