purpleskiesfly

saw that after post. going to get coffee before I respond to anything else.

brp

"500-mile systemwide upgrades" is a mix of terms leading to the confusion (especially before coffee). These are two different beasts.

Cheers.

Hagbard Viking

I assume you are talking about 500-mile "sticker" upgrades, not SWUs. If so, if you are already GLD your "miles toward upgrades" counter will keep ticking as you fly. Whether you have signed up for a PLT challenge or not is irrelevant.

oklAAhoma

Completing the PLT challenge and earning 500-mile upgrade stickers (which has others have noted are NOT systemwide upgrades) are separate events. The PLT challenge will be completed upon earning 10K points. Stickers are given to elites every 10K miles.

In the course of completing a PLT challenge, a GLD will earn stickers when/if the Miles Towards Elite Upgrades counter rolls over the (next) 10K mile mark.

ETA:
Well, fiddlesticks. I see Hagbard Viking responded quicker and more clearly than I. Back to the drawing board...

GITU

Thanks for clarifying. Good to know!

wrxmom

Sorry my error - yep I was talking stickers Thanks They should be dropping into my account by tomorrow.

Cloudlake

I'm looking at doing an LONE3 (or maybe DONE3) and would like to maximise the miles that I earn doing it (I'm not as bothered about status, I want to get award flights).

From what I understand from the things I've read here about The Platinum Challenge I need to get 10,000 EQP so if I start my RTW as follows will this count? I can't find anything saying there's a minimum number of segments.

LON-LAX-DFW on a DONE3 (6699 miles, in D, 1.5 EQP / mile) = 10048

LON-LAX-DFW-SJO-DFW on a LONE3 (10250 miles, in L, 1 EQP / mile) = 10250

And, from what I glean from the flyerguide wiki about this, if I complete the platinum challenge on the last leg of either of those routings then I will earn the 100% bonus miles on that flight itself. Is that right?

Once I've completed the challenge how long will it take to get the benefits? Obviously lounge access would be nice but I'm more concerned about getting the 100% bonus miles. If I had a TPAC flight the next day would I still get my bonus? (Or if it wasn't done automatically I'd still be able to claim it manually I assume?)

The reason I'm asking this is because it doesn't seem like a lot of flying to get platinum status! But maybe the following is my Achilles' Heel... I currently have no elite status with any FFP so is that going to mean AAdvantage won't let "get on the challenge"?

Many thanks for your help.

bdemaria

Yes

It takes a few days (usually about 3) for flights to post, however once you are PLT, you get all the bonuses, so any flights taken after the date of the qualifying flight (not the posting date of it) will earn the bonus. Worse case scenario: what you suggested - you'll have to call AA and ask for the bonus to be applied

No, AA doesn't require status on another airline to sign you up for a challenge. They do charge a fee now for challenges.

zan5hin

I am like you, evaluating which xONEx to purchase with the aim of getting award flights.

Essentially, it is very difficult to earn AA miles with a LONEx when flying on partner airlines.

For example, a LONE3 ex-AKL which costs AU$3500 will give me about 40k on my preferred routing including status bonus when maximising by flying JAL, QF, RJ and AY (and AA of course). If I fly a less optimal route but for the miles, I could get 55k. At the same time, it is a headache trying to avoid CX, BA, MA and IB at all costs. e.g the only flights from Europe to Asia earning 1 actual mile per mile flown is the AY flights HEL-wherever. Limiting yourself to JL and QF in Asia, is also, well, limiting

On the other hand, I can get a DONE3 ex-ICN which costs AU$6300 and will give me about 87k AA miles from flying 41k miles. Now doing this I can fly CX more which is always a good thing.

If I had to put a AU dollar value on the extra miles I'd say it's worth at least AU$1000, making the price difference between a LONE and a DONE leaning much more to the DONE side of the equation.

I currently have 42k miles, with a DONE3 xONEx I would end up with enough miles for an OW130C award.

Feel free to PM me to discuss further.

wandering_fred

LONEx are fine for mileage accrual - just be prepared to apply judiciously the ability to upgrade to a premium economy seat. While it doesn't solve the issue of status bonuses on BA - it goes a long way on Qmileage and Qpoint accrual. The only solution for mileage accrual on IB, CX and RJ flights is to have a second FF account with someone other than AA.

Given the limited opportunity for posting to the 2nd account I'll probably stay with QF from inertia. Though CX does have some pluses from my point of view.

YMMV

Fred

pvcnco

Ok, I did a Plat Challenge for my wife last Aug. No problem.
Called a week and half ago to help a friend do a Plat challenge.
Was advised by AA Cust Service that there is a $80 fee for gold, and $150 for Plat challenges.

He said it was implemented end of 2008. I am surprised i did not see any gripes about this. Although I have only partially scanned through the Jan -Feb posts on the Gold/Plat Challenge thread.

zman

Yes, no more freebies. AA needs the $.
Has been disussed on many posts.

brp

Presumably you didn't look through the Challenge sticky where this was discussed at great length. Admittedly, finding anything in there is difficult due to the length, but never believe that there was no griping about a fee

Cheers.

ContinentalFan

It's been talked about. Ask to have it waived and see if there's any flexibility on the issue. It doesn't hurt.

mvoight

For what reason would they waive the fee? That would kind of defeat the purpose of having the fee in the first place
Before the fee, it was possible to get over 1 1/2 years of PLT membership on a cheapie trip from the west coast to Europe.
Given how easy it is to make PLT in a challenge by making a single trip to Euro make it a bit too easy. Additionally, you get another year of Gold status without doing anything more, after dropping from PLT. That's 2 1/2 years of saving up to $40 per direction for luggage, exit row seating, upgrades, etc.