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, well 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. Youll 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)
Jul 14, 2017, 12:09 pm
#301
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,815
Anyone have idea why any route involving a flight on CX is showing up as a regular fare (that is, not a special fare by lack of an asterisk after the fare code)? This doesn't seem to be the case for flights on other partner airlines. I've looked at multiple different dates and multiple different routes and routes with at least 1 CX flight always come up this way. The funny thing is, just a couple days ago, this wasn't happening.
This is an itinerary you purchased through AAVacations? How many hotel nights did you purchase with it?
The * is used with AAVacations flights to indicate whether those flights qualified for Special Fares, and the working theory was that the qualification criteria was your purchase of 3 or more hotel nights. So the qualification applied equally to all the flights. If they're not qualifying certain flights due to the operating carrier, they jolly well better be warning people of that up front, and they aren't. I'd say a call to AAVacations for clarification/correction is in order.
If you're not talking about AAVacations, then the significance of an * may or may not have anything to do with Special Fares, I should think.
Jul 14, 2017, 12:38 pm
#302
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,683
This is an itinerary you purchased through AAVacations? How many hotel nights did you purchase with it?
The * is used with AAVacations flights to indicate whether those flights qualified for Special Fares, and the working theory was that the qualification criteria was your purchase of 3 or more hotel nights. So the qualification applied equally to all the flights. If they're not qualifying certain flights due to the operating carrier, they jolly well better be warning people of that up front, and they aren't. I'd say a call to AAVacations for clarification/correction is in order.
If you're not talking about AAVacations, then the significance of an * may or may not have anything to do with Special Fares, I should think.
The * is used with AAVacations flights to indicate whether those flights qualified for Special Fares, and the working theory was that the qualification criteria was your purchase of 3 or more hotel nights. So the qualification applied equally to all the flights. If they're not qualifying certain flights due to the operating carrier, they jolly well better be warning people of that up front, and they aren't. I'd say a call to AAVacations for clarification/correction is in order.
If you're not talking about AAVacations, then the significance of an * may or may not have anything to do with Special Fares, I should think.
Jul 14, 2017, 1:06 pm
#303
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 51
AA vacations seems to be indicating that this would accrue based on fare, not distance. Also, I'm confused by your above point: its a code share flight, so wouldn't the accrue based on AA earning rules and not Cathay rules? And on the return leg (the one with a CX flight) AA192 is an AA flight on AA metal.
Jul 14, 2017, 1:06 pm
#304
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,815
But , with Cathay flights there is no choice between mileage and fare based earning - all eligible booking classes earn per distance - so is not relevant. Either passenger is booked in H class or higher and will earn as per distance or will be in a class lower than H and earn nothing
Jul 14, 2017, 1:06 pm
#305
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Posts: 33,542
Since the flights list as AA-operated, then the asterisk does matter, so Dave's contention would appear not to be correct in this case. And these would post by fare in this case.
I don't agree with the "working hypothesis" posted above, though, as everything used to show up with the asterisk (and that was before the wording on asterisks was added). Now some do, some don't, and length doesn't seem to play a role in what I've looked at.
As to warning in advance - they do with the wording change to indicated that only asterisk flights post by Special Fare.
Cheers.
I don't agree with the "working hypothesis" posted above, though, as everything used to show up with the asterisk (and that was before the wording on asterisks was added). Now some do, some don't, and length doesn't seem to play a role in what I've looked at.
As to warning in advance - they do with the wording change to indicated that only asterisk flights post by Special Fare.
Cheers.
Last edited by brp; Jul 14, 2017 at 1:08 pm Reason: looked athee details more closely
Jul 14, 2017, 1:25 pm
#306
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: BA Silver; Hilton Gold; IHG Diamond Ambassador; Marriott Gold
Posts: 2,815
AA vacations seems to be indicating that this would accrue based on fare, not distance. Also, I'm confused by your above point: its a code share flight, so wouldn't the accrue based on AA earning rules and not Cathay rules? And on the return leg (the one with a CX flight) AA192 is an AA flight on AA metal.
Since the flights list as AA-operated, then the asterisk does matter, so Dave's contention would appear not to be correct in this case. And these would post by fare in this case.
I don't agree with the "working hypothesis" posted above, though, as everything used to show up with the asterisk (and that was before the wording on asterisks was added). Now some do, some don't, and length doesn't seem to play a role in what I've looked at.
As to warning in advance - they do with the wording change to indicated that only asterisk flights post by Special Fare.
Cheers.
I don't agree with the "working hypothesis" posted above, though, as everything used to show up with the asterisk (and that was before the wording on asterisks was added). Now some do, some don't, and length doesn't seem to play a role in what I've looked at.
As to warning in advance - they do with the wording change to indicated that only asterisk flights post by Special Fare.
Cheers.
I'm interested in the DPs you've seen. Are you also seeing * usage correlate with operating carrier? I can see where they might treat CX-operated differently from BA-operated.
Jul 14, 2017, 1:26 pm
#307
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Matre-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Anyone have idea why any route involving a flight on CX is showing up as a regular fare (that is, not a special fare by lack of an asterisk after the fare code)? This doesn't seem to be the case for flights on other partner airlines. I've looked at multiple different dates and multiple different routes and routes with at least 1 CX flight always come up this way. The funny thing is, just a couple days ago, this wasn't happening.
Jul 14, 2017, 1:29 pm
#308
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Posts: 33,542
I didn't argue that the presence of the * was irrelevant. I argued (and still do) that the CX table should be irrelevant. Either a segment uses the Special Fares table or it uses the AA table, as all segments are AA-marketed.
I'm interested in the DPs you've seen. Are you also seeing * usage correlate with operating carrier? I can see where they might treat CX-operated differently from BA-operated.
As to the second- all the cases I've looked at recently were all AA metal and I see a mixed bag on the asterisk.
Cheers.
Jul 14, 2017, 1:35 pm
#309
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,683
The poster didn't indicate that it was an AA codeshare in the text part of the post , so based it on the information about it being a CX flight
If it was an AA marketed flight, then that is different and the asterisk does have relevance
Since I only click on links on FT in very rare cases, I didn't see that the post was incomplete in information
If it was an AA marketed flight, then that is different and the asterisk does have relevance
Since I only click on links on FT in very rare cases, I didn't see that the post was incomplete in information
Jul 14, 2017, 1:36 pm
#310
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Jul 14, 2017, 3:06 pm
#313
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AA-marketed flight with asterisk follows "Special Fare"
AA-marketed flight with no asterisk follows cost
Partner-marketed flight goes by partner table.
Cheers.
Jul 14, 2017, 3:34 pm
#314
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 51
Unclear in the sense that there is ambiguity in the flyer talk community as to when a flight is special fare v. distance and why certain AA-marketed flights get the asterisk and others don't.
Jul 14, 2017, 4:17 pm
#315
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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As to which do, and do not, have asterisk...I think that's so much unclear as following an undisclosed algorithm. They're not unclear - they just don't want to tell us
Now, what is unclear is why some post one way or another despite the asterisk
Cheers.