Jun 8, 2016, 10:32 am
Last edit by: JDiver
Earning Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) on AA and partner airlines
Minimum Spend" requirement for each status tier began 1 Jan 2017
Minimum Spend" requirement for each status tier began 1 Jan 2017
In addition to the required EQM or EQS (same as 2016) to earn status in 2017 and onward one must also earn "Elite Qualifying Dollars" / "EQD" spend credit as follows (during the calendar year):
"Starting January 1, 2017, we’ll add Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) to our earning requirements. Qualify in 1 of 2 ways:
- Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) + Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs)
- Elite Qualifying Segments (EQSs) + Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs)
EQDs will be awarded based on:
- Ticket price (base fare plus carrier-imposed fees, excluding any government-imposed taxes and fees) on American-marketed flights
- Flights marketed by oneworld® carriers, "Special Fares" such as some AA Vacations flights, Thank You Points purchased fares, etc. earn EQDs based on a percentage of the flight distance and the fare class purchased
With the addition of EQDs, the rule that 4 segments must be traveled on American or American Eagle during the qualifying year to receive elite status has been eliminated.
NOTE: EQD credit varies for "Special Fares" (e.g. "select flights" included in AAVacations packages), and the chart for those changed on 11 Jan 2017. See here.2019 Status qualification tiers and requirements: link
- [*]
- [*]
- [*]
- [*]
aa.com: aa.com is updated to show EQM, EQD and RDM/AW for your convenience when booking and in your account for keeping informed about your accruals.
Another impact of EQD is on upgrade priority within status tiers instead of time of upgrade request (FYI only, not discussion here):
Change to upgrade priority to EQD-based priority
The way your upgrade request is prioritized changed in 2017. You’ll be listed according to the type of upgrade, by your elite status level followed by the number of EQDs earned in the last 12 months. The date of upgrade request will no longer be used except to break ties not resolved by higher priority levels. Applies both upgrade request and airport list if request goes to airport list.
Partners (AS and oneworld): accrual of EQM and EQD as reflected on charts on aa.com.
FAQ
Q. How will AA EQD be calculated?
Yes: Base fare plus carrier imposed fees, e.g. YQ etc. (Status buyup fees will count.)
No: Taxes, government or airport imposed fees, e.g. PSC, APD, TSA, etc. and ancillary fees (see below)
Q. How will flights on other oneworld carriers, AS, and "Special Fares" qualify for EQD?
Partner earning tables are here and special fare table here on aa.com.
Q. Will checked bag fees, seat purchases, LFBU and 500-mile upgrades, buy miles, or other products/service fees count toward earning award miles and EQDs? (AA FAQ)
No, only the base fare paid for your ticket including any carrier-imposed fees will count toward earning award miles and EQDs. Fees for other products or services will not be awarded miles or EQDs, including but not limited to the following: checked (or overweight) baggage fees, Admirals Club® memberships (or passes), Wi-Fi passes, in-flight food and beverage purchases, in-flight entertainment, unaccompanied minor fees, pet travel fees, 500-mile upgrades, mileage upgrade cash co-payments, Mileage Multiplier, BuyMiles, GiftMiles, ShareMiles or other mileage purchases, ticket change fees, ticketing fees, same-day confirmed flight change or standby fees and service charges. (Status buyup fees will count, however.)
Resources:
GLOSSARY:
EQD: Elite Qualifying Dollars (base fare + carrier imposed fees, - government imposed taxes and fees
EQM: Elite Qualifying Miles (accrual depends on fare basis, airline and base miles flown)
EQS: Elite Qualifying Segments (discrete segment marketed as AA)
Platinum Pro: new tier beginning 1/1/17 requiring $9,000 EQD and 75,000 EQM or 90 EQS in one calendar year
Links
Link to FT: JUST THE FACTS: EQD, status tier, other changes announced 6 Jun 2016
Link to AAdvantage Program Updates page on aa.com (including FAQ).
Link to Gary Leff's "View from the Wing" blog article on these changes.
Link to Ben "Lucky" Schlappig's take in "One Mile at a Time" on View From the Boarding Area
GUIDE: Earning EQD / Elite Qualifying Dollars on AA & partner airlines (as of 2019)
Nov 14, 2016, 1:00 pm
#31
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
Nov 14, 2016, 2:49 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Greener Pastures
Posts: 10,515
So, here's a super confusing question and if anyone can assist, I'd appreciate it:
Travel agent booked:
Flight 1: SYD-DFW on QF operated/coded (O-class)
Flight 2: DFW-IAD on AA operated/QF coded (O-class)
Flight 3: IAD-LAX on AA operated/coded (O-class)
Flight 4: LAX-SYD on AA operated/coded (O-class)
I paid $814 USD for the ticket, but ticket was purchased in non-US currency, not that it should make a difference, I think
I don't have a breakdown of what was QF's share and what was AA's share - just the overall ticket costs.
How do I figure out EQM and EQD for this fare? Or even earned miles (I'm an EXP - so 11 miles per dollar spent - but I don't know how much I spent on the AA portion).
When booking through an OTA, that information is never clearly transmitted to customers, so how does one figure it out? Do I need to get a paper itin printed at the airport next time I'm there (usually it shows fare basis and costs allocations on the paper itins)
Travel agent booked:
Flight 1: SYD-DFW on QF operated/coded (O-class)
Flight 2: DFW-IAD on AA operated/QF coded (O-class)
Flight 3: IAD-LAX on AA operated/coded (O-class)
Flight 4: LAX-SYD on AA operated/coded (O-class)
I paid $814 USD for the ticket, but ticket was purchased in non-US currency, not that it should make a difference, I think
I don't have a breakdown of what was QF's share and what was AA's share - just the overall ticket costs.
How do I figure out EQM and EQD for this fare? Or even earned miles (I'm an EXP - so 11 miles per dollar spent - but I don't know how much I spent on the AA portion).
When booking through an OTA, that information is never clearly transmitted to customers, so how does one figure it out? Do I need to get a paper itin printed at the airport next time I'm there (usually it shows fare basis and costs allocations on the paper itins)
Nov 14, 2016, 2:55 pm
#33
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
For award miles
Depends on whether it credits as fare or distance
If by fare and same split outbound and return
Outbound will be based on mileage earning table for QF
The inbound would count as $407 spend
For EQM, check earning table for QF
O class on QF earns 25% award miles and 50% EQMs
9,749 miles for SYD-DFW-IAD will give about 4870 EQMs and about 2370 award miles for the QF outbound
for the inbound 9776 miles will earn 9776 EQMs and should earn 407*5 = 2035 award miles
If it credits on distance then will earn 4,888 miles
Depends on whether it credits as fare or distance
If by fare and same split outbound and return
Outbound will be based on mileage earning table for QF
The inbound would count as $407 spend
For EQM, check earning table for QF
O class on QF earns 25% award miles and 50% EQMs
9,749 miles for SYD-DFW-IAD will give about 4870 EQMs and about 2370 award miles for the QF outbound
for the inbound 9776 miles will earn 9776 EQMs and should earn 407*5 = 2035 award miles
If it credits on distance then will earn 4,888 miles
Last edited by Dave Noble; Nov 14, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Nov 14, 2016, 3:00 pm
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Greener Pastures
Posts: 10,515
Would it be safe to say that I'd earn 5% of distance in EQD on the QF coded flighs & 100% of spend on the AA coded flights?
Nov 14, 2016, 3:04 pm
#35
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
you will either earn 407 EQDs or 976 EQDs for the AA flights depending on whether it counts as fare or distance
and 5% from the QF flights so about 487 EQDs
Nov 15, 2016, 3:40 pm
#36
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Greener Pastures
Posts: 10,515
This doesn't make sense to me as I would have assumed that I would get the 487 that you mention given the 9749 miles, and 5% of that being 487 EQD.
Unfortunately, it seems like I'll have to wait til it actually posts to reverse engineer it - but if they're right about the $592 for the AA fare, it'd mean $1,079 by the $487 math on a $814 fare, which is fairly decent, I think.
Nov 15, 2016, 4:52 pm
#37
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
I cannot see how the person came up with 38 EQDs for the Qantas segments. Qantas marketed flights accrue EQDs based on the distance flown. Unless your flight with Qantas is 720 mi. , 38 EQDs seems impossible
Nov 15, 2016, 8:14 pm
#38
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Everywhere
Programs: AA EXP - 3.7MM, Bonv LIFETIME Titan, HH Dmd, Hyatt Glob., Priority Clb Dmd, Ntnl Exec El., Sixt PLT
Posts: 1,680
So, after spending about 45 minutes on the phone withe EXP desk, who was on the phone with the Fare Desk, they came back and told me that I would earn 592 EQD for the AA coded/operated segments and 38 EQD for the QF Coded segments (regardless of whether they were QF or AA operated).
This doesn't make sense to me as I would have assumed that I would get the 487 that you mention given the 9749 miles, and 5% of that being 487 EQD.
Unfortunately, it seems like I'll have to wait til it actually posts to reverse engineer it - but if they're right about the $592 for the AA fare, it'd mean $1,079 by the $487 math on a $814 fare, which is fairly decent, I think.
This doesn't make sense to me as I would have assumed that I would get the 487 that you mention given the 9749 miles, and 5% of that being 487 EQD.
Unfortunately, it seems like I'll have to wait til it actually posts to reverse engineer it - but if they're right about the $592 for the AA fare, it'd mean $1,079 by the $487 math on a $814 fare, which is fairly decent, I think.
Nov 15, 2016, 11:07 pm
#39
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Everywhere you wanna be
Programs: AA EP | UA 1K
Posts: 1,657
I've done the math and buying Premium Economy tickets on partner airlines is a surefire way to get 100% RDMs plus a lot more EQDs than a comparable AA fare. 4 $1500 LAX-HKG premium economy trips on CX and you have over $12k EQD spending already.
Nov 16, 2016, 5:54 pm
#40
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,811
LAX-HKG-LAX is 14,520. I'm now seeing $1777/1827; and that's almost certainly discount PE which would leave you a few hundred short on EQD. Still, you are correct on the idea: a little over $7k in actual total spend gets you close to $12k in EQD, over 58k (plus elite bonus) RDM, and over 87k EQM. That's really going to be tough to beat.
Nov 16, 2016, 6:14 pm
#41
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
Two passengers on same PNR
If I buy a ticket for friend, on same PNR as me, against my FF account, does total spend count for price paid of total ticket(s) (less taxes etc) or is it only for me as the named passenger?
Haha, would AA deem me as a travel 'influencer' as I paid for someone else's ticket, or be Scrooge and not regard that as qualifying spend?
Haha, would AA deem me as a travel 'influencer' as I paid for someone else's ticket, or be Scrooge and not regard that as qualifying spend?
Nov 16, 2016, 6:53 pm
#42
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
If I buy a ticket for friend, on same PNR as me, against my FF account, does total spend count for price paid of total ticket(s) (less taxes etc) or is it only for me as the named passenger?
Haha, would AA deem me as a travel 'influencer' as I paid for someone else's ticket, or be Scrooge and not regard that as qualifying spend?
Haha, would AA deem me as a travel 'influencer' as I paid for someone else's ticket, or be Scrooge and not regard that as qualifying spend?
Nov 16, 2016, 8:50 pm
#43
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: San Jose, CA USA
Posts: 1,792
I'm Lifetime AAirpass and they have told us they will assign EQD as 20% of miles flown. So be it. But AAirpass charges us a 35% (or more) premium on our mileage bank (mine, like most others is not unlimited).
So I have called and asked why not have those of us who paid the premium mileage using our AAirpass get extra EQD credit for the miles deducted? Would seem to be equitable for me.
So far, AAirpass has had no answer for me.
So I have called and asked why not have those of us who paid the premium mileage using our AAirpass get extra EQD credit for the miles deducted? Would seem to be equitable for me.
So far, AAirpass has had no answer for me.
Nov 16, 2016, 8:56 pm
#44
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Nov 16, 2016, 10:34 pm
#45
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Everywhere you wanna be
Programs: AA EP | UA 1K
Posts: 1,657
LAX-HKG-LAX is 14,520. I'm now seeing $1777/1827; and that's almost certainly discount PE which would leave you a few hundred short on EQD. Still, you are correct on the idea: a little over $7k in actual total spend gets you close to $12k in EQD, over 58k (plus elite bonus) RDM, and over 87k EQM. That's really going to be tough to beat.