zurfer

Reached EP with 200K Loyalty Points in May using AA credit card spending and flight bonuses. Have thoroughly enjoyed the complimentary upgrades. Currently sitting at 240K LP and 16 segments. Should hit 30 segments by end of year and receive Loyalty Choice Rewards for Platinum Pro and EP levels. I'm debating whether it's worth going for 350K LP in order to get another level of rewards or should I switch to non-AA 5% credit cards and cash in award miles for flights until March 2024. I'm curious about your thoughts on this matter. Thank you

VegasGambler

I think that credit card spend is the worst way to get LP. So yes, you should switch to a 5% card, and yes, you should go for 350k.

zurfer

To clarify, my credit card spending to date has been heavy on utilizing shopping, dining and bookaahotel portals to maximize LPs.

guv1976

Book you can do that with any credit card, can't you?

zurfer

Yes can book with any cc but different reward amounts and benefits. e.g. Citi AA 2x award, Barclays AA Silver 3x, Amex Plat 5x

guv1976

Aren't those the multipliers for booking flights? I thought that you were talking about shopping, dining, and lodging.

VegasGambler

The point is that which CC you use is unrelated to the choice of whether to buy things through the portal.

You should have a credit card (or maybe multiple cards) that you use for spend that doesn't get a bonus.

For me, the Chase Hyatt card makes a lot of sense as I find that Hyatt points are worth about the same as airline miles (maybe even a little bit more), the spend helps for status, and, perhaps most importantly, I tend to burn through Hyatt pts faster than airline miles, especially now that I'm taking longer trips than I used to (fewer weekend trips, more 1-2 week trips)

But the fact that you now get 1 LP in addition to 1 RDM per dollar actually makes the AA card a lot better than it used to be. So it's not a terrible choice. But if you have a better card, use that instead.

USFlyerUS

I couldn't disagree more. It's a painfully easy way to get LPs by simply charging business expenses. I'm almost at 200K with fewer than 20 flights so far this year.

VegasGambler

But other CCs provide value that you have given up by charging business expenses to your AA card. It's not like you got that for free.

As I said, I don't think that it's a terrible card for spend that doesn't get other bonuses but there are probably better ones out there. And using it for travel and restaurants is truly terrible IMO.

FWIW, 20 paid flights is a lot, halfway through the year. I've had 5 paid flights, I'm at around 130k LP (rather, I will be when a few things post) and my CC spend has been minimal... well under $10k. I'll cruise to 200k easily. The segments might take a bit of work since my partner awards are not counting as segments, despite the fact that they apparently have for some others. I'll get there though.

apeortdz

Given your stats, I would go for it!

tjcxx

Thank you for rubbing it in.

(Non- U.S. resident, no credit card available despite the onboard announcement harassment, and expected elite status now half-way between gold and platinum instead of EXP as it was before LP came in)

Bradhattan

The best LP per dollar, i have found lately is using bookaahotels.com. I received 25 LP per $ for a one night stay in my home town. If you don't care about staying, you don't even need to check-in in order to earn

cova

I have friends that have earned EXP (200K + LP_ - and have never had any elite status before. They normally just spend a lot.
The are not airline point savvy so I advise them on flights and help them book their tickets - which are mostly free F tickets or paid F (regardless of point value - usually full J rewards). I think we are going to see lots of EXPs coming up.

I think EXP will be the minimum level to get an upgrade - and big spenders will be higher up on the upgrade list - if they did not buy F to start with.

So I would say to be near top of upgrade list - you likely need to be at that 350K+ LP level.

tomtaylor23

That's $0.04 per a LP & RDM. Is that not an expensive way to collect LP's when you're not staying there?

zurfer

Certainly using an AA credit card alone is not the most efficient means to earn LP. However, my goal was to reach EP status as quickly as possible using an AA card and portals to improve my upgrade chances ASAP and so far that has worked well. Have to thank VegasGambler for encouragement a few months ago. Regarding reaching the next reward level at 350K LP my thoughts are it is not a goal that makes a lot of sense unless it happens organically. Thanks to all and good luck with your LP accumulating strategies.