Scsweet

I believe that the EQMs will post after the closing date of the first billing cycle after changing to silver. I pushed this issue with Barclay's via SM because I need the 5K by the end of the year to maintain ExPlat. It took two rounds with them (the first reply I received was incorrect). I received the following information:

"In regards to your Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM), they are calculated based on the calendar year from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. For each monetary segment of $20,000.00 you will receive 5,000 EQM. Year to date we show that you have spent $26,158.39 in net purchases, and as such once the upgrade has been completed we will be sending your first batch of EQM to American Airlines. We send your miles at the close of each statement cycle, so in all likelihood, the EQM will be sent over on your December 19, 2015 statement.

Please keep in mind, we do have Reward Specialists at 1-866-928-3075, available from 9 AM to 8 PM ET, as well they can also help reach our to American Airlines with you to confirm when the EQM have posted to the account. The call will come into our Customer Care Department, but you may either select to speak to a Rewards Specialist through the automated system, or make the request to the representative on the phone."

Good luck...

FobbyFlyer

Based on the above, I currently have a Red card with about 30k spend since Feb, my anniversary date is end of Feb '16, I already have all the EQMs i need for 2015 for AA EXP...
I notice the option to upgrade to Silver online,now will it make sense for me to wait to upgrade to silver after my December 12 closing date so that I will get those EQMs applied in January to help me qualify for EXP again in 2016?

Thanks in advance

Fobby

Scsweet

Unfortunately I don't have an answer to that one though on the surface I'd be surprised if it would work (I doubt that they would set it up so that you could get this years bonus and next years in 2016). You might try sending a SM or calling and asking for the Reward specialist but I'm never sure whether to believe what I hear from the front (and sometimes second) line Barclay's customer service staff. There might be someone who has the Citi Exec card and hit their $40K threshold close to the end of a prior year who can tell how Citi handles that situation. Given that you might not get a clear answer I guess the question is what would be the downside of trying?

jmrp

I have what is probably a dumb question....

I have just realized (duh, where have I been ??) that I have the offer to upgrade from my Barclays Red to the Silver. The offer says it will go into effect 12/05/15.

The terms say that: The primary Cardmember will earn 5,000 Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs) after spending $20,000 in Purchases that post to Cardmember's January through December billing statements.

My Aviator Red closes on the 6th of the month. So, if they say December billing statement would that be the one that closes on 12/06 ?? Or, would that be for my Dec transactions that closes on 01/06/16 ??

I can reach the $20K spend by a few weeks in to December, but if I only have 1 day that won't work (since nothing would post by 12/06 if I charge it on 12/05).

Hope I made sense !!

Oh, and I also have the Citi Exec c.c. too, so I'd be doing this just for the EQM for 2015, to add to my Citi EQM that I already have (plus my flights this year). Unfortunately, didn't fly enough this year to hit the 25,000 miles for Gold.

Thanks !!
Jackie

466SHH

There are never dumb questions. Only people too dumb to ask first.

Your card will be Red until your statement closes on the 5th and then it will show up as Silver the next day. So you won't even get a one day overlap.

Not sure why they do it this way, but that's what happened when I converted mine.

Someone else will have to tell you how fast the EQM's post after you hit the $20K spend, since haven't done that yet.

Better to know now than find out at the end of December.

Scsweet

Any purchases that have been billed on the account this year, even those made while the account was a red card (or the DM card), should count toward the spend threshold. So you have between now and your Dec. closing date to bring your total year spend over 20K.

jmrp

Thank you, 466SHH & Scsweet !!

But, here is the "dumb" part of my question.......

When you said "Dec. closing date"...... Would that be (for me, since the last day on my statements is always the 6th of the month) 12/06/15 (since that actually closes in December) ?? Or, would my Dec closing date be 01/06/16 ??

I guess what I'm really asking is.......what would be the actual last day I would need charges to actually Post to my c.c. in order to get the extra EQMs for 2015 ??

Aristophanes80

I think you'll get the EQMs this year if you upgrade now. For the EQMs, I believe the purchases just need to occur by Dec 31 without concern for statement dates. In my Silver account, there is a slider bar for purchases 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2015 to count progress toward EQM bonus thresholds and this is what it says for the terms near that slider, which clearly highlight transaction date instead of statement date:

It took a while (1-2 months) for my EQMs to post, but I suspect that they would be backdated if they were EQMs for the prior year. If they weren't backdated, that would represent a massive loophole allowing for earning 40k EQMs across the Barclay and Citi cards per year by earning the points in one year and having them post in another year.

jmrp

Ah, that would be very cool if it's by transaction date like they say. I just might be able to squeeze in the extra $20K spend on top of the 1st $20K !! Especially now knowing that my total spend from this year on that c.c. (US Air + Red + Silver) count towards the total.

Thanks you !!

Jackie

beachfan

If I don't upgrade on my anniversary, will I have an opportunity to upgrade in January? My anniversary is in early December but I don't need the EQMs and would like my 10k renewal bonus. But I need the card for next years EQMs and to miss the opportunity for upgrading the card

Scsweet

micned -

Thank you for sharing these details. It appears that the Aviator Silver may behave differently than the Citi Exec with regard to December charges and the EQM bonus. I went back through my records and as far as I can tell the charges that posted on my January 7, 2015 statement (most of which had December 2014 transaction dates) counted toward the 40K spend for this year's EQM bonus.

lkar

It's a bit of a quandary -- my card upgraded a few days ago on the website from Red to Silver, and it shows that I have met the spending for the first batch of 5,000 EQM. They have not posted yet. My next statement closes in mid-December, and while I could use the 5,000 miles, it's going to be a bit of a struggle to put $20k on the card before the statement closes, and I'm not sure I even want to try if there's some risk that the EQM will not post for this status year. Seems like the terms suggest they should, but I guess it's hard to know. I suppose if they post next year, I'll have a head start.

lkar

My card converted on 11/14. I had over $20k in spend this year, and it appears the 5k EQM posted with a posting date of 12/1. I'm in a real bind about what to do. My next statement closes on 12/1, and I'm at 45,008 EQM with AA at the moment, and platinum would definitely be worth the spend to me. But if it's going to post 1/1, it would be a waste.

Aristophanes80

See my post a few back. You should be fine to get the miles this year if you meet the spend requirement this year per the terms of the offer.

dingo

FWIW, I have two Silver cards. Earlier in the year I hit the $40k spend to get $10k in EQM's. On the second card, I have hit $20k and while I see an entry on my AA account that is similar to the ones I saw earlier in the year, my EQM's did not change at all.

Conclusion: the qualifying miles perk can only be earned once, which is a change from the days when it was the US Air card.