AA Base Miles Reference - Which Tool Most Accurate?
 

Hi

I am planning a trip on CX Premium economy from SFO-HKG-BKK-HKG-SFO to put me over the top for EXP. I am trying to get the exact base miles that AA will use to calculate EQM and EQD's for this routing. I checked GCMap.com and compared it against my past activity on AA.com and there seems to be a few miles discrepancy between the two, so not sure what base mile reference AA uses.

As it stands, if I use GCMap.com to calculate base miles, I qualify with just 35 miles over the 100k limit. I want to double check before I book the trip and add additional segments if needed, so I don't end up short on the qualification with just a few miles left.

Can anyone point me to the source of truth for base miles that AA uses?

Thanks!

Not sure what source CX uses to calculate mileage.

milecalc.com says your route is 15,952 miles
expertflyer.com says your route is 15,928 miles

I believe EF is the accurate number. milecalc and GCM seem to overestimate mileage very slightly. I'm flying CX LAX-HKG tomorrow and checked on the stated distance. CX uses 7,248, which matches the distance stated by EF. milecalc and GCM say it's 7,260.

That said, you'll be slightly under the 100k needed if you book that flight.

Thanks! The question was what AA uses to calculate milage not CX - since I will be crediting to AA

You'll never get the 100% accuracy and precision that you'd feel reassured by, becase AA is not reliable either: AA's miles distances between city pairs do change on occasion. With a slender margin, I'd add a segment or prepare to book another economical local flight to complete.

My recent flight distances on AA flights match the slightly longer figures on milecalc.com (not EF).

However, AA's distance calculation may not be relevant here.

While you're crediting to AA, you are flying on CX, so CX is going to be paying AA for the EQM/EQD/RDM you earn on that flight. As such, I'd say it's likely that CX will be responsible for calculating distances and reporting that information to AA.

I'd recommending doing what JDiver suggests and booking one more short flight.

I don't think CX is going to be responsible. Every time I had CX ticketed, AM earning is off from the AA credits/EQM. While on the same flight ticketed as an AA codeshare, the credits/EQM reconcile to the same number AA calculated mentioned above. If CX were responsible for the calculation, the AM earning should have reconciled to AA credits.

It is AA calculations

If you do a dummy booking at aa.com for a SFO-HKG-BKK roundtrip booked as AA codeshares it will show you the AAdvantage earning when you click through. I just did this, AA awards 15,958 EQM...6 more miles than GCM.

In discount economy, this should theoretically match the base miles for booking the CX flight numbers.

Unless this flight was in late December where there would be little chance to fly more, I would just book it as-is and see what it credits before spending more $$ on another trip or to add segments, etc.

Changing base miles
 

Dear All, enclosed are two screenshots of the exact same flight taken this year, although in slightly different fare classes. The earnings have changed a bit between January and August. Does anyone know why this has happened?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...8fef32a7e2.png

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ff2e37772d.jpg