Corporate "Miles" to Upgrade Employee Status?
Aug 6, 2019, 1:45 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,135
Corporate "Miles" to Upgrade Employee Status?
I am within 2,000 EQMs and way over EQDs for AA Gold status (thanks to a London trip for work). Unfortunately, it does not seem I am needed for any more trips the rest of the year at the office, and mileage runs out of PHL appear costly or inconvenient (i.e. 6 AM flights the day after arriving if I do an overnight). I already booked Thanksgiving travel on WN, and all I have left for flying otherwise is a one way to BUF.
Our corporate travel agent mentions the company accrues "miles" for booking our flights that they can use to put an employee over the qualifier. She also mentioned she does that after the year ends (I thought all qualifying activity had to be done by 12/31). Is this such a thing? I want to know if I really need to string together a mileage run.
Our corporate travel agent mentions the company accrues "miles" for booking our flights that they can use to put an employee over the qualifier. She also mentioned she does that after the year ends (I thought all qualifying activity had to be done by 12/31). Is this such a thing? I want to know if I really need to string together a mileage run.
Aug 6, 2019, 2:32 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,056
You can easily do 2000 EQM in day without having to overnight and if you wait until the slow season in the fall there are many reasonably priced options on AA. PHL-MIA is available from $162 roundtrip ($70 more for main cabin) on many Tue/Wed/Sat in September.
Last edited by xliioper; Aug 6, 2019 at 2:38 pm
Aug 6, 2019, 3:05 pm
#6
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,951
Last edited by ashill; Aug 6, 2019 at 4:40 pm Reason: Incorrect per Dave Noble
Aug 6, 2019, 3:25 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: ORD
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 136
If your company participates in AA's BusinessExtra program, then, yes, they can upgrade you to Gold using the points that have been earned by the travelers. These points are in addition to the frequent flyer miles that the travelers earn. The upgrade can occur at any time during the year. I use our corporate points to upgrade individuals to Gold if they lost their status the prior year but will be traveling more frequently in the next year. I usually do it in early January and it takes a week or two for American to process the request.
Aug 6, 2019, 3:28 pm
#8
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,597
According to https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...false&from=Nav
Originally Posted by aa.com
EQMs
EQMs represent a percentage of the actual miles flown (including applicable minimum mileage guarantees) based on the airline and the booking code purchased.
AAdvantage® members have a base of 500 EQMs for flights under 500 miles on American and oneworld® airlines (250 EQMs for flights under 500 miles on Basic Economy fares). To calculate final EQMs earned, the multiplier for airline and booking code flown is applied to this base.
EQMs do not include class-of-service bonus miles, elite bonuses, other participant miles, any other AAdvantage® bonus mileage, or miles obtained from BuyMiles or GiftMiles.
EQMs represent a percentage of the actual miles flown (including applicable minimum mileage guarantees) based on the airline and the booking code purchased.
AAdvantage® members have a base of 500 EQMs for flights under 500 miles on American and oneworld® airlines (250 EQMs for flights under 500 miles on Basic Economy fares). To calculate final EQMs earned, the multiplier for airline and booking code flown is applied to this base.
EQMs do not include class-of-service bonus miles, elite bonuses, other participant miles, any other AAdvantage® bonus mileage, or miles obtained from BuyMiles or GiftMiles.
Aug 6, 2019, 3:38 pm
#9
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Either get a commitment from your corporate TA / travel desk that they will do this for you, cancel your WN tickets and rebook on AA, or find a dirt cheap 4-segment run which can be done in a day xPHL. Remember that with WN, even if the tickets are non-refundable, you can use the value of the tickets for a year.
Aug 6, 2019, 4:15 pm
#10
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: AUS / GRK
Programs: AA, HHonors, Hertz
Posts: 13,485
Either get a commitment from your corporate TA / travel desk that they will do this for you, cancel your WN tickets and rebook on AA, or find a dirt cheap 4-segment run which can be done in a day xPHL. Remember that with WN, even if the tickets are non-refundable, you can use the value of the tickets for a year.
It doesn't have to be from PHL either. Depending on where you live, ABE might be a short drive, and it is possible you can find some better deals from there. I regularly travel to AVP to visit family and the fares are often less to ABE/AVP than to PHL.
OP might want to also check out the mileage run deals forum:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/
Or possibly this thread in the discussion forum (there's a template which makes it much easier for folks to help):
AA/One World: 2019 Consolidated Mileage/Status/Challenge Runs help needed
Aug 6, 2019, 6:00 pm
#11
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHX, SEA
Programs: Avis President's Club, Global Entry, Hilton/Marriott Gold. No more DL/AA status.
Posts: 4,422
Not bad, and < $200 is probably a fair price to pay for AA Gold, considering the Plat challenge is about $500 and comes with MCE and Oneworld sapphire (lounges on another London trip)!