I do not know what the minimum AirPass purchase for CK is today. The minimum was not $75K as of 1-Feb-2018 (or even some months later). If it changed in 2018, it changed later in the year.

If anybody is serious about purchasing an AirPass, just contact them and ask any questions you have. They’re very open with information.

It seems the invites generally come out starting in the first week of December. Finishing my last big trip. It’s quite likely my last long haul this year and hopeful 2018 ends with a Key. Already have a couple trips booked to Europe next year and crave the LHR transfers.

Finishing with 88k EQD and 260k EQM with only one premium codeshare not on AA metal (JFK-HEL).

Based on the reading here looks like I’m close but hope I’m not just shy of the mark!

Everything I write here is due to several years of research, talking to AA employees and CKers as well as what’s been written about AA in the press. I have then made some educated guesses to fill in the blanks, and there are many. So this is reflective of opinion rather than fact; however, it’s a very educated opinion.

From what I understand, the invites will roll out through most of December. If you log in daily, you’ll probably find out that way, but they will also email you quickly to notify you. You get the letter in the mail a few weeks later.

I’m not sure what the selection process is, but I like to imagine it’s a selection committee in a conference room for an hour or two each day. They put up your stats on a powerpoint slide and vote on if you should make the cut. There is nothing that suggests that criteria is anything but subjective. Obviously the spend/profit that you command is the prime factor, but I’m certain there are other considerations depending on their sales and marketing plans.

Home airport seems to be a decent factor. I’m DFW which is probably the most competitive because we heavy fliers don’t have a ton of leverage to switch airlines. They likely cap the number of keys at each airport. It could be something as simple as the top 0.1% of profitable people per airport to keep the system from being overwhelmed. They could also do it by region as your comcierge teams really only work at the hubs and some other key airports. Since DFW is the biggest connecting airport in the system, that would expand the competition for keys even more. People who are based in nonhubs are going to be prioritized as they can just as easily connect with another airline so are more important for retention purposes.

We also have a lot of corporations here so there are a lot of VIP keys for senior execs.

AA has a ton of personal information on all of us. I remember reading an article where they have admitted to retaining frequent flier information and are continuously improving ways to use it. I believe the CK selection is a capstone result of all that information to retain profitable customers. It’s been mentioned somewhere that the top 1% of fliers generate a much greater proportion of the airline’s profit. I forget the number but it is something like 20%. Everyone has a secret Eagle score that tells reps how valuable you are and they can compensate you commensurate to that score. If you are DFW or MIA based, it’s nearly impossible to get a top score because they’re so dominant there.

So I wouldn’t look at it as a reward, more so a sign of your true value to the airline.

based on my understanding, you can only get 8 swu maximum for a year before 2019. How can you have 18 swus expire at the same time?

Is there a mid year review for CK invitations?
I started flying AA last July and had 49K EQD last year and this year so far I’m at:
62K EQD
197K EQM
24 EQS