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Now that 2018 is almost complete and AA has made elite as difficult as possible, I wanted to hear ideas for your best last minute EQDs? Have you flown the miles but are looking at the back of the bus due to missing the EQMs? Do you curse the day that AA merged with US Airways and became just another vanilla elite program?

--OR---

Did you figure out how to use partner airlines to make more EQMs? Are you a EQM expert and can tell someone how to bank $2K EQMs without even blinking? Have you secured your place in the front of the plane and figured out how to keep your seat in the front of the plane? Share your victory and insight. Be the AA Holiday EQM Hero.

HLCinCOU

I think maybe you just switched from EQD to EQM here? "Have you flown the miles but are looking at the back of the bus due to missing the EQMs" doesn't make sense.

Assuming you do indeed mean EQD throughout this paragraph, then sure, there are some ways to make EQD, and you identified a big one: partner flights in premium cabins. Basically you want to find a long/cheap flight on a partner with good EQD earning; each one is a little different, so google "aadvantage [partner airline name]" to see the table. Premium econ tickets seem to be a sweet spot right now. I'm done for the year (and EQD isn't usually my limiting factor) but next February I'm flying a SFO-HKG-BKK rt on CX in W for ~3100 EQD on a Black Friday deal that cost me $1150. Another option is figuring out how to book a "special fare" (for which there's another table) through an OTA or credit card portal. These are usually best in economy (at least in 2018; the table turns into a pumpkin next January) on long flights; hope you have some SWUs handy so you don't end up in coach TPAC.

For immediate use my best option would be the CX Black Friday deals, specifically the premium econ ones. They're good for another 2 days. Don't forget to put HOLIDAY in the promo code box...even if you start at the landing site it doesn't apply automatically; conversely, lots of flights that aren't listed at the landing page (like my SFO-BKK) can get the same discount, so just search for what you actually want and then put HOLIDAY in.

Note that you'll spend some significant money any way you slice this. I've seen as good as about 4 EQD/$ but that's rare; a more typical "good deal" is 2x or so. Good luck!

kabroui

I grabbed one of the Black Fridays Premium economy deals as well (LAX-HKG-BKK), but the fare code is 'E' not 'W' which means 20% of miles as opposed to 22%. Also I couldn't find a connecting flight to BKK that had PE available, so I'm in an exit row seat in Y (H fare that earns 15%). Still figuring it will net me over 3k EQD's though.

In any case I'm going to Thailand for around $1K and NOT in Y so I'm a happy camper... I've also had good luck as Emerald with getting upgraded to J on CX, especially on the HKG-BKK segment, so will hope for the best there. If not it''s only around a 3 hour flight.

HLCinCOU

Note that the bigger deal with the E fare class is that you can't upgrade it. At least that's what CX told me on the phone when I inquired. I'm booked in E for SFO-HKG and R for HKG-BKK; would have really liked to get R for both, but it doubled the price.

HLCinCOU

So, having now taken my BKK trip, I have a few interesting notes on this subject...

1. Premium economy on CX is not nearly as nice as I expected. The seat struck me as a completely normal economy seat, whereas I was expecting something more like a domestic first seat. I assume I had more pitch than regular econ, and presumably the service was better, but it was definitely underwhelming.

2. I went to some trouble to make sure and pick the BKK flights on planes that had premium econ. Most did not, as you mentioned...I had to work at getting the right dates/times when they had it. Turns out this was a great decision, but not for the reason I thought. I went to that trouble because I thought it would be a lot better in premium econ vs. regular econ; as I mention above that's not really true. However, as it ended up...they swapped equipment on both of those flights to planes without premium economy, and then they gave me free upgrades to business! Even better, they apparently put me in a paid business fare bucket (I) and I earned EQD at 25% based on that (only for those flights; the SFO-HKG ones still earned at 20%).

3. The "unupgradeability" of the E fare bucket is less ironclad than the phone agents led me to believe. On the return I spent a few hours in the Wing lounge at HKG (that's the First Class lounge, and if you haven't been it's really great...I got in with my emerald OW status) and decided to inquire with the front-desk folk about possible upgrades. I figured they'd tell me "sorry, you have an E fare, can't do anything" or maybe at best offer the J upgrade for a high number of dollars (which I was willing to entertain). But instead, to my great surprise and joy, they just poked the computer briefly and handed me a business class boarding pass! No money, no miles, no fuss....just a freebie upgrade. Reckon the moral of the story is "yep, the Wing is the best lounge in the world."

4. Total earnings for that $1150 ticket were 23930 EQM / 3298 EQD / 35622 RDM. Taking TPG's valuation (even though I think that's way high) on the RDMs, I got about $500 back that way, meaning I spent like $650 for the 3300 EQD and 24k EQM (oh, and for a flight to a great vacation!) which I think was just a crazy deal.

All in all I feel like CX is a great option for juicing up your AA status.

Zacnlinc

@hlcCinCOU: I couldn't agree with you more regarding being underwhelming with CX PE. Last year I took CX to HKG then ICN with return back to SFO. 2 (TPAC) of the four legs I was op-up from PE to J. And even with the J upgrade I was unimpressed still. The seat pitch and the service was good. Food and entertain were ok. The price was better than AA so that's why I selected the flights and besides, I wanted to give them a try since it's actually a nonstop flight to HKG out of SFO. Have been tired of making the short trek down to LAX to only be delayed several times on the monthly treks to HKG.

This year I opted to just take CX for the HKG-ICN legs in PE and again, have been unimpressed. But I will say that I like the GA policing they do before boarding. A helpful GA perhaps saw me looking at the J and PE signage and cam over to inquire with me if there was a problem. He looked at my BP and moved me over the OWE F queue area! If only AA had such a protocol of GA policing the queues.