JDiver

Lady JDiver is LT Platinum; there has never been a differentiator online to show whether one is a regular or lifetime statusholder, but she gets her Platinum card annually.

The only change is that AA added our lifetime miles counter to our online accounts a couple or so years ago; previously, we'd have to call to get that information, like for US.

JDiver

The criterion for 500 mile upgrades was, iirc, 10,000 miles = four "stickers " (to a maximum of 24, regardless if more miles were actually flown).

Whether they counted 10k increments prior to gaining status, which AA does not (MTEU on AA begins annually on March 1 and when one regains first status level), I dont know - but maybe the math works if they did?

Carl

I think I just realized my misinterpretation of mAAth. They don't award 500-mile upgrades in increments other than four, so if I was just below 50k (excluding CC spend), I guess I would indeed get 16 rather than 19 (or rounding up to 20!). I'm still disappointed they don't count PQM from CC spend, but I get the rationale. If only I'd realized this in February, I could've taken an extra trip to bump me up to 50k. Of course, they hadn't yet told us how they would be calculating the upgrade balance for DMs transitioning to AA. At least now I have the Miles Needed to Earn Elite Upgrades counter.

JDiver

Ah! Thanks for solving the mystery, Carl!

We'll hope that in 2016, AA will continue the completely and unpublished policy of providing "gap" EU / stickers (after the last day in February, end with, say, 6,000 "orphan" EQMTEU, they've usually granted two more, for example). FTers know about this, but it's very soft-peddled out there.)

Carl

Is this something that happens automatically or do folks have to request it? I finally found a PLT phone number thanks to the AA app, but I'm still not sure how best to contact them. I am appalled at the disservice provided by filling out the website form, so I have little hope that a request like this would even be understood (much less fulfilled).

JDiver

Those many members who have been successful called and requested them.

When the time comes, a script like "I earned 6,000 miles toward electronic 500 mile upgrades, so I'd like to request two 500 mile upgrades to make up the difference. Can you help me?" or the like might be the language to use.

The website form replies are all over the place, as you know. I've had some decent responses and some with completely unrelated boilerplate that wasn't at all applicable to my situation.

Carl

Thanks. I feel like I have a decent argument as they didn't disclose how they would be calculating the allocation until just a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if this lack of clarity was intentional or if they really hadn't made a decision well in advance.

Are you saying there is no way to contact an elite service center except by phone (or the awful web form)? This sounds like something from another era. With US, each elite tier had a designated email address, and it was great for many requests. Never had to include any personal info since they had my email address on file. I understand this is a different system; I'm just surprised it appears to be fairly outdated. Not only are the form responses often inappropriate, but there's so much redundant info required to even submit a basic request. And then there's the whole inability to reply.

JonNYC

You call and ask for "AAdvantage Customer Service"

JDiver

I think it's due to a number of things.

Sabre (originally SABER, Semi-Automatic Business Environment) came about during a chance encounter between AA CEO C. R. Smith and IBM salesperson Blair Smith in 1953. The result was online in 1960 and was the nucleus of GDS and PSS. First means oldest, unfortunately, years later. E.g. when AA promised us SWUs awarded us would show up in our account in a few months, it took forever to kluge the code that would work - so long SWUs went from a literal 12 month longevity to "the status year awarded and the following status year" - a sop, but I like more months to use my SWUs.

AA had developed an MOU to develop an entirely new system, Jetstream. The contract ended when AA went into bankruptcy; they chose to continue with Sabre, rather than migrate to, say, Amadeus Altéa. Mr. Parker endorsed the decision and chose to migrate from HP SHARES into Saber.

So, some off-topic but very related history. We're stuck with the limitations of a legacy system, the bankruptcy's imposed limitations and leadership decisions. I'm not qualified or sufficiently knowledgeable to comment on whether that was a good idea or not; I do know I'm stuck with the results, and FlyerTalkers are pretty good at sharing what workarounds and shortcuts as may be available. (See JonNYC's post, immediately above.)

Welcome aboard.

Carl

I may need to reconsider returning to DL as a lower-level elite. It's 2015. Having to use the phone died in the 90s. Ugh. Anyway, thanks for the confirmation.

fastflyer

When I was Platinum, I was able to request, via AAdvantage Customer Service e-mail, the partial sticker credit for my dangling mileage on February 28 (that is the date when the sticker earning counter gets reset). They do read the e-mails, but it is much slower than just phoning in.

DCdeacon

Be that as it may, still a very disappointing answer for those legacy US flyers who were used to detailed email responses within a handful of hours from the Preferred email desk.

Carl

Thank you. I wasn't prepared to go this far back in time.

I realize I probably need to look more realistically at DL again (after all, I do live in ATL). They provide actual support via Twitter (which would always be my preference), whereas AA just likes to tweet bit.ly links (talk about old school) to their contact form. I'm sitting in the ATL Admirals Club now (talk about depressing and outdated) and pondering this whole relationship. One of the main selling points has been the cheap fares on US, and those have all increased. I wonder if they will simply be deleted after the merger (or maybe even sooner!). AA has some decent fares, but on some routes they're even more expensive than DL nonstops.

DesertFlier

Appreciate the responses.

bosman

Don't know if you've checked this area yet or not: underneath your main Account Summary section (and beneath the credit card offer which makes it look like the page ends) there is a section called "Activity & Upgrades". The 3rd "button" is Million Miler. Note; the balance shown there for me does not equal my AA + US LT miles, but the status and "date acheived" is correct.

You may want to check there for confirmation of your LTG status.