ijgordon

Well, come back to us in March, and let us know if your upgrade % changed noticeably from before this offer to after this offer. It'll be easy for me to track -- I'm running 100% over the last 12 months, so if I all of a sudden end up sitting in coach, I'll know who to blame.

ijgordon

Yes, of course, you can have all the eVIPs you want.

Yaatri

Timing sucks for me too. I signed up for the PLATINUM challenge and met it with one trip in Buisness Class to Australia. I am a NW Platinum and was first complimented to Gold and then Platinum before I took the flight. The other problem I have is that my ticket is purchased by our prime down under, to whom we are subs. I couldn't use the travel card to purhcase my tickets. I am probably looking at 4 Business trips down under every year.

inlanikai

I used to do JFK-SIN on CX but I hate the long night flight (CX889) with the stop in YVR which ends up taking longer than JFK-NRT-SIN on AA/JL. And the afternoon CX n/s to HKG doesn't get into HKG in time to connect with the flights to SIN.

My loyatly is being rewarded just fine. I just thought EXP was something you earned for how often you flew with AA after the fact, not before. And, shortcuts to EXP, like Challenges and comps, were never applied to EXP. Just concerned that the door is now cracked open and longer term this could devalue EXP status.

sithlord

In regard to current exp's getting 8 more evip's I don't see why not as aa is looking for money up front anyway possible. I don't see why a refundable ticket could not be turned into a voucher.

FWAAA

Answered in Post #126.

From the rules:

Refunds go to the account only. Not to a voucher.

JonNYC

Yaatri

If you are already an EXP? what would you be buying? AA is seling EXP status for $10K. The eVIPs come with EXP. There is no offer of selling eVIPs alone. In my opinion, EXP will get nothing for $10K as you can't buy what (EXP) you already have, EXP.

PDX-PLT

I know people who've been comp'd EXP based on future business. It seems that this offer just formalizes what they've occasionally done in the past.

JonNYC

I don't agree with that characterization in any way, shape or from.
It's simply not accurate.

GUWonder

I welcome this option (even if I won't personally use it myself, at least not this year). I'm curious on how this works for those who will certainly spend at least $10,000 in the next few months on AA travel but are required to put their individual travel on the company credit card and to have things itemized far more than some other businesses/clients require.

Since this works for "AA" coded flights (i.e., operated by one of AA's codeshare partner airlines), this may be usefully applied to a few more people. Nice.

Hoc

I actually would consider taking advantage of this if it weren't for the Feb. 2007 limitation on when you must fly. There is no way that I am likely to buy another $10k worth of tickets (beyond those I already have) for flights to be taken by next February. If that limitation weren't there, I could buy tickets through February to be used up to a year from then, and I easily fly more than $10k worth in a year.

Problem is, most of my tickets through Feb. of next year are already purchased via nonrefundable tickets, so I couldn't spend enough on the card to justify it. I think that AA is banking on using this to attract those who buy tickets last minute, at full fares, and just want the upgrades and lounge privileges.

Awal

Just a thought but I believe the nonrefundable tickets can be canceled and you will still have one year to use the funds for future flights. Then you can rebook with the prepaid card. Maybe someone with more experience can comment.

workandski

If they would make the status and the funds good for a slightly longer period I would grab this. I easily spend $10,000 a year on travel but will probably never make EXP or earn an evip in the normal course. Except for one foreign vacation a year, most of my trips are short notice, high fare, domestic flights where someone else reimburses me for the fare and I use stickers to upgrade if I can. One example: I flew LAX to Des Moines last Sunday and returned on Monday. The coach fare was around $1300. I easily do a dozen trips like that in a year. I would probably squeeze in another international vacation (or two) if I had some evips to get started with and I MIGHT be able to earn EXP the honest way if I did that. The timing on this offer is bad because I am not going to be able to travel for ten weeks this fall.

ijgordon

Wouldn't work for me (assuming I didn't already have EXP). Not only do I have to use the corporate Amex, but I have to book through the corporate Travel Agent, because we get negotiated fares, which obviously wouldn't be available booking directly through AA.