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
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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)
Feb 27, 2018, 9:17 pm
#541
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: SAN
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, American Air, National Car
Posts: 1,131
Does buying into MCE or preferred seats - upgrades after ticketing - count towards EQD ? I’ll have 25k miles soon on $1600 spend ... want reasonable ways of getting back to gold , hoping to avoid a $1000 mileage/spend run
Mar 1, 2018, 9:18 pm
#542
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2002
Location: NC
Programs: AAConciergeKey/1MM, DL DM/2 MM, UA Gold,Hilton Diamond, IHG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 11,967
It is still unclear despite various sources if QR YQ counts toward the total when determining AA EQD. I am specifically looking at a MCT-BKK fare with a YQ of $300, which is 40% of the overall business class fare so it is a huge difference. Clearly, AA is trying to make this as difficult as possible to understand to deter people from taking advantage of it beyond what their regulatory rules allow. Can anyone tell me if QR YQ counts as the fare total when it comes to considering AA EQD?
Mar 1, 2018, 10:54 pm
#543
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,584
It is still unclear despite various sources if QR YQ counts toward the total when determining AA EQD. I am specifically looking at a MCT-BKK fare with a YQ of $300, which is 40% of the overall business class fare so it is a huge difference. Clearly, AA is trying to make this as difficult as possible to understand to deter people from taking advantage of it beyond what their regulatory rules allow. Can anyone tell me if QR YQ counts as the fare total when it comes to considering AA EQD?
For partner airlines, price is irrelevent since EQD is calculated based on distance and fare basis
For travel on AA, YQ does count
Mar 2, 2018, 8:53 am
#544
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, LT Gold
Posts: 3,148
Mar 10, 2018, 2:45 pm
#545
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,110
(for an itinerary with several carriers on a ticket not issued by AA)
Mar 10, 2018, 8:38 pm
#546
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: New York
Programs: AA, CX, Hyatt, Marriott
Posts: 1,484
For AA, if it has a non-AA flight number, it will follow the flight number carriers. Follow the tables above. If it has an AA flight number, chances are it will be special fare, follow this table: https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...cial-fares.jsp
Mar 11, 2018, 11:34 am
#547
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,212
A possibly interesting situation with 2 tckets that I came across
2 ATW tickets with a couple of AA segments. Originally made as 1 booking with 2 passengers ticketed by QF
3 or 4 changes were made to the itinerary. The last one had to be done on separate dates due to availability. On one day JFK-NRT was changed to AA codedhare rather than the JL code - a couple of weeks later managed to change the other ticket ( since the passengers were keen on the extra EQMs for the AA flight numbers)
The AA codeshare flight to JFK credited as Distance - data unavailable for both. For 2 AA sectors ( which hadnt been touched ) for JFK-LAX and LAS-MIA, one of the bookings, JFK-LAX credited as Fare and the other credited as Distance - data unavailable
Led to eanings
EQM EQD Base Bonus Total
JFK-LAX Distance 4950 867 2475 3342 5817
JFK-LAX Fare 4950 118 590 354 944
LAS-MIA Distance 4350 762 2175 2937 5112
LAS-MIA Fare 4350 104 520 312 832
Both tickets were booked on the same day underwent exactly the same changes and were for exactly the same routing; the only difference was that the last change caused a split of the bookings and the changes were made on diferent days
Ended up with a difference between the 2 bookings of 9153 award miles and 1407 EQDs
2 ATW tickets with a couple of AA segments. Originally made as 1 booking with 2 passengers ticketed by QF
3 or 4 changes were made to the itinerary. The last one had to be done on separate dates due to availability. On one day JFK-NRT was changed to AA codedhare rather than the JL code - a couple of weeks later managed to change the other ticket ( since the passengers were keen on the extra EQMs for the AA flight numbers)
The AA codeshare flight to JFK credited as Distance - data unavailable for both. For 2 AA sectors ( which hadnt been touched ) for JFK-LAX and LAS-MIA, one of the bookings, JFK-LAX credited as Fare and the other credited as Distance - data unavailable
Led to eanings
EQM EQD Base Bonus Total
JFK-LAX Distance 4950 867 2475 3342 5817
JFK-LAX Fare 4950 118 590 354 944
LAS-MIA Distance 4350 762 2175 2937 5112
LAS-MIA Fare 4350 104 520 312 832
Both tickets were booked on the same day underwent exactly the same changes and were for exactly the same routing; the only difference was that the last change caused a split of the bookings and the changes were made on diferent days
Ended up with a difference between the 2 bookings of 9153 award miles and 1407 EQDs
Would have an interesting fare later on ORD-LAX on AA metal ticketed probably by CX, in I fare. I wish I could get distance-based credit for ORD-LAX AA number CX ticketed for unknown fare, but if it were not clear at all, I may as well put these two segments on BA or MPC.
Last edited by PaulInTheSky; Mar 12, 2018 at 1:21 pm
Mar 11, 2018, 11:49 am
#548
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
If it is marketed by AA (ie has an AA flight number and a codeshare on X) AA has all of the fare information. They are the ones that control the ticket for that segment and would do all of the fare recognition. Who it is ticketed by is irrelevant. It’s all about the airline code (marketing carrier) shown on the ticket.
The problem we run into is how AA knows how much the ticket costs if it were marketed by AA but ticketed by another airline? If it were JV partners, they probably know the fare information. Would have an interesting fare later on ORD-LAX on AA metal ticketed probably by CX, in I fare. Do fares of JFK-LAX and LAS-MIA count as a fair fraction of your ATW tickets?
I wish I could get distance-based credit for ORD-LAX AA number CX ticketed for unknown fare, but if it were not clear at all, I may as well put these two segments on BA or MPC.
I wish I could get distance-based credit for ORD-LAX AA number CX ticketed for unknown fare, but if it were not clear at all, I may as well put these two segments on BA or MPC.
Mar 11, 2018, 3:31 pm
#549
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,212
If it is marketed by AA (ie has an AA flight number and a codeshare on X) AA has all of the fare information. They are the ones that control the ticket for that segment and would do all of the fare recognition. Who it is ticketed by is irrelevant. It’s all about the airline code (marketing carrier) shown on the ticket.
Last edited by PaulInTheSky; Mar 11, 2018 at 5:19 pm
Mar 11, 2018, 3:39 pm
#550
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,584
I know it doesn't matter who tickets the itinerary. However, as Dave Noble points out, there are cases where AA cannot find the fare information, which is why one of his tickets is credited as distance-based fare information unavailable. I have got special fares/fare info unavailable from travel packages before. Usually, fare information not available occurs when flight changes other than SDC or Standby especially during date of departure. I can tell you one of my travel packages have the fares showing fare information not available right out of the box before eVIP is applied. The reason why I knew that was because EP desk and rate desk wanted to wait for the fare information to be available 24 hours after I booked the trip.
AA may not know the full details of a fare. Just because there is an AA marketed segment, does not mean that it is an AA fare
Mar 12, 2018, 9:21 am
#551
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, LT Gold
Posts: 3,148
I had an AA-sold ticket to TLV last December. On the outbound, I had an LHR-TLV on BA that was not an AA flight number.
Connection blown by a MX issue that delayed our LHR arrival. AA rebooked me on LY.
Never got credit in my AAdvantage account. Called AA and they basically said what's being discussed here... that they had to credit it on distance, but they could not give me EQD for that LHR-TLV portion.
So the system has some kinks, still, that need to be ironed out.
Connection blown by a MX issue that delayed our LHR arrival. AA rebooked me on LY.
Never got credit in my AAdvantage account. Called AA and they basically said what's being discussed here... that they had to credit it on distance, but they could not give me EQD for that LHR-TLV portion.
So the system has some kinks, still, that need to be ironed out.
Apr 7, 2018, 6:53 pm
#552
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 199
What would be the EQM/EQD and miles earned for this flight, for a AA Gold member?
FLL-MAA
Also, how do I find out before such a booking about EQD/EQM and miles earned? Will such information, if it is booked at AA.com, be available before booking?
Thanks in advance.
FLL-MAA
Also, how do I find out before such a booking about EQD/EQM and miles earned? Will such information, if it is booked at AA.com, be available before booking?
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by raghu; Apr 7, 2018 at 6:58 pm Reason: error correction
Apr 7, 2018, 7:23 pm
#553
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: AA EP
Posts: 2,203
Since it has a BA native flight I I doubt there would be a calculation available when u purchase. And there isn’t a way to be 100% e act on the EQDs as you don’t know the allocation of the fare between AA and BA between FLL and MAA — nor would AA reservations or AAdvantage.
The eqms u can easily calculate based on mileage. RDMs and EQDs u can Only guess at. Allocate 50% of the outbound fare to the AA portion.
.
The eqms u can easily calculate based on mileage. RDMs and EQDs u can Only guess at. Allocate 50% of the outbound fare to the AA portion.
.
What would be the EQM/EQD and miles earned for this flight, for a AA Gold member?
FLL-MAA
Also, how do I find out before such a booking about EQD/EQM and miles earned? Will such information, if it is booked at AA.com, be available before booking?
Thanks in advance.
FLL-MAA
Also, how do I find out before such a booking about EQD/EQM and miles earned? Will such information, if it is booked at AA.com, be available before booking?
Thanks in advance.