zurfer

Aloha! Switching to AA this year as family now in south Texas RGV. Was Hawaiian Platinum (west coast and JFK flights) for many years then status matched to Alaska MVP Gold through 2022 and now working on AA status for 2023. Plan 8 to 10 annual trips to Texas from HNL with a possible side trip to LAX or NYC - not much else. Been a free agent using AMEX, CHASE and HA miles but these are dwindling. Just hit AA Gold via targeted CC spending (currently at 35K LP) now deciding if I stop at AA Platinum or shoot for PPro. Don’t think I can make EXP unless I sacrifice all other cc spending. My goal is to spend wisely to maximize upgrades and use of miles. Any thoughts or tips would be helpful. Thank you.

VegasGambler

EXP or nothing. CC spend is not the way (unless you have spending patterns that make it easy to do). Read the extremely long threads in this topic.

zurfer

VG I've read a fair amount and learned much from your informative posts. I agree EXP is ideal and may be achievable under the new program in 14 months, but uncertain if sustainable for me on an annual basis.

VFR

I’ve never been EXP. I get a decent number of upgrades as PRO, and oneworld Sapphire and Emerald are both quite nice if you travel internationally.

Raralith

A few factors should decide whether you want Plat or PPRO:
1. Are you flying Y and you're getting status for upgrades? If so, a lot depends on airport so see what number you are on the upgrade list and let that be your guide. If you're perpetually 20 of 22 on gold, it's going to be EXP or nothing. If you're consistently cleaning with Plat, why bother with PPRO? If you're occasionally clearing with Plat, it may be worth it to get up to PPRO.
2. Are you flying Y to get free MCE upgrades? If so, unless you'll be flying AS, there isn't much of a benefit that PPRO above plat

Personally, what's going to make or break me for EXP is the hotel LP's. I fly once a month netting around 150k LP from flights, I do a few AA eShoppings, get some rewards from rental car, but it's the 4k-5k LP per stay from hotel stays that will push me into the 200k LP range. If you realistically cannot get EXP without consolidating spend and also using hotel LP, I suggest maximizing other credit cards that give more per dollar.

ksucats

I am just now starting to do some of the research to figure out if I can shoot for EXP or not. I barely made Pro last year thanks to the 14 months and a last minute decision to personally upgrade a business flight to first to push me over the edge. I will easily qualify for plat from normal flights and CC spending. I know this year with 14 months, I can push a few things to get to Pro without too much effort. What I need to figure out is if I have a shot at EXP.

My question to you is about the 4k-5k LP for hotel stays. I assume if I look at doing that, that I will no longer be receiving hotel points. Is that correct? I am not sure if I am willing to do that to get to EXP.

Raralith

Yes, you do not receive hotel points if you book through http://bookaahotels.com/ for LP's. I think you can double dip with IHG though(?) but I haven't been following that thread. It's not a problem for me to lose hotel points because the area I'm staying in is very small, and I'm there to work so my time in the hotel is to sh*t, shave, and sleep only so an upgrade isn't important. That basically means I funnel to get EXP (or I just dump AA and focus on another credit card entirely).

VegasGambler

Getting 50k from the portal should be easy. I think that the hotel status is too valuable to give up.

Right now you can buy $2000 of virtual visa GC on giftcards.com and earn 6k LP (8k if you buy them using the AA CC). You can spend them online or over the phone anywhere that visa is accepted (including running then as debit if you want). And right now there's a promo to buy them with a 5% discount so you are getting them for less than face value.

This is all limited time but 2 miles / dollar instead of 3 is common for giftcards.com, and the fee is $6 for each $250 GC so even without the 5% discount the fee is pretty low -- you are going to spend $48) month in fees for all those miles (don't forget you get RDM as well as LP, which are quite valuable despite what the complainers and naysayers on this forum like to say)

If you have $2k in spend per month where you can pay online or over the phone, which isn't part of a bonus category in any of your CC (I use them for utilities, medical bills, insurance premiums, and online retail where I don't get a bonus) they are easy to liquidate and this will get you close to the extra 50k per year you need.

hawkfan7314

Plat will be the minimum you want just so you can get MCE on the 787-777 from HNL-DFW whenever you fly it. I haven't gotten 3-4 upgrades as a Plat with a decent amount of spend, just barely short of PPro and even if not a full upgrade I would clear into PremEcon. I just made PPro this year so I'll be curious to see if I get better results. Now that Plat's don't have to use stickers, making the push to PPro might be worth it to be in the higher status level to beat out all the Plats that now don't have to burn 8 stickers per flight.

zurfer

I'll be curious to hear how you fare as a PPro. My situation is relatively straightforward. Do I stop at a status that's easily attainable or commit to achieving PPro or possibly EXP. That decision will determine how I proceed with cc spending, eshopping, hotels and airfare for the next year or so.

hawkfan7314

IMO if you will meet the segments for choice rewards and it's not a huge CC burden there is no reason not to go after PPro.

IADCAflyer

Pro here. So far, so good.

FlyingFromNY

I was upgraded to first on a recent domestic flight and the experience was honestly not much different from economy. The benefits of higher status really depend on your flight habits and the routes you take. I'm new to hotel and flight status/points/miles and was lured in by an article on TPG that painted an excessively rosy picture of the benefits of status. I'm thinking of writing an anti-blog based on my experiences as a novitiate and how the cost/benefit has been less than ideal. YMMV.

hawkfan7314

Your statement on the benefits being based on routes is 100% accurate. The OP and myself both fly out of HNL and frequent DFW. Since that route is handled by a widebody direct shot, getting upgraded on them is a big bonus compared to CONUS based travelers taking smaller legs.

VegasGambler

If you don't see a difference between first and economy then fly economy.

I'm not sure how that's possible unless you are under 5 feet tall and weigh 100 pounds. The difference in the amount of space available to you is huge.