Never paid attention to the booking codes before. I went and looked at my codes for my upcoming Latin America trip and see that it is booked at codes Q and S. Then made a trip over to AAdvantage and see that codes Q and S are getting me only .5 per mile?

So instead of getting over 5000 miles for my upcoming trip I will only get 2500 or so that will count towards Elite? Is this correct?

it is 0.5 points. you will still get the full 100% miles that you fly.

I'm having Information overload, been reading the board for days and am a bit overwhelmed.

So, what is the difference between points and miles?

Sorry for what may be a completely obvious question...

you can get EXP with 100,000 miles or 100,000 points. full fare economy, business and First class can give you full points or even 150% of points. for the traveler who has no budget, it means less BIS( butt in seat) miles. but if you're on a budget then you want to qualify on miles.

of course that makes perfect sense. Thanks

I've been trying to figure out the ITA website I found on one of the posts here but haven't quite gotten the hand of it yet. Working on it! Trying to figure out how everyone finds these great high mile runs. I suppose I will keep reading and it will work itself out.

you should read the AA FAQ

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ere-first.html

if you go down to
AA account maintenance

you'll see
How are miles and points calculated

which has further links to other information such as
http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...and_Points_(AA)

My 2 cents
 

If you only want to fly once a year and you want to fly in first then you might as well pay for it. Of course paying for it could alternate between actually paying for it and using credit card accumulated points.

My suggestion is completely based on the fact that you seemed to imply that you only enjoy flying when you fly in the front.

If you hate flying in the back then mileage running isn't for you. I've never done a mileage run but if you read most of the posts on this board mileage runners love to fly. They enjoy the perks but they really actually love flying - and so far I'm not getting that vibe from you.

Going back to points, you can accumulate a lot of points through credit cards and promotions through the airline websites and partners.
You should keep you eye on sites like this one:
http://www.frequentflyerbonuses.com/

These types of sites post promotions for bonus points for pretty much all travel related clubs.

If you do decide to gear up and start doing mileage runs you should do your research and plan well in advance - figure out the annual mileage promos(many repeat every year), figure out the amount of miles you will actually need to fly(you don't want to get to december and discover you are short) and of course figure out your cost(if it turns out to be more than the cost of your first class ticket then you might as well not bother).

best of luck

I completely agree. If you don't fly much, what good does it do you to mileage run for status that you won't otherwise use? I never understood obtaining status for status's sake.

fwiw, there are many of us here who do not travel for business and yet still manage to obtain highest the status tier on 100% leisure travel and mileage runs. (and probably for closer to $1-2K spend)

The key is maximizing your spend through creative routings and promotions such as DEQM (double eqm aka double status miles)

This tool sorted by Price Per Mile will be a great help in your mileage run goals

http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html

Also, if you decide to go with American, then check out the thread on Elite Status Challenges.

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

Welcome to the insanity :D ....

Start with credit cards for points
 

I'm in a similar position. Here's some background. I'm based in DFW and mostly fly American. I don't fly much, except for flights to visit family and occasionally for work, but I'd like to do more international travel for vacations. For example, last year my wife and I went on a vacation to Tokyo in coach using AA miles and stayed at the Mandarin Oriental and loved it (except for the flight). Last year, I had close to 20,000 elite qualifying miles (EQM) on AA, which was the most I've had in several years. So, without some mile runs or more vacation travel, I'm not getting elite status.

I've never flown first class or business class on international flights, but I occasionally buy the domestic first class upgrades at the kiosk. Last year, I got an American Express Platinum Card, mainly to get access to the Admirals Club (AC) (and I've also used it for the Delta Crown Room). Having access to the AC makes flying much more fun (for example, at the Tokyo AC and at the several DFW AC's) and it has come in handy when I've had layovers for work. If the club access is worth something to you, it is worth considering an AMEX Platinum. If you use the fine hotels and resorts benefits, it can help make the annual fee pay for itself, but it is $450, so you have to figure out how often you'll use it.

For the past few weeks, I've been reading FT threads trying to figure out how all this works. I'm sold on getting more rewards credit cards to accumulate more miles to get the first class/business class tickets. The recent BA Chase card (100,000 miles) is a great deal, but you can also get other credit cards with 25k to 50k free miles per card. You have to manage your credit score and be careful doing this, but for me, it is the easiest and cheapest way to accumulate miles for a big trip once every year or two. So, if you don't have much money to budget, I would just accumulate credit card miles until you have enough for the occasional big trip.

If you decide to travel more for vacation (for example, more short weekend domestic and short international breaks), then the AA executive platinum (EXP) (or another airline elite status) is doable. After the first year,you get lots of domestic upgrades to first class and four upgrades to business class on international flights, plus enough redeemable award miles (RDM) for some free flights. If you're careful, you don't have to do mile runs, but you have to travel on paid flights 100,000 miles per year (unless there is a double elite qualifying mile (EQM) promotion), which is a significant commitment. So it all comes down to your time and budget. I'm still thinking about this option, since it involves a big long-term time and money commitment, but the more I read about all this, the more fun it sounds.

Hope this helps.

Right now I travel about 5 times a year domestic and normally once internationally. I have been flying on whichever airline had the cheapest fare on the day and time I was traveling. I did have about 30,000 or so on Delta but gave the points to a charity when they were about to expire a few years back and just never joined another frequent flyer program for some reason.

Yes, I find it much more pleasant in First. Having flown pretty much nothing but coach for the last 10 years I had forgotten how much more enjoyable it was to fly in the front of the plane. Flying coach is much more stressful, squashed in, harried FA's, fighting for a place for my luggage etc etc

What I was hoping for? If I could put in several months or however long it took to get top Elite Status on an airline that I could then continue to fly on bargain fares but be upgraded? I know I would have to keep up a lot of flying (which I actually do enjoy) to continue to have status but flying 100,000 miles but upgraded in a better cabin would be great!

You dont sound like you are mentally equipped to handle mileage run type of flying. It is a very insane way of flying for the sake of accumulate miles to achieve / requalify for elite status. The first year to achieve elite would be the hardest needless to say as you start from the bottom.

I dont see how you "actually do enjoy" when all your flying to achieve elites would have to be done in coach and on crazy schedules.

You dont get upgrade UNTIL AFTER YOU ACHIEVE THE STATUS - that is AFTER the 100,000 miles - which would be 20 Transcon trips at 5K each to give you some perspective.

Upgrade is capacity controlled although for certain markets being an EXP (Executive Platinum, AA's highest elite status from flying), the upgrades to the front on DOMESTIC flights are easier than other markets where there is concentration of elites. (think DFW and ORD).

When you achieve EXP, you will receive 4 SWU (systemwide upgrade cert) that allows you to upgrade to business class from any fare code you pay, or to F from business class you pay.

You have to REQUALIFY each year in order to maintain your status - that means you will have to fly 100,000 the following year - but then since you already have status, the flying becomes much easier (still in coach but have chance to upgrade.)

You should visit AA forum and read the STICKY at the top to learn more and see if this is for you.

Oh, once you achieve elite status, you earn DOUBLE redeemable miles so you mileage bank balance goes up twice faster and you can use the miles to fly upfront by redeeming business / first class awards.

Thanks for the replies. Looks like since American has a really big presence in cental and S. America I will concentrate there for now. I will have 5000 or so on American when I get back from Nicaragua the end of February and will be getting the the AA credit card (I assume those go toards elite status?) So will have a good start. I will no doubt be putting in a few domestic trips anyway this year which I will do on American and I might try a couple of quick mileage runs to see if I can hack it out and if so that will get me close to the 50,000 mile mark in March. Then I guess I need to look out for other offers and see where else I can go to build points/miles.

And, If it isn't for me then nothing lost but some time right?

No, only miles from flying will go towards elite status. Again you should read the STICKY in AA forum to learn more about the program.

50K miles earned from flying get you to Platinum, the 2nd tier of AA elite. There is NO automatic upgrade for PLT. You use "sticker" to pay for the upgrade. Instead of explaining more here, I would again ask you to read the AA STICKY and learn more from AA's own website.

On the other hand, miles from all sources go to your account and can be used to redeem for award flights among other things, as well as included in Life Time earning which AA has an unpublished benefit is Life Time elite status (only Gold and PLT) can be earned from miles accumulated from all sources. 1 million miles earn you Life Time Gold, 2 millions Life Time Plat. EXP can only be earned by flying and has to be requalified each year.