intuition

... maybe significant other in stockholm or similar...

OH-LGG

Three legs of 92 were holiday trip from CPH-BKK-HEL so total cost of this Platinum challenge project (about 90 flights) was about 3500€.

And then additional costs like bus to HEL, car parking at HEL and one 40€ fine for parking (perkele!) makes about 100-200€ more.

But I would call it a cheap hobby. It was fun anyway to fly 4-5 times to ARN and back in one week.

remymartin

The city of Vantaa needs to put up a statue of you at HEL!

SPBanker

I would call it dedication! ^

dera

I would call OH-LGG's dedication something thats bordering insanity

Well done anyway! Did you get through all of your Hesaris?

Apieinthesky

AA flyer here. This is true.

As others have said, for AA you earn 100% EQM on AY flights, although only 50% EQP on deep discount economy.

How long are your long hauls? For me, from JFK, 1 TATL and 1 TPAC r/t per year gets me up to around 25k, AA Gold and oneworld Ruby. 10-12 more domestic roundtrips and that gets me to 50k and PLT. I realize now that you said 10-12 segments total, not 10-12 roundtrips...is that right? Then OWS might be out of reach...but Ruby shouldn't be.

Not sure if this was answered earlier, but you can definitely change your AY FF# to your AA or other program FF #. We often have people asking about changing BA to AA FF #s for status benefits on an award booked with Avios, etc., and one of the "tricks" we have is to use is the AY website to change it.

remymartin

Thanks fellow FTers. I reached AA Plat yesterday. Won't be getting the new shiny card in a few weeks though.

As AA currently has no own metal at HEL (the season for ORD is over), what should I expect when flying BA or AY? How about HEL itself?

Kallio

With recent changes in Ay's ticket types, it might be worth it to re-evaluate Finnair Plus. Economy Value tickets that give 100% AY Plus points are just a little bit more expensive than Basic tickets and 25% earnings seem to be gone excluding some special circumstances. On the other hand 25% earnings are still there with OW partners, so YMMV.

DALtoAAL

Firstly, congrats for your AA PLT, it makes life a lot easier when travel. On the other hand, don't expect too much extras when on-board AY or BA. So far I (as an EXP) have received the published perks, such as priority check-in and baggage, lounge access and pre-selection of seats (which all are great!). But no recognition of any kind on board. I have heard that some crew members on both AY and BA are proactively looking for OW Elites for recognition and offering free newspapers (AY), but has never happened to me so far. But on AA they usually are very nice, and thank you for your business and look well after you when you have status.

NoWindowSeat

Yeah, it's very strange sometimes...during many years as AY plat I didn't receive that much special attention onboard AY...now as BA Gold I have received much more comments etc. (and many free newsparers) from AY crew...don't really care about it, though. Like commented above the free newspaper in whY is a nice touch when it happens and you have nothing to read but for it to really be a benefit it needs to be documented and happening on all flights.

remymartin

Thanks! Let's see how my next flights go a) before I actually receive the card b) after I have it in-hand.

SPBanker

I have flown AY, AA, BA and JL while AY Plat. I have never used the physical card for anything, except the discount at Helsinki airport tax-free.

GeeTee77

Hi All,

First post, hopefully the right thread Thinking of changing my upcoming flights on AY to AA FF# as I managed to sign in to the AA:s free status challenge. Should get enough points for AA Plat card (HEL-MIA-HEL and HEL-FCO-HEL as well as few flights in the Nordics before xmas). However, I might have a chance to make AY+ Silver before summer. So now have to make a decision between these two. Mostly fly with AY (about 4-10 EU roundtrips/year), but have 1-3 flights to US yearly. Any thoughts, should I go for the AA challenge?

I mostly value getting upgraded, used points for upgrades with AY few times and lounge access. Priority boarding too is nice. Flying ex HEL with the cheapest tickets available.

intuition

Welcome to Flyertalk and the Finnair forum, GeeTee77!

Despite being the lowest tier, AY silver isn't too shabby for someone flying econ in Europe, because it will give you lounge access at many airports.

I don't know enough about AA, but I'm sure someone will fill in the blanks soon.

One idea to compare the programs is to see if you can requalify the next year. A status challenge may seem perfect, but if you cannot requalify, you run the risk of lose status soon again, and also to spread your earned miles between programs.

SPBanker

If you value upgrades and mostly fly out of HEL (on AY I presume), AY+ is probably the best program for you.

And welcome to the FT, GT77!