gmbaker33

Hi, i have an interesting opportunity I am hoping this great community can help with.

Currently AA platinum about to fall from grace this year as my role changed at work and I no longer travel. I am taking a personal trip in april on alaska, usair and delta due to logistics and wanted thoughts/suggestions to keep some sort of status and avoid checked bag fees.

Don't know if AA will soft land to gold, so the current option i see if to apply for credit cards alaska or american and meet Minimum spend since they may offer free checked bag and priority board.

are there other avenues to approach this? Thanks

miamigrad

American Airlines and US Airways continue to operate as separate carriers under the same, merged parent company (for now).

As this question pertains to the legacy American Airlines operation, it is being moved to that forum for member input.

Having said that, AA no longer does soft landing, so you'll have to look for other methods to enjoy the benefits to which you've become accustomed (as you posted in your post)

Good luck!

/Moderator

danville 1K

AA no longer does soft landings. They used to but discontinued it last year.

AtlanticX

Have you checked out the 'boost' program? It's rather costly though, if this is just for one trip. But you can of course subtract baggage fees from the cost.

carlosdca

Just pay for the bag fees. Really, don't overcomplicate yourself.

arollins

gmbaker33, you need to determine what exactly is it that you want. If you are not planning on flying regularly to maintain status, then choose on the cheapest, convenient option. If you do indeed will fly enough to keep status, even minimal tier, then it is good idea to get an airline branded credit card.

Some of the perks that the the credit card gives, like free luggage, priority access, etc are great, however, for one trip, not so sure when you take into account the yearly card fee. You can almost get most of the perks by getting a higher fare ticket, or just outright paying for it.

I'm a AA flyer, however, UA is my backup, secondary carrier, and I do have the UA credit card, mostly for the priority access. I do take 2-3 flights yearly with UA, for me it is worth it.

Phoenixtinct

The way I see it, you have 2 options:

1) Talk to Alaska about a status match while you still have the AA Plat status through February 2015. If one is granted, you have benefits when traveling Alaska, AA and Delta. Since your itinerary involved US, AS and Delta, that should help. AS status won't mean anything on US though.

2) Apply for a Citi-branded AA card - the fee is waived for the first year, so you will save on 1st bag fee when traveling AA or US. It won't help when you travel on Delta or AS but it's something.

Those options are free for you, so you will be getting benefits for free for a year. Hope this helps.

AwardBee

I think you should get a Citi AA card no matter what, esp if it's one with a 50,000 mile sign-up bonus and a waived first year fee. Almost a no-brainer. And then you'll get the checked bag fee waived as well.

Status is one of those things that's hard to do without once you're addicted, and yet keeping with all the program changes coming up is like trying to stay on a treadmill that just keeps getting faster.

swag

Free bags and earlier boarding are perks for being a card member. There's no minimum spend required to get or maintain that benefit (other than any non-waived annual fees).

Meeting the initial spend requirements is worthwhile, to earn the signup bonus redeemable miles, of course, but if you don't meet the spend, your bag is still free.

Col Ronson

if you only want to avoid checked bag fees then a credit card will get you priority boarding and a free bag for $100/yr. not a bad deal. that is basically the only option apart from flying WN.

if you want any other elite benefits, then mileage runs are in order. There really is nothing else to it.

gmbaker33

Thank you all for the feedback. Great thoughts.

I think the card(s) option make the most sense especially if the first year is waived as it would also pay for itself with only a few checked bags. This year doing a mileage run to regain status just isn’t in the cards but something to consider
Starting early next year.

Herb687

Few elite benefits that can't be approximated by buying a first class ticket. Rather than spending money on unwanted travel (mileage runs) why not just apply that money towards the incremental cost of buying up from coach to first on trips you actually want/need to take?

scubadu

That advice will likely cause springs to pop out of the heads of most FT posters.

Sadly, this place seems to have become obsessed with status for the sake of status...

Regards

MSPeconomist

OP needs to thiiink about future travel. If the AS program is the way to go, try to get a status match/challenge there before AA status is lost.

Think about the more expensive airline credit cards that give more welcome miles as well as greater benefits, including lounge access. They might make sense for the OP.

milehound

You could also try hedging your bets with a status match request to AirBerlin before the year ends.