passinginterest

I think the presence or lack thereof of the VIPs for the account would be pretty indicative.

britenbsas

You obviously didn't read the very first post! That's what started this ball rolling!

nrr

Is it possible that a glitch occurred and miles from aader promo were late in posting? If this is the case the real ytd totals will show toward the end of this month.

MGW2000

That sounds like a very plausible explanation... I guess it's possible that some of the AADER miles were "delayed"!

Matt

rhl

Yep. It says zero and is clearing upgrades at 100 hours for flights where I didn't buy First. When it said 0 when buying some tickets is what clued me in to go and look at my status.

How do I see if I registered for it? I don't ever remember doing so as I wasn't paying much attention to FT or my AA miles because I wasn't flying as much (just the back and forth between NYC/LAX in F). So maybe I did but is there a way to find out? Plus I would think the miles would need to post before my status would be changed to EXP.

nrr

You would have gotten a confirming email from aa if you registered. The miles may have posted internally at aa, but you don't see them in your account yet. Did you fly a lot between 4/16/08 and 5/15/08? This is the period that aader applied to.

scoow

The OP showed numbers from a December summary. Have you looked at the January numbers online? Not the "current", but the account summary for "January". That is the one that would show your year-end totals.

Edit: This same question was asked in post #6, but I never saw a response.

zipadee

Actually the end date was June 15 as I recall, maybe June 16. I know I flew June 14 and those flights counted toward AADER.

The OP mentioned paid F travel and sounds like quite a bit. Is it possible that AA took amount of paid F into account much like United does toward GS status? I read on the United forum about some FF getting GS status this year unexpectedly and that United may have lowered the bar a tad due to the economic situation. Perhaps this is an example of counter programming by AA?

mvoight

From the doc...

Dates:
Travel between April 16, 2008 and June 15, 2008.

I think the OP should call and check their EVIP count.

rhl

I thought I posted these before.

Summary Date
January 2009
Program to Date Miles 1,5**,***
YTD Elite Qualifying Points 75,***
YTD Elite Qualifying Miles 62,***
YTD Elite Qualifying Segments 55

Just found this in my email by searching for AADER. I didn't fly much at all.

"Thank you for participating in our double elite-status qualifying miles promotion (Promotion Code AADER) earlier this year. As you may recall, this promotion was applicable for eligible travel flown on American Airlines between April 16 and June 15, 2008. Complete promotion details* can be viewed below.

As a result of this promotion, a total of 5,000 bonus elite-status qualifying miles were posted to your account on July 19, 2008, based on your eligible flight activity during the offer period. "

Still, even with 5k additional EQP, I'm not at 100k or anywhere near.

Just did. They said I have 8 evip which are good until Feb 2010. So, now I'm officially confused. I think I'm just going to count my lucky stars and await a fresh EXP card in the mail. The last set I have were from 06 (07 was exp and dropped to PLT for 08). I think zipadee's suggestion makes the most sense. I'll let everyone know if one comes though I still would have thought I'd be sent an email or some kind of notification instead of all this investigative work!

If they want me as an EXP, who am I to argue!?!

passinginterest

Do you work for a firm that has a large contract with AA or a powerful corporate travel department that might have contacted AA on your behalf without you knowing?

skywalkerLAX

You have 75K EQP in the new year already

Then you should be EXP until 02/2011 if you collect a few more points.

scoow

No. The January 2009 statement shows year-end (12/31/08) numbers.

That's why I was asking for the January #s... in the OP, s/he posted the December 2008 numbers, which would not have included miles/ points/ segments earned in December.

c_stanley

My AADER miles were posted soon after, this summer, and towards year end all was properly reflected. I thought of AADER too but it seems fairly improbable that this would be it. I thought (and my experience confirmed) that they posted the extra EQM's way before the end of the year.

It's rampant speculation of course, but I had a friend as well who made UA GS this year unexpectedly, and forwarded me the email asking what it was. Apparently news of my growing FT addiction -- or maybe frequent bragging about great premium cabin vacations for free -- had reached him and he asked how it could have happened.

I told him I knew very little about UA's program, but he flies totally exclusively in paid F and surmised that might be relevant, just guessing. But -- again speculating completely -- that would seem to be the one key part of this OP's story that makes any sense, except for a straight up computer glitch or similar.

I still can't guess why you wouldn't have gotten the standard welcome email though, or something from them letting you know, if in fact it was purposeful. Seems they'd want to tip you off to a massive favor and make a play for your business if they were granting one.

But who knows, it's all a guess until the OP gets an answer (and I see why they might not want to seek one out aggressively) or a well connected or in the know member chimes in with a better explanation.

In the meantime congratulations to the OP, it's certainly a curious story. Hope it continues to work out for you.

Fedecamaras

I'd be surprised if it was anything but. AA doesn't "accidentally" give out EXP status (otherwise everyone wouldn't be so surprised with this thread)...I don't think "good luck" or a "glitch" has ANYTHING to do with it. I bet you anything that if you call in and ask your CSR about it, they'll say it's because they "really appreciate your business" or something to that extent. It makes a lot more sense that AA wants to encourage you to buy even more paid F and actually earn it on your own this year, and getting the status upfront is a great incentive. With most people buying the cheap fares and doing anything they can to save money, I can imagine they really want to keep someone like you on their planes...

I still say you call and ask. Curious minds want to know, and you could put this thread to bed.