I believe what you bolded is referring to a Double or Triple EQP promotion (none happening at the moment), which doesn't apply to your situation.

The 1.5 EQP earned for J is not bonus EQP, it's regular EQP earnings for J class, so you would meet the terms of the challenge in the one trip if 25k EQP is your challenge amount.

Second this. My QF flight in premium eco got the 1.5 EQP posted and counted towards challenge.

new to these boards and need some advice from the experts on the AA challenge:

I've got a major trip coming up in April that involves flying from the US to bali through hong kong. Everything is booked through American Airlines in class L operated by Cathay so I get the miles and qualifying points.

1) I've got 3 more weekend trips planned that will fly American. I'll have Gold status no matter what after the next trip, but is it worth it to do the challenge and get Platinum after essentially the first leg here?

2) If I get platinum half way through this trip will I get 100% bonus miles on the return leg? Does it activate fast enough?

3) along those lines, if i got platinum through the challenge on the first half of the trip would my status be recognized in a week so on the return trip I'd have access to the business lounges through Sapphire and possible upgrades in Cathay?

Basically - is it worth to do the Platinum challenge and does it activate fast enough to reap the benefits on the return trip?

new to these boards and need some advice from the experts on the AA challenge:

I've got a major trip coming up in April that involves flying from the US to bali through hong kong. Everything is booked through American Airlines in class L operated by Cathay so I get the miles and qualifying points.

1) I've got 3 more weekend trips planned that will fly American. I'll have Gold status no matter what after the next trip, but is it worth it to do the challenge and get Platinum after essentially the first leg here?

2) If I get platinum half way through this trip will I get 100% bonus miles on the return leg? Does it activate fast enough?

3) along those lines, if i got platinum through the challenge on the first half of the trip would my status be recognized in a week so on the return trip I'd have access to the business lounges through Sapphire and possible upgrades in Cathay?

Basically - is it worth to do the Platinum challenge and does it activate fast enough to reap the benefits on the return trip?

The tough part is how much do you value the 75% bonus for Plat vs. Gold and also the lounge access/incremental benefits of being Oneworld Sapphire vs. Ruby.

I believe it's $240 to sign up for a Plat challenge. If you'll be flying American a lot for the rest of the year, it makes sense because the bonus 20-30k miles (potentially 75% of your flying from 10k to 49.9k) outweigh the sign up fee before even counting the upgrades/lounge access.

It usually takes 24-48 hours for the AA to reflect your newly qualified/challenged status and if you qualify for a higher tier in between segments and the system doesn't update quickly enough to give you the 100% plat RDM bonus for the immediate next couple segments, AA should be able to manually adjust the higher bonuses for you after the fact.

The HKG Cathay "The Wing" lounge is one of my favorite lounges, especially the noodle bar section.

--->*100% bonus for Plat on AA

I think you are thinking of UA Plat @75%

I meant the 75% incremental bonus difference between Plat/Gold... like you said 100% bonus for Plat vs 25% bonus for Gold.

Thanks for the advice - I have at least 3 more flights this year on American that are over 3 hours, so getting the platinum just to be able to upgrade to main cabin extra and get the 100% bonus on RDM is worth $240. Also good to know that the status kicks in in the middle of my trip. This should mean I'd get 500 mile upgrades if my return trip is at least 10k miles?

If I get the platinum in April through the Challenge, that only lasts through 2014?
If I then have enough miles to qualify for Gold status without the challenge, will I get this then through 2015 and feb 2016?

A lot of questions, I know - I just want to make sure I have my bases covered b/c I know how particular they can be.. Thanks again!

(On a side note.. I'm really glad I booked all my flights as AA ###s and not through the Cathay website...).

How Much of a Pest Should I Be?
 

Corporate travel negotiations has us flying on AA again where I am lifetime Gold. Corporate Travel did get us a status match, but as a Diamond on DL for the last few years, I still only got matched to Platinum. I obtained that quickly and easily but also asked (more like begged) for a Challenge or some option for EXP (which I had been for years prior to the previous switch to DL). I was told Customer Service would get back to me and after about 2 weeks I sent a note to Customer Service and got a very nice phone message saying they were swamped but had my request and would get back to me. It has been another couple of weeks and in a week I will be embarking on about two months of non-stop travel and would, of course, like to be EXP during that time. I got very used to Diamond status (and the automatic UGs) and my time as AA Platinum so far this year, while not awful, has had me in the back and zero UGs (I don't yet have any stickers).

I had been hoping that since I had asked early in the year that maybe the Challenge itself would include prior trips but this thread does not hold out hope there. Of course, getting EXP in itself would be fairly rare so I guess I can't be too annoyed with AA (believe me, I have expressed my annoyance with corporate travel who keeps yanking us around). I would like to press the issue but that has, in the past, just gotten me more annoyed and hasn't seemed to have done much. Just wondering if others have suggestions.

Have done dome digging around but have NOT every page in this forum. I am going to do the AA ExePlat challenge this year. It sticks in my feeble mind that if I wait until July or August 1, 2014, my status will extend through 2015, ending in early 2016. If I do it now, my status will only extend through early 2015 Correct?

or can you send me to a link in one of the forums?

PS. After 31 years and an elite on CO/UA, it's a sad state of affairs that, close to retirement, I am looking to switch!

I'm in love
 

Came to AA from UA (Gold there, equivalent to Plat on AA) last year via status match because I was just fed up with the elite upgrade chances on UA domestic flights. At t-48 today got sticker upgrades on my first two flights on AA since the match. Yay!

How would you compare being an AA flyer at DEN to being a UA flyer? You must have a lot less flight options being that DEN is a UA hub. Able to work around that well enough with AA?

Too soon to say. This will be a trial year to see whether the added inconvenience of connections and less schedule flexibility is worth it. I still fly UA/F9/AC when I can't make AA work. Depends alot, too, on whether AA downgrades to RJs or what I hear to be their horrid A319 on the segments I fly. F9 is actually a really good alternative - their Classic Plus fares are fully refundable and changeable, and not all that expensive. They have 36 inch pitch in Stretch seating. Their FF program sucks, though, and their planes are in dire need of some cabin maintenance.

You might also ask SFO777 or Eightblack. Both live in Denver and make AA work for them.

Just completed my EXP challenge, started in December 2013, and my 8 SWUs have already been deposited to my account.

I am correct that if/when I qualify for EXP again this year (by earning the full 100K EQP, in my case), I'll get another set of 8 SWUs (expiring 2016)?