MiamiBill

For current AA Executive Platinum members, we need to hit 200,000 Loyalty Points in 2022 and that can be accomplished in a variety of ways that I outlined below.

** Please - lets keep this tread FOCUSED on strategy and optimized ways to maintain Executive Platinum, not on the new 2022 AA changes as there is another thread for that. **

In my personal opinion, the AA changes for 2022 is is BAD news as far as I am concerned and it will be much harder for me to hit Executive Platinum that I easily hit in June 2021 with the current covid reduced criteria. For precovid, I usually hit executive Platinum around October with the old criteria.

*** AA Executive Platinum members earn 11 points per USD spent on flights **

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Flying AA only (non AA credit card)

$18,190 in flights = 200,090 loyalty points
$0 in credit card spend = 0 loyalty points

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Combo flying AA and AA credit card spend

$10,000 in flights = 110,000 loyalty points
$90,000 in credit card spend = 90,000 loyalty points

$12,000 in flights = 132,000 loyalty points
$68,000 in credit card spend = 68,000 loyalty points

$15,000 in flights = 165,000 loyalty points
$35,000 in credit card spend = 35,000 loyalty points

$16,667 in flights = 183,337 loyalty points
$16,667 in credit card spend = 16,667 loyalty points

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AAdvantage® Aviator® Silver Mastercard incentive

Earn 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $20,000
Earn another 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $40,000
Earn another 5,000 Loyalty Points if you spend $50,000

Thus, if you spend $50,000 on the above credit card, you should earn 50,000 + 15,000 = 65,000 loyalty points
Then you would need to spend $12,273 in AA flights to earn the additional 135,000 loyalty points

$50,000 in credit card spend = 65,000 loyalty points
$12,273 in flights spend = 135,000 loyalty points

$75,000 in credit card spend = 90,000 loyalty points
$10,000 in flights spend = 110,000 loyalty points

$100,000 in credit card spend = 115,000 loyalty points
$7,728 in flights spend = 85,000 loyalty points

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Then to unlock Loyalty Choice Rewards, you need to fly 30 segments

Level 1 = 125,000 loyalty points
Level 2 = 200,000
Level 3 = 350,000
Level 4 = 550,000
Level 5 = 750,000

* this is forcing me to reconsider my favorite non-stop routes and puts pressure on me to chase segments.

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Funny AA statement on exploreamerican.com website states "With Executive Platinum status, your travel experience is virtually unlimited" whatever the hell that means.

355F1

This thread is my all-time favorite thread on FT.

SUBBBBBBscribed!!!!!!


(I need to figure out how to maintain flying BA PE/J for Mileage Run Vacations.....)

donotblink

Where did you see the silver MasterCard incentive?!

MiamiBill

Her you go

https://creditcards.aa.com/barclay-c...es-aadvantage/

enviroian

keep in mind you'll get 10K loyalty points for spending $40K on a citi exec card.

jackjennings

My strategy is switching to Alaska.

Long Train Runnin

I think as it stands right now flying Finnair in C&D class seems like the best way to get these points cheaply and in bulk.

In my look through the current (as of 10/26/2021) partner charts the AY C&D fare codes earn 100% cabin bonus.

So an EXP would be earning 3.2 loyalty points for each mile in the air.

Add in the decent USA-EU-ASIA J fares and I think you found the sweet spot.

A JFK-HEL-BKK RT is 18066 flown miles so that would net you 79,490 Loyalty Points. You can fly that route in Biz flex for around 3600 next year.

I don't know how to do better then that at the moment. Would love to see other ideas.

MiamiBill

<response to deleted post>

True, but the bonuses with Barclay Silver is better

FlyingEgghead

Here are some key observations for earning by flying:

1. Loyalty Points from flying (on AA or partners) are equal to RDM earned (including cabin and/or elite bonuses).

2. EQD (which has been the key qualification trigger for many) has been nearly proportional to RDM (for both AA and partners): 1 EQD corresponds to ~11 RDM for EXP. This is almost independent of the airline or class of service. There is some variation for partner flights that earn cabin bonus RDM, because cabin and elite bonuses do not compound (they are additive rather than multiplicative). For example, 50% bonus RDM for partner F results in an RDM multiplier of 1 + 0.5 + 1.2 = 2.7 for EXP, against an EQD multiplier of 0.3, so the ratio is 9 rather than 11, but not too different.

3. Ergo, the same strategies currently used to pad EQD -- i.e., cheap partner-marketed premium-cabin tickets -- will generally apply to Loyalty Points. Although EQD will no longer be tracked, the new EXP requal requirement (if met solely by flying) is equivalent to ~18k EQD -- or a bit more because, as mentioned, some partner flights aren't quite as lucrative in RDM.

Centurion

Any tax professional experts here think the program changes could be enough to change how points/miles are treated? Prior rulings on miles seem to have been made on answer the question <<How do we make miles not a kickback or taxable item?>> versus an objective outlook

SKYEG

As a Canadian, no options other than to spend more $ on flights. This sucks so much

FlyingEgghead

One can't just look for a high cabin bonus percentage without considering the cost of tickets (cpm) for that airline and fare class. Presumably the bonus is high because those fares are typically expensive (the mileage-based earning is designed to approximate revenue-based earning on average). I don't think AY is special here. Rather, various partners can have sweet spots with 2+ EQD per dollar, corresponding roughly to 20+ Loyalty Points per dollar like you found.

memsc

Can't we just spend $200k on a AA credit card and be done with it?

355F1

For mere status, yes.....but without the SWUs, etc.

memsc

Ok. I didn't catch that.