Pinned

I generally book further out (at least a month or two, sometimes longer), and it appears that AA's upgrade scheme is really only based on elite status? All of my travel is personal, so I'm generally not traveling at times or to places that I would suspect have a lot of business travelers, but I guess that is hard to say for certain.

FlyMeToTheLooneyBin

Upgrade priority is based on elite status followed by time of request. There are other details based on check-in time for international upgrades, but the gist of it is status followed by request time.

bosman

As you'll see from this thread, upgrade success rate varies hugely depending on where you fly. Hopefully you can find some examples that reflect your flying patterns to get a tighter estimate on your potential success rate.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...e+success+rate

Pinned

Thanks for the link, appears most seem to do well off peak. There also don't seem to be too many AA flyers in BOS which should help.

Soxfan15

I am currently Aadvantage gold and have a bunch of travel planned over the next few months that will allow me to maintain gold for the next year. I am a college student in Chicago, so gold seems to be perfect for me: I can surpass all the security lines at ORD, board early, sit in exit row seats, not have to deal with carry-ons when I go home for breaks, and get the occasional upgrade.

I will be traveling to Europe, Asia, and a couple places in the US in the next month that will get me around 20K points and a bit more miles. I was considering enrolling in the Platinum challenge for $240, and I would definitely be able to reach the status given my already planned travel.

My question for you is whether or not the challenge is worth it? Are the benefits for platinum really that much different than gold, especially for a college student? I'm sure I'd have better chances of upgrading as Platinum, but other than that, I'm not sure how much better the perks would be. I do like sitting in exit rows and know that MCE is only complimentary to Gold's for 2013. Will AA charge Gold's less than other passengers like Delta does? Will they offer MCE to Gold's free of charge within 24 hours like United?

I just want some feedback/advice to determine if platinum challenge is worth the price? Thanks!

AA-Flyer-SAN

My opinion - yes. Starting in December (?) golds do not have the MCE option and generally board with Group 1. Also, if you want to upgrade the chances of golds upgrading are relatively slim particularly out of ORD. It depends on how much you travel and how much these perks are worth to you. Starting soon the Golds will all be fighting over the limited choice seats remaining out of MCE.

J

BStrauss3

NOBODY knows what Gold/MCE will look like next year. Not even the insiders. All you'll get is wishful speculation - both from the 'nothing will change until the merge closes' crowd to the 'see everything is going to the toilet because of Doug' group.

One thing is known, which diminishes the value of the challenge: no soft landings. So if you challenge and make plat and don't fly enough to keep even gold, you won't get that extra year.

FlyDeltaJets87

I'd say yes. Now that it's past July 1 your Platinum status will be good through February 2015. I enrolled for one this month as I have a P fare to Hawaii from the East Coast coming up soon. And if you continue to travel internationally once obtaining PLT status you'll have lounge access when on an international itinerary on a OW carrier. Plus a 100% RDM bonus over GLDs 25%, and priority baggage delivery, among a few other perks that even if just for a year before dropping back to GLD still make the $240 worth it IMO. And who knows - maybe in future years AA will run more "shortcut to keep status" promos like they did earlier this year (I unfortunately didn't qualify as I wasn't Gold at the time- I have GLD now as I was awarded complimmetary/temporary GLD when I enrolled in the PLT challenge).

ahcjar103

hard to say without knowing how much you pan to travel after this next spurt. if you're not going to there's no reason.

plus, given that you're going to break the 25k barrier i'd be inclined to say save the challenge and just do it naturally if you really want it.

brewdog11

From your post, it sounds like you and I are in the exact same boat. I can tell you that taking the PLT challenge was a great idea and that maintaining PLT status is worth it.

For me, I experienced a noticeably higher upgrade rate going from GLD to PLT. I'm based at an outstation (MSY), so maybe that has something to do with it, but still. I actually started to score a few of those coveted DFW-ORD upgrades! You get a 100% mileage bonus instead of a 25% bonus, which really helps you accumulate miles more quickly. You get higher miles+copay upgrade priority over gold (a very good way to use those miles you got from that 100% bonus), which is a nice way to spend miles when taking long international flights (especially do this when you get rebooked into a full Y fare due to IRROPS, because the copay is waived). When travelling internationally in Y, you get lounge access. This is a huge plus because you get to shower after stepping off a 10+ hour flight. I've also found that I get a tremendous amount of rebooking help during IRROPS, as well as nicer hotel accommodations and the like.

Also, you'll get an increased baggage allowance when flying on oneworld partners (at least this is my experience with flying BA intra-Europe) and lounge access with oneworld partners.

I usually have to take an MR or two at the end of the year to maintain my PLT now, but it's worth it.

If you're going to fly a lot, definitely take the PLT challenge. GLD was fine for me, but I enjoy PLT much more.

3Cforme

Advanced search on 'challenge' restricted to titles yields lots of useful threads, including these:


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...challenge.html

CaptRobPhD

I'm not sure about 'surpassing' security here--there are no airports better!!! Nor will you bypass it, but I dig your rap on expedited security. I did a PLT challenge earlier in the year and my biggest benefits were: accumulate RDM faster initially; use the int'l OW business lounges regardless of COS flown. I round-tripped ORDMEL in May and used CX lounges both ways in HKG and in MEL, the former for showers and resting in style; do ORDSYD next month and will do same [on way back if status upgrades quick enough I'll be partaking of the F lounge , i.e., EXP the natural way]. Maybe I could have bought day passes and if <$45 each, the lounges would have been a push [not even sure if you can day pass CX lounges but the HKG ones are great]. Had on not done challenges those bennies would not have occurred as soon nor would have I been able to board with business v. coach on the Big Triple or 330. I have not used any upgrade stuff since all tix Ive bought this year (save the CX) have been premium--Ill tempt fate next year.

Sounds like you're ambivalent: save your money this year, spend 1/2 on Global Entry and get better 'surpassing' security options (TSA precheck) and expedite your way through customs. Or better, spend that $ on AMEX Platinum and get wide-ranging lounge access, $200 credit on airline of choosing and Global Entry reimbursement. The AMEX is tough to beat for frequent travel...

Soxfan15

Thanks, everyone for the advice/recommendations. At the moment, I think I may be leaning against signing up for the challenge since it seems like the "best" benefit of Platinum over Gold is OW access to lounges as well as the extra bonus miles. I really am not sure how much travel I'll be doing over the next year (and most likely minimal international travel). If the "soft landing" was still in effect, it would be more tempting to sign up. I still have some time before my flights to think it over.

Thanks again, all.

Valmiki

I was in a similar position last year and did the Platinum challenge. Since then I did a lot of travel earned 100% mileage bonus, which was the main reason for doing the challenge. My strategy is to upgrade using miles + copay.

The better Lounge access is nice for flights to Europe etc.

SF Traveler

Some years I'm EXPLAT and some years PLAT. The main difference is that I get upgrades more with the EXPLAT status. But PLAT is still worth it for two reasons. One is the 100% mileage bonus. That makes those miles really add up fast and I believe you will recoup your $240 with free tickets easily. (Until recently, I've gotten a number of first class tickets to Brazil and am still getting first class to Asia and Europe.) The other thing is that outside the US you wlll have access to business class lounges of the OW airlines which makes waiting in a airport much more tolerable. Also if anything goes wrong, you get much better and faster service.