Adelphos

Can't you get the required EQM and EQD with a single round trip transcon in business?

Smiley90

Apologies, by "easy" I meant "efficient". E.g. you can get the EQM with a single connecting transcon in Y already, but not necessarily the EQD. The challenge requirements in total are still relatively easy to reach though.

skreemer6

Data points from my call:
Gold challenge without status: $120
Gold challenge with gold status: $300

If doing platinum challenge and meet the gold challenge requirements, you will get Gold. Rep confirmed this was official policy.

Can be backdated 5 days.

JDiver

Ancillary charges such as upgrade copay, baggage fees, change fees, etc. don't count for EQD, so it's pretty sure Challenge payments don't count forvEQD either.

jimmielin

Hi all,
I have two long-haul trips planned early this year but I need PLT to guest a colleague of mine on the 2nd trip -- if I take the challenge on January, it'll give me PLT until Jan 2018. What happens if I attain enough EQMs to reach PLT (50k EQM) (or PLT Pro 75k EQM) at some point later this year? (EQD is not a problem.) Will attaining 50k EQM by conventional means extend the challenge-earned PLT to Jan 2019 or only reaching a higher status will bump that date?

Thanks!

MADPhil

Taking a challenge will not affect your ability to earn status the conventional way and all miles earned in the calendar year will count towards it. It will be good until the end of January 2019.

jimmielin

Thanks!

LukeO9

As a side note/question, does a 2-leg, one-way flight (e.g. SAT-PHX-OAK) count for 1 or 2 segments?

ashill

Assuming the legs have different flight numbers, 2. If they have the same flight number (i.e. a direct flight), 1.

pineetta

I'm totally new to this FF game and have no idea what I should be doing. I am planning to fly Asia-USA on and off over the next few months, and am considering signing up for the AA Platinum Challenge but not sure if it is worth it. Here's my dilemma - hope someone can help me make sense of it!

Currently a loyal (patriotic) Qantas FF despite losing status years ago. With the planned flights, I'd be bumped up to QFF Gold pretty quickly. However, I will only be able to retain this status for the next year, as Qantas requires 4 segments flown on Qantas metal annually - unrealistic for me as I live in the US now, and my annual SYD-LAX-JFK flights are only considered 1 segment each way (what a rip!).

On the other hand, I can sign up for the AA Platinum Challenge, and likely complete it with the planned flights (booking AA coded CX flights), and end up at the same OW status. This status would last me until 2019. The downsides are that there is a cash outlay to sign up for the challenge, and I also can't guarantee that I will be able to book AA coded flights.

Lastly, I think that QFF Gold > AA Platinum in benefits, but I don't know enough to know if that's a fact or my own bias.

FlightNurse

What I haven't found is, how long do you have to get the EQM? 3 month, 6 months? Thinking about helping hubby get status.

getagb

It's a 3 month timeframe.

FlightNurse

Thanks I haven't seen anything posted about this.

MADPhil

Well it is in the Wiki

JonNYC

And, in this -extremely- recent, highly comprehensive listing of the terms for the present version of the challenge:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27697634-post6.html