kevinsayswhatsup

For starters, I love travelling and I have heard about mileage runs etc in the past. But it was only until I got a new job/ was presented with a corporate deal with AA to actually think about getting serious with this. So with this being said here is my deal:
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AAdvantage Executive Platinum status
•Receive Executive Platinum status for 3 months starting on the date you select ◦During those 3 months, fly and earn 25,000 AAdvantage elite-qualifying points on select airlines** to extend your Executive Platinum status through February 28, 2017 and receive 50,000 bonus miles


AAdvantage Platinum status
•Receive Platinum status for 3 months plus 12 500-mile upgrades starting on the date you select ◦During those 3 months, fly and earn 12,000 AAdvantage elite-qualifying points on select airlines** to extend your Platinum status through February 28, 2017 and receive 50,000 bonus miles


AAdvantage Gold status
•Receive Gold status through February 28, 2017 plus 6 500-mile upgrades just for registering ◦Earn 10,000 bonus miles by flying and earning 5,000 AAdvantage elite-qualifying points on select airlines** between the date you receive your status and December 30, 2015

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A lot of my coworkers are taking the gold, however I feel like it would be worth it to get the platinum (I am very busy so I doubt executive would be in my reach). So I was searching flights and found I could get the 24,000 miles (12k EQP through AA economy fares) for around $1,200. Would this be worth it? I valued the 98k bonus miles (50k bonus miles + 24k miles x 100% plat bonus = 48k miles) at around $1,700 (.0177 cents per mile).

Is what I am thinking correct? Or anyone have any input? Thanks - Kevin.

Gardyloo

Before deciding, a couple of questions.

First, will you be traveling on work-related trips; if so on what routes and frequency? It sounds like your employer (?) has some kind of deal with AA in order to offer the EXP challenge and bonus; is that the case, and if so, does your employer dictate what class of service you have to use on business trips?

Second, what is your home airport and what destinations do you prefer or travel to often?

The reason for these questions is that there's simply no comparison between Platinum and Executive Platinum in the AA scheme of things. The free systemwide upgrades by themselves are potentially worth thousands of dollars each, and if you're a frequent traveler, believe me, the EXP agents are worth their weight in gold when something goes sideways during the middle of the trip. Ask EXPs what they value most about the status and I'd bet a majority answer, "the EXP desk" without a pause.

By comparison, the perks that go with Platinum are fine, but in practice are nowhere near as good as those for EXPs. The 500-mile upgrades, for example, are okay if you fly on small-market segments, but if you live in any major city, particularly if it's an AA/US hub like DFW or NYC, getting 500-mile upgrades to clear can be extremely iffy. As an EXP you don't need the 500-milers, your upgrades are comped and you go to the top of the list.

25K EQP in three months can be expensive, BUT, depending on where you are and how much you're willing to spend, not impossible. For example, right now you can fly LAX-JFK-MIA-PTY-MIA-JFK-LAX in business/first for around $800. That's around 9000 miles, which would earn around 14,000 EQP. Two of those trips in 90 days would get you more than your 25K EQP for EXP, you'd have around 100,000 miles in the bank (counting the bonus) and a pocketful of SWUs to use, both this year and next. (If you're using the cents per mile metric, those two $800 RTs plus the signup bonus comes to around 1.6 cpm.) This forum on FT - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/premium-fare-deals-740/ - is your friend.

So I'd give serious consideration to shooting for EXP - the risk/reward ratio is way too high not to.

kevinsayswhatsup

1. I will be travelling in the future, but for now as a new hire I won't be travelling too often (however I am planning on going on a few long distance vacations in the next few 2 years). note: I may be going on more trips after 6 months.

2. My home airport is philly but I would travel to NYC airports, and if I go on vacation I prefer out of the country locations.

3. Thanks for explaining how much more the EXP is worth, like my coworkers I am still very new to this/ not sure how to value everything correctly. I just might do it if I can find the right flights to get to 25k EQP

Efrem

I've been both. Haven't been EP* for several years now, though. No more business travel.

EP is way ahead of Platinum in terms of its benefits - but only if you fly enough to take advantage of them, and in your case only if you'll do that flying in the next 18 months or so. In terms of its value down the road, you won't earn miles any faster than you would if you were Platinum, and having been EP when you earned the miles won't do you any good in trying to redeem them for awards if you're not still EP then. And, while the system-wide upgrades are great, it doesn't seem that you'll get any when you get EP under this deal. Unless you left out that part, you'll have to re-qualify on your own in 2016 to get any. It didn't sound as if that's likely. If I read things right, forget about them.

[Edited to add: The OP added in post 9 that the 8 SWUs are included. That new information changes things. I'd now go for EP.]

So, while I know the conventional FT wisdom is to go for the highest level of status possible, I know how tempting those black luggage tags and phone # are, and I miss the EP desk, you should take a long, hard look at whether you'll use it enough within the time frame that you'll have it to justify the expense and the time - or if it's just for "bragging rights." Those might be worth a lot, but recognize them for what they are.

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*That's the abbreviation they use inside AA. I dated an EP desk agent for a while; she made sure I got that right. "EXP" is FlyerTalk jargon. You won't see it in many other places.

kevinsayswhatsup

Honestly what I want most is the most frequent flier miles for the best price, it doesn't matter much to me (comfort) if I ride economy or first class. So with that said would you recommend just platinum? (due to the 50k bonus miles + 2x ff miles for 2 years)

Thunderroad

Gardyloo and Efrem both provide excellent analyses.

If you just want the most usable miles possible, I'd suggest that, yeah, platinum should be sufficient for you. Now, if it were me, I'd value the better complimentary upgrade odds, the eight systemwide upgrades and the other perks that come with EP status. But I can see your point of view.

One other thing to keep in mind if you want to accumulate miles: you can get lots of AA miles and other airline miles via various credit card sign-ups or initial spending on those cards.

Efrem

However:

1. He does not get the 8 SWUs with this quick route to EP.

2. He does not get the 8 SWUs next year unless he requalifies on his own. If he does that, he gets them whether or not he takes the quick route to EP now.

In other words, the SWUs - while undoubtedly an attractive part of earning EP in the normal way - are totally, absolutely irrelevant to this decision.

[Edited to add: The OP added in post 9 that the 8 SWUs are included. That new information changes things. I'd now go for EP.]

Gardyloo

I forgot about the no-SWU feature of these challenges. In that case, unless the OP was really going to be flying a lot in the next year, I'd also probably just go for Plat.

kevinsayswhatsup

Actually you do get the 8 system wide upgrades but I don't value them much. I'd much rather have as much bang for my buck as possible if that makes sense. I found a way to get the 25k economy miles for $1200 to get the plat. Do you think it would be possible to do it business class 25k miles for under $1600?

Gardyloo

Bear in mind the metric for qualification is elite qualifying points. While cheap economy seats earn 1/2 point per flown mile, business, premium economy, and first class seats earn 1 1/2 points per mile.

So for the offer you're facing, it goes like this -

Gold, 5000 EQP = 10K flown miles in the lowest discount economy buckets, 5K in the likes of L or V, and 3,333 in the pointy end.

Platinum, 24K flown in discount economy, 12K in L, V etc., and 8K in business/first.

EXP, 50K/25K/16,666.

So here are some examples of fares that might get you to the target.

PHL-DFW-SCL-DFW-PHL, first class to Dallas, then business to/from Santiago. $1626 with numerous departures (48 hour stay) - 12,344 flown miles, 18,516 EQP.

PHL-LAX-PHL, first class, $844, 4803 flown, 7205 EQP. Two reps = 14,410 EQP, $1688.

PHL-CLT-AUA-CLT-PHL, $781, 4310 flown, 6465 EQP, x 2 = 12,930.

These are just a couple of fares pulled off ITA (which is a tool you would be well advised to learn) and far from exhaustive.

scoow

One additional consideration might be when you do the challenge. If you don't start travelling for six months, do you have the option of delaying the challenge for 6 months? That would let the company pay for some of your flights (might still need to pick up a mileage run) and you'll have a better idea of where & how much you will actually be flying in the future.

SJC AA

AA uses EXP in every ticketing confirmation email.

JDiver

That's true, but one doesn't negate the other. AA nomenclature is inconsistent, and sometimes plain weird. E.g. "prize winning miles" - a phrase I've not seen used recently, for redeemable miles.

EP and EXP are both used in various instances by AA, though EP seems to prevail there, EXP here. We pretty much understand what either means.

LXboy

Has been discussed in more detail here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

supermintyfresh

If I were in your shoes I'd probably go for EXP just for the additional benefits like no award change/close in booking fees (since you mentioned you would use the miles for vacation), SWUs, the list goes on...

I would do a PTY MR if you can get to LAX easily (check the Premium Fares MR), and that would net you ~18.5K EQP. The other 6.5K EQP can easily be done by booking a discount economy ticket in a fare class that nets you 1.0 EQP instead of 0.5 EQP per mile flown. A transcontinental flight would net you ~5K and maybe one more short distance regional trip? Or you can just splurge and book business.