doctor15

Hey Everyone,

I am coming new to AA brand new from United, and from what I have been reading, it seems like a challenge wont do me much good, but I wanted to get opinions to see if there is anything I am missing.

Here is my situation:
I will be traveling BOS-ORD-AZO weekly. I have to buy discount fare class (which by the way does not mean the price is discounted!), so only 50% EQP. Having no elite status at the moment also means only 120 miles for the ORD-AZO segment, bringing my total to 985 EQP/week. Since we are nearing holidays when I won't be flying, that makes a Platinum challenge unobtainable for this year. I could do do a Gold challenge, but I already have 6 EQS, and am flying so many segments that I figure I will make Gold on segments in not much longer then the challenge would take. I think even DEQS would pull me ahead of the challenge!

That will leave me starting 2010 with Gold and a clean slate. Once 2010 starts and I get my minimum mileage, that would take me to 1363 EQP/week, so a Platinum challenge would be easily obtainable. The question is though, at that point when I am already Gold, would the challenge be worth it? It would probably only take 4 weeks to longer to make it my own.

Also as an aside, has anyone had luck and getting offered a challenge without fee (perhaps as a status match)? I am Premier Exec with United.

Thanks for answering all my questions! It really sucks starting over with a new airline when I worked so hard this year to get status for the first time.

oklAAhoma

DEQS? Is that a new promotion?

doctor15

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.2; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.27.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/525.27.1 Pre/1.0)

whoops, should read DEQM

dstan

Welcome to AA, doctor15! Looks like you've done your homework! ^

It's a personal decision, of course, as to whether you want to pony up the extra $200 for the PLT challenge, but if you'll already be GLD at that point, I suspect that the extra month as a PLT won't make a huge difference in the scheme of things. Maybe a few more BOS-ORD upgrades, but then you'll also probably have to purchase some extra stickers!

Edited to add: Please share your math with us, though, to check - I get 7.3 weeks to PLT via Challenge vs 18 weeks to PLT via EQM.

doctor15

Oh, I thought it was 50 segments for PLT, not 60. So I guess im looking at 15 weeks via EQS, or 7 via challenge.

Maybe I will do the challenge....

wireless_999

Hello all, thanks to this wonderful forum my wife and I made GOLD this year.

Now I was originally planning on doing the PLT challenge but not sure if it's worth it.

I will be doing two trips to Asia in 2010. One will be paid and the other an award J ticket on CX.

I was going to do the PLT challenge for a trip to NRT from JFK.

But now I am thinking if I should enjoy the GOLD status now and save the PLT challenge for 2011?

Do the benifits make it so that I should absolutely go for the PLT challenge in 2010?

Your advice as always is greatly appreciated.

Thank you FT!

mvoight

PLT isn't going to matter much (any) for the award ticket.
The basic difference on the paid ticket is whether you get 25 percent or 100 percent RDM bonus.

If you do the PLT challenge now, you will have status through Feb 2011.
If start the PLT challenge before June 16, 2010, you will have status through Feb 2011. June 16 or later, and you will have it through Feb 2012.

I guess the question is what benefit you hope to achieve on a status run, rather just flying normally. It sounds like you are saying you are considering a trip to Asia now, just so you will have PLT status for a trip to Asia next year. If this is all, what's the point? If there is other travel you are doing next year, then that's a bit different....... or if you want to earn miles this year and next year.
If you are re-earned GOLD this year (at 25K EQmiles plus, for example), and you fly New York to Japan, By DEC 15, you will get double EQMs and won't even need a challenge for PLT, as the round trip (on AA) would get you more than the 25K difference between GOLD and PLT. Additionally, if you are from NY or a surrounding state, and have signed up for that dbl mile bonus, you could get a bunch more redeemable miles you lucky ..........

clacko

if you start the challenge june 16 or later and get the pts, your status is good thru the next yr plus jan & feb....unless it has changed recently....

so, if 1 of your trips is after june 15, that would give you more bang for the buck, plt thru feb 2012.....good luck....

a read of the challenge stickies might be worth the time...

WRCSolberg

How much flying will you be doing other than your Asia trips?

As noted, having status on your J award ticket won't mean a hill of beans and if you don't fly often, you probably won't fly enough to fully take advantage of Plat status vs Gold.

wireless_999

besides the two trips to Asia, one award and one paid I am not sure how much more flying I will do. I might do a trip to Spain but that is in the air right now.

I will definitely have at least 3 flights domestically. I guess PLT isn't going to do much for me.

Since I have earned GOLD I think I will stay this way and if I don't re-earn it then I will do the PLT challenge for the year after.

dstan

Oh, I'd forgotten about the EQS and was comparing EQM to Challenge EQP. Challenge might be worth it, then, for the 8 weeks difference. You can see how your upgrades go when you make GLD, assuming that's what you're concerned about, and decide from there.

Gamecock

***besides the two trips to Asia, one award and one paid I am not sure how much more flying I will do. I might do a trip to Spain but that is in the air right now.***

A year ago I was scratching my head over all this. Had 2 RT TATLs scheduled in December and thought I would fly 2, maybe 3 TATLs in 2009.

I decided what the heck, do the challenge, which I completed on my 1st DEC TATL. I commited to AA for my personal flights, even though there are much easier ways to get from FRA-CAE than through DFW. (Work related flights would be on AA)

Next thing you know I picked up several more trips than I expected, including a couple of BA longhauls to South Africa. Never ever flew much with any airline, my lifetime with AA miles went from 40K to 315K, thanks to the 100% bonus and a "small" MR I did when I started smelling EXP.

My point? I had PLT status going into 2009 and it paid huge dividends. BUT, as with all things, YMMV.

Tero

Hi,
I am doing a RTW with Onewolrd Alliance and using AA quite a bit. I wanted to verify that if I can qualify for the platinium challenge.

The problem is that im not sure how to calculate the miles (or points to be exact). Here are the details from my itinary, can you confirm if this earns me the 10000 points?
Booking class is L, so I should earn point per mile for every flight, but im not sure how to calculate the stopovers? Thanks for your help!

oklAAhoma

You can consult AA.com or the Great Circle Mapper to calculate the mileage for each leg of your journey.

Tero

Yes and I have done that, but its the principle that is missing. When I fly from San Jose to Santiago via Miami do I get the miles between San Jose and Santiago or the miles between San Jose-Miami-Santiago? Or not miles but points to be exact.