One already can not earn AA miles on BA US-UK or vice versa, so that may be what the agent was thinking of. Otherwise, I suspect the oneworld agreement pretty much says you got some rubbish over the wire unless Challenges were to be restricted to AA miles only for some arcane and currently unknown reason.

deleted

I did go through all 81 pages. Seriously. And I think I have not seen this:

Is a rail segment eligable for points?

All flights in Germany to the states go from Frankfurt with a free rail ticket for example from Hamburg. I could go through LHR but given that I plan on making the threshold with the flight to the states I prefer the 'longer' version.

As the rail segment does have a flight number, it should give me 500 EQP, or?

Excellent - PLT here we come! Thanks, Mike

I'm going TLV-HKG-NRT on LY and JAL but I'm wait listed on the HKG-NRT segment.

My travel coordinator suggested I go through Europe so I asked her to look for a BA itinerary. What she found is a T class (WorlTraveller Plus):

TLV-LHR 2234
LHR-NRT 5993
NRT-LHR 5993
LHR-TLV 2234

So from the AA website it looks like I get 10% bonus miles and a 1.5 EQP/mile rate for T class.

So if I do a PLT challenge I think I'd get PLT on the return NRT-LHR segment (on my birthday ). All together I guess I'd end up with the following:

(2234*2 + 5993*2) * 1.1 + 5993 = 24092 miles.

This all sound like sound logic?

No, I think you do better than that - the 100% bonus begins on the flight on which you pass 10K q-pts, thus.

Wow! Thanks! This is making my decision so much harder. To take this flight I need to leave about 14 hours earlier and on a Saturday morning as opposed to taking LY which is my normal airline where I have status and the chance of an upgrade. Think BA would give me a comp upgrade on the return when I'm not a member of their program and earning AA points instead of BA points since it is my birthday? Maybe just a peck on the cheek from the FA.

Hi all,

I�ve got a few business flights coming up and I thought I might give the platinum challenge thing a go� just want to see if I have the right understanding of everything �

The flights I have coming up are

CX753 (9th Dec) � HKG � DEL (J class)
CX752 (22th Dec) � DEL - HKG (J class)

CX753 (2th Jan) � HKG � DEL (J class)
CX752 (10th Jan) � DEL - HKG (J class)

CX753 (23rd Jan) � HKG � DEL (J class)
CX752 (10th Feb) � DEL - HKG (J class)

Now as I understand it�

1) Enrol into the challenge

Call up the friendly folks at AA customer service (1-800-421-0600) and request to be put into the platinum challenge. Since my first flight is on the 9th, I should request the start date to be 1st of December. Ask (and hopefully get) an email with the confirmation that I am enrolled correctly in the challenge

2) Fly the first flight

According to the (very handy) great circle mapper � HKG � DEL is 2331 miles � so I should get �

9th Dec � HKG � DEL
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points
mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles = 2914
22th Dec � DEL - HKG �
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points (total so far = 6994)
mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles (total so far = 5828)

2) Fly the second flight

2th Jan � HKG � DEL
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points (total so far = 10491)
Pass the platinum requirement!
YTD Q-points (3497)

mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles + 2331 status = 5225 (total so far 11053)

10th Jan � DEL � HKG
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points
YTD Q-points (7894)
mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles + 2331 status = 5225 (total so far 16278)

3) Fly the third flight
23rd Jan � HKG � DEL
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points
YTD Q-points (11841)

mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles + 2331 status = 5225 (total so far 21503)

10th Feb � DEL - HKG
Q-points � (2331 * 1.5) = 3497 Q-points
YTD Q-points (15788)
mileage - 2331 base miles + 583 class miles + 2331 status = 5225 (total so far 26728)

Now based on the above, I will have achieved platinum on the flight of the 2nd of Jan � I will have the platinum benefits until the end of Feb 2008.

Also, for the qualifying year 2007, I will have 15,788 Q points and need another 34212 Q points in 2007 to extend the platinum benefits to Feb 2009.

Is the above all correct? Any steps missing or any tips?

I must have missed the posting mentioning this.

I just signed up the Platinum challenge yesterday, and here's part of the confirmation email I got back from AA. He's super nice, (he was even calculating for me whether I should sign up for the Gold or Platnium challenge.)and he assured me that only challenges start on Jan 1 are subjected to the change. Any challenges that are signed up this year is good even you're taking flights next year(since I'll be fullfilling my challenges only with next year travels, so I was very concerned and was very particular about this and he reassured me)

hope this help.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Use American Airlines (of course!) and other elite-qualifying carriers to maximize your earnings. These elite carriers are Aer Lingus, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Qantas and Alaska Airlines (and their eligible affiliates). When you earn miles on AA or on these carriers, you also earn points. Only points count toward your Challenge. (But remember that there are some fares on these carriers that are not eligible to earn miles or points. You can easily check out these rules on aa.com/ aadvantage when you select �Partners and Mileage Programs� and then navigate to the particular airline.) And please note: For Challenges that start on January 1, 2007 and later, only points earned on American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection flights (including AA codeshare flights operated by other carriers) will count toward Challenges.

Just to follow up, I called up the number and enrolled into the challenge (starting December 1) and so if my math is all right - I should make it...

I also got the email confirming the above post information and also explicitly asked the customer service staff if my flight next year would count (yes it would) and I look like I am all set!

Yep.

Got it. Thanks for your help.
--
13F

Ok I think I finally completed a challenge. I had an I-class CX ticket one way HKG-MEL with the return in K and paid to have the K moved to I-class.

CX I-class earns 1.25 EQM and 1.5 EQP per mile flown. I'm assuming the 100% bonus is on the base and not the 1.25. Assuming that I should have earned the following:

Does that look right?

How long does it typically take to post to AA from CX?

Hi,

I have a question with regards to this challenge. I was recently offered to do this challenge between Dec 06 and Feb 07. I was thinking if it is worth it to spend around 600 USD to do this? The thing is that I will be getting enough segments next year to get to PLT. Now, they offered me this challenge to get a head start. I was told that since my challenge starts in Dec 06, I do not need any qualifying AA flights (is this also true).

My upcoming flights are with
QF (0.5 qp, domestic which I can maybe try and push it up to 1qp earning and 1.5 qp earning later by paying a bit more) and
BA (0.25 qp, domestic+EU). I need t0 get 5k within this 3 months. I am wondering if this challenge it worth it?

Thanks for the advise.