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)
Oct 14, 2019, 9:25 pm
#691
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Tucson, AZ
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist, National EE
Posts: 253
Yes, it is OK to be on AA metal. The marketing is what matters here. We have a BA-cded J flight early next year on 77W LAX-LHR, and it will earn based on distance.
As to your earlier question "Why would anyone ticket a premium economy on BA as an AA flight number and an AA flight as an AA flight number (assuming cost is same/similar)? If ticketing as BA the EQD earnings are much better and EQMs the same.":
Often the prices are not the same. People may book on AA.com and not realize. People not chasing status may not care. BA-coded flight on AA metal cannot be upgraded with SWU or Avios. Probably other possible reasons.
Cheers.
As to your earlier question "Why would anyone ticket a premium economy on BA as an AA flight number and an AA flight as an AA flight number (assuming cost is same/similar)? If ticketing as BA the EQD earnings are much better and EQMs the same.":
Often the prices are not the same. People may book on AA.com and not realize. People not chasing status may not care. BA-coded flight on AA metal cannot be upgraded with SWU or Avios. Probably other possible reasons.
Cheers.
Oct 14, 2019, 9:38 pm
#692
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
New to FT, sorry if this question is too broad (if so, some links will suffice).
What is the best way for me to get 1500 EQDs by the end of the year? Based out of GCM and will be flying to LAS between Dec 8-10. Also happy to do a flight just to get the miles.
Thanks in advance
What is the best way for me to get 1500 EQDs by the end of the year? Based out of GCM and will be flying to LAS between Dec 8-10. Also happy to do a flight just to get the miles.
Thanks in advance
Oct 14, 2019, 9:49 pm
#694
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
So you will need to earn additional 1204 EQDs plus your flight to las to have 1500 total. You can try to find cheap PE fare to Europe coded as BA or AY in PE. PE on BA, AY or IB earn 20% of distance flown regardless of how much ticket cost. If you have AA marketed flight you would have to spend 1204 USD excluding taxes to get EQDs needed.
another way is to spend 50k on Barclays aviator silver card by the end of the year. That will give you 3000 EQDs.
another way is to spend 50k on Barclays aviator silver card by the end of the year. That will give you 3000 EQDs.
Oct 14, 2019, 10:24 pm
#695
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 14
So you will need to earn additional 1204 EQDs plus your flight to las to have 1500 total. You can try to find cheap PE fare to Europe coded as BA or AY in PE. PE on BA, AY or IB earn 20% of distance flown regardless of how much ticket cost. If you have AA marketed flight you would have to spend 1204 USD excluding taxes to get EQDs needed.
another way is to spend 50k on Barclays aviator silver card by the end of the year. That will give you 3000 EQDs.
another way is to spend 50k on Barclays aviator silver card by the end of the year. That will give you 3000 EQDs.
Oct 14, 2019, 10:25 pm
#696
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
Oct 15, 2019, 6:14 am
#697
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 18
New to FT, sorry if this question is too broad (if so, some links will suffice).
What is the best way for me to get 1500 EQDs by the end of the year? Based out of GCM and will be flying to LAS between Dec 8-10. Also happy to do a flight just to get the miles.
Thanks in advance
What is the best way for me to get 1500 EQDs by the end of the year? Based out of GCM and will be flying to LAS between Dec 8-10. Also happy to do a flight just to get the miles.
Thanks in advance
Oct 20, 2019, 3:55 pm
#698
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 30
Simple question.
Booking through a oneworld partner, say JAL, how are the EQD's calculated for legs that are within the US? Say, for instance, CLT - BOS - NRT - CGK. I understand how the EQD's and EQM's will post for BOS - NRT and NRT - CGK but am unsure about the CLT - BOS leg.
H is the fare code for CLT- BOS (booking PE overall, but normal economy where it's not offered). Can anyone help? I'm assuming it will be the H code on this page:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
not this:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
If it's the latter, how are EQD's calculated?
Booking through a oneworld partner, say JAL, how are the EQD's calculated for legs that are within the US? Say, for instance, CLT - BOS - NRT - CGK. I understand how the EQD's and EQM's will post for BOS - NRT and NRT - CGK but am unsure about the CLT - BOS leg.
H is the fare code for CLT- BOS (booking PE overall, but normal economy where it's not offered). Can anyone help? I'm assuming it will be the H code on this page:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
not this:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
If it's the latter, how are EQD's calculated?
Oct 20, 2019, 3:58 pm
#699
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
Simple question.
Booking through a oneworld partner, say JAL, how are the EQD's calculated for legs that are within the US? Say, for instance, CLT - BOS - NRT - CGK. I understand how the EQD's and EQM's will post for BOS - NRT and NRT - CGK but am unsure about the CLT - BOS leg.
H is the fare code for CLT- BOS (booking PE overall, but normal economy where it's not offered). Can anyone help? I'm assuming it will be the H code on this page:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
not this:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
If it's the latter, how are EQD's calculated?
Booking through a oneworld partner, say JAL, how are the EQD's calculated for legs that are within the US? Say, for instance, CLT - BOS - NRT - CGK. I understand how the EQD's and EQM's will post for BOS - NRT and NRT - CGK but am unsure about the CLT - BOS leg.
H is the fare code for CLT- BOS (booking PE overall, but normal economy where it's not offered). Can anyone help? I'm assuming it will be the H code on this page:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
not this:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
If it's the latter, how are EQD's calculated?
you should earn EQMs and EQDs for economy since you are flying in Y BOS CLT legs.
Oct 20, 2019, 4:16 pm
#700
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 30
It's coded as AA. I'm not questioning whether its economy. I'm questioning whether you earn on the AA chart or JAL chart? If it's the AA chart, how do you know the EQD's?
Oct 20, 2019, 4:23 pm
#701
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1,285
If it’s coded as AA you earn based on AA chart. You can call advantage and find out how much you will earn for each leg. Don’t think there is a way around it
Oct 26, 2019, 8:10 pm
#702
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Sydney
Programs: AA Exp, UA PP, IC Diamond, HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Centurion
Posts: 477
When I book a fight on aa.com and one segment of the whole itinerary has a partner airline code (in my case QF) and all other segments have AA code, how are EQD calculated?
Specifically, how do they calculate what fraction of the overall costs makes up the QF segment?
Is it: Status factor x (overall cost - taxes - cost for QF segment) + (distance of QF segment x booking class factor)? But how do I know the cost of the QF segment?
Specifically, how do they calculate what fraction of the overall costs makes up the QF segment?
Is it: Status factor x (overall cost - taxes - cost for QF segment) + (distance of QF segment x booking class factor)? But how do I know the cost of the QF segment?
Oct 26, 2019, 9:03 pm
#703
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP, Hyatt Glob, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, Total Wine & More Reserve
Posts: 4,524
When I book a fight on aa.com and one segment of the whole itinerary has a partner airline code (in my case QF) and all other segments have AA code, how are EQD calculated?
Specifically, how do they calculate what fraction of the overall costs makes up the QF segment?
Is it: Status factor x (overall cost - taxes - cost for QF segment) + (distance of QF segment x booking class factor)? But how do I know the cost of the QF segment?
Specifically, how do they calculate what fraction of the overall costs makes up the QF segment?
Is it: Status factor x (overall cost - taxes - cost for QF segment) + (distance of QF segment x booking class factor)? But how do I know the cost of the QF segment?
Oct 27, 2019, 10:28 am
#704
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Sydney
Programs: AA Exp, UA PP, IC Diamond, HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Centurion
Posts: 477
Oct 28, 2019, 2:04 am
#705
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Gatwick, UK
Programs: UA *G, BA Silver
Posts: 1,673
They don't do it by deduction - every segment on a ticket has a dollar value (that add up to the cost of the ticket - excluding taxes) and so for each AA-marketed flight you earn that dollar value. The QF flight you earn by distance.