Microwave

Assuming we're talking about fares that will qualify you for challenges, I'd review BrewerSEA's comments upthread. If you book the AA flight number, all fares earn you some EQPs, the question is how many. You will not find an AA codeshare that books into premium economy, however. I hope that helps.

BrewerSEA

No, you could purchase a discount economy ticket in H, K, M, L, W, V classes and earn 1.0 EQP per mile, which would let you complete the challenge on the round trip. 1.5 EQP classes (A, F, P, D, I, J, R, Y, B) would let you complete the challenge on the outbound.

There is not great availability in the cheapest fare buckets this close to travel, so you may need to buy a slightly more expensive ticket anyway. I looked at 7/15-9/15 and found the cheapest r/t fare to be a Q fare for $1758. The cheapest 1.0 EQP fare, in V, is $2738. The cheapest 1.5 EQP fare, in B, is $5568. The cheapest business fare (1.5 eqp), in I, is $7708.

sarahjintexas

thanks y'all. I was hoping to try out PE on this trip. I was looking forward to a decent sleep without having to fork out for Business... Guess I'll book into the back of the plane and book PE on my next trip to keep the points up.

anthonywb

Hi everyone. What a great forum! I just signed up for the plat challenge as I'm going to fly to India in a few weeks and will rack up enough EQP's to get me there - maybe on the first leg out. I see where others have been successful getting a trip backdated. What's the trick. Here's my details.

My challenge starts June 16. I'm currently on a trip (JAX/DFW/DEN)that started 6/6/2011. When I signed up for the challenge on 6/5 and asked them to include the 6/6 trip, I was told politely 'no'. Unless of course I wanted to start my challenge on 6/1 (no thank you).

What's the magic words to get my current EQP's on my challenge?

Thanks!

brp

There are no magic words. You can start the challenge such that it includes the trip, or not. You get to choose. This is a substantial shortcut to status. Experience shows that they are very unlikely to give shortcuts on the shortcuts.

Cheers.

aktchi

Welcome to FT!

That out of the way, please allow me to show a little impatience...

What is the "maybe" about it? If your trip to India and others before it are known to you, including the booking class, you should know exactly when you'd cross the 10K EQP line. When you said "here are the details", I expected to see dates, fights, and bookign codes, instead there was a story about your chit chat with the phone agent.

paulr

I'm going to be commuting SJC/SFO-HSV regularly for the next year or two. AA has a way better schedule for me than DL, where I am a PM. So after reading about eleventy billion threads on status matches and the challenge program, I decided to do the challenge.

On a whim, I sent AA an e-mail asking if they'd do a status match from DL PM to PLT. I didn't hear back, so I booked enough flights on AA through the end of Sept to hit the PLT EQP threshold. I didn't sign up for the challenge yet because my first flight isn't until July and they wouldn't let me specify a July 1 start date that far in advance.

Today I got a reply to my e-mail: AA matched me to PLT.

My question: should I still do the challenge? Because I'm starting it after 16 June, earning status should cover me until 2013, with a soft landing to GLD after that. Is there any benefit to challenging?

brp

Nope. The matched status should be good until 2/2013 already, so there is nothing to be gained by paying the fee and doing the challenge. Congrats on the status match!

Cheers.

anthonywb

Here's the details:
JAX/ORD - K class (aa4028) - 864 miles
ORD/AUH - K class (aa6007) - 7261 miles
AUH/BLR - (Etihad EY286 H class) - 1703 miles

Same return. I have 2516 EQP's currently.

BrewerSEA

Your current EQP are not relevant. The only relevant EQP are those that are earned from June 16 to September 15. Your Etihad flight will not count for the challenge. If you are flying the outbound before June 16, then the EQP will not count toward the challenge. If the return is between June 16 and September 15 you will have earned 8125 EQP toward the challenge and require an additional 1875 EQP to make Platinum.

I very highly doubt AA will let your flights before June 16 count toward the challenge unless you choose to start on June 1. I understand that you want to earn Platinum through 2013, but as brp pointed out, the challenge is already a generous offer and AA is unlikely (I'd go as far to say they almost certainly will not) to make further exceptions.

anthonywb

Ah! Thanks! Outbound on June 19, I return on June 26.

BrewerSEA

Then with a June 16 start date you will make Platinum on the return ^

robin13

Just wanted to say thank you to Flyertalk for letting me know about the Platinum Challenge. My husband just went from Gold to Platinum. I know that it is only until Feb 2012 but he is loving the 100% bonus miles. Thanks again!

misjinks

Hi there, I'm scheduled to fly quite a bit in the next three months, and am hoping to start my very first AA challenge (PLT), so I'm a total newbie but trying to learn fast! I thought I would try to share my plans and calculations and see if anyone spots any n00b errors.

Here are my rough travel plans for the period in which I'm hoping to complete the challenge (August 1 - October 31):

August: London to Boston (One way)
September: Boston to Kuala Lumpur (Return)
October: Boston to London (Return)

As I calculate the PLT challenge (I will likely be flying H class or thereabouts as it seems to be cheapest when I last searched for flights through kayak.com, so probably the best I'm going to do is 1-1 bonus):

(A) August: LHR-BOS via JFK (approx £694) = 3696 miles = 3696 EQP
(B) September: BOS-JFK-HKG-KUL = 9806 miles = 9806 EQP
(C) September: KUL-HKG-JFK-BOS = 9806 miles = ? EQP
(D) October: LHR-BOS (direct) = 3250 miles
(E) October: LHR-BOS (direct) = 3250 miles
TOTAL BASE MILES FLOWN: 29,808 miles

I have a bunch of questions and I really apologize if they are unbearably n00b. I have never done this before! Feel free to just answer one or half or whatever at a time!

1) The flights above will probably booked through AA.com but from my initial research they are "codeshared" with American Eagle and Cathay Pacific. I can't seem to find if the flight numbers start with AA in the booking process without actually completing the booking, but they are to be purchased through the AA website--surely this means they will count towards EQP?

2) I am in the process of booking (A). Is there any way at all to get a cheaper flight than it presently seems to be? My B and C flights will be paid for by my company, so I'm not too bothered about that, but the A flight is out of pocket.

3) Am I right to think that at the point of (B), I will have completed the PLT challenge and, despite the challenge period not being over, be eligible in (C), for PLT bonus? E.g. does this means that on my return flight KUL-BOS, I should accrue 9806 x 2 = 19612 RDM? And because I make 10,000 EQP 194 miles into my (B) trip, do the remaining 3502 miles earn the PLT bonus?

4) Given that I'll complete the AA challenge by (B), do I even have to fly AA (even codeshares) for the other flights? Are there better airlines?

5) Would I be eligible for upgrades & lounge access etc. on (C) due to my new PLT status? Flying 30+ hours one-way in coach is probably just about do-able at my age, but twice in the space of two weeks seems...painful.

6) Hypothetical question: even though the challenge period won't be over, would I be able to book (D) and (E) as award flights? Or will I have to continue to pay for them? Less hypothetically, how can I book (D) and (E) as cheaply as possible? (they will be out-of-pocket). For this leg I don't really care about flying coach, as long as it's cheap.

7) Finally, what does all of this mean for my One World status? Do I instantly become Sapphire on OW, the second I hit 10,000 EQP and complete the challenge? And do I understand correctly that the RDMs accrued from this challenge can be used to redeem awards on any OW flights?

I'd be really really grateful for any help on this or any strategy suggestions, or extrapolations, or comments, or tips....Anything at all. This is the first time I've ever gotten into the mileage game, and I'm really curious to see how far I can go with my butt-in-seat miles (all 29,808 of them)! I hope what I've written isn't too convoluted, I'm still trying to get to grips with the vocab and ideas. Thanks so much!!

Microwave

There will be an AA logo next to AA flight numbers. If it's a codeshare, it will say Operated By Whooziwhut Airlines next to it (or whichever codeshare partner will operate the flight). AA flights and codeshares typically come up first in aa.com searches, so they're easy to find.

I suggest ITA (matrix.itasoftware.com)--it will take some learning to figure out the best way to use it, but if you're serious about the frequent flyer game it's worth the effort. If you're not flexible with dates, the searching on aa.com should give you your best options.

Once you cross the threshold, you will be entitled to benefits. The flight that puts you over will also get the 100% mileage bonus as well. You won't get your card for a while though, so lounge access may be iffy if not using an AA lounge. Reports are mixed, but your status should be on your BP so try that. Also, once aa.com shows Platinum, call the Platinum line and ask to make sure your new status shows on all of your future bookings.

That's a matter of taste and perspective. Be very careful about which fares you book into though, as you may get a shock that your fare class earns at the lower 0.5 EQP/EQM rate too late. H is a very expensive fare--I'd be surprised if you couldn't cheaper fares, even if booking as one way tickets. V is typically the cheapest fare that earns 1 EQP/EQM.

You can always attempt to upgrade on AA metal flights using miles+copay, but not on codeshares operated by partners. Once you're Platinum, your domestic US flying can also be upgraded using stickers, and JFK-BOS appears to be the only domestic segments you have... That would be a waste of stickers IMO. If you decide to waitlist for an upgrade before you complete the challenge, make sure to call the Platinum line after and ask them to verify that your status is properly reflected in the waitlisted requests, as you'll float higher on the list with Platinum.

You can book any flight you want as award travel... It won't help you requalify for platinum next year, but you can do it. Most people around here don't use miles for coach travel, as it's generally a more valuable use to find business or first class awards. And using miles for reimbursable travel is a capital offense around here. Use ITA to find the cheapest flight options if you're dates are flexible, and assuming you've got platinum by that time look for both BA and AA flights for your last two segments as they both earn the same way for AA Platinums (BA coded flights don't work for challenges--otherwise they are the same).

Once your status updates (usually takes a day or two after your qualifying flight), you will be AA Platinum and oneworld Sapphire. Sometimes it takes a call to refresh your reservation to ensure your status will print on your BPs, but that's it. Redeemable miles can be used for a myriad of flights, including most oneworld flights--it will really take some research on the stickies of this forum and aa.com to find out all of the options available as there are many. PM me if you're in London; I'd be happy to meet up for a mocha somewhere and share more useless frequent flyer wisdom and ITA search tips. Good luck!