AA Platinum Challenge - Tips

[simongr]

I was just working out regarding the eVIP if I make Exec Plat. Basically on AA 180,000 miles (my estimate of points by late next year if I make Exec Plat) that would give me two return flights to the UK which I could then upgrade to business for just four eVIP wont it? I would be taking those flights in 2008 (sheesh thinking about 2008 already.....) That would mean me and Mrs Sim could fly business class together to the UK - now that would be good

If I could carry the eVIP (which I think other people refer to as System Wide Upgrades as well?) forward that would be great - do you get the 8 each year when you hit Exec Plat? I would then be upgrading quite a few of my flights to first from business when I travel

Its all sounding interesting...

 

[Dave Noble]

I was just working out regarding the eVIP if I make Exec Plat. Basically on AA 180,000 miles (my estimate of points by late next year if I make Exec Plat) that would give me two return flights to the UK which I could then upgrade to business for just four eVIP wont it? I would be taking those flights in 2008 (sheesh thinking about 2008 already.....) That would mean me and Mrs Sim could fly business class together to the UK - now that would be good

If I could carry the eVIP (which I think other people refer to as System Wide Upgrades as well?) forward that would be great - do you get the 8 each year when you hit Exec Plat? I would then be upgrading quite a few of my flights to first from business when I travel

Its all sounding interesting...

Couple of issues.

eVIPs aka systemwide upgrades, can only be used to upgrade AA flights

you cannot upgrade award flights

If you take a paid r/t to UK via the USA, you could use 1 evip each each way to upgrade HNL-LHR and LHR-HNL , leaving only the SYD-HNL-SYD in economy

180,000 points is enough for 2 economy r/t s to UK. What you could do is purchase r/ts to HNL and then get 2 business r/ts to UK for 180,000 ( or perhaps use your QF points to get you to HNL is you have enough ) or for USD1500 you can purchase the 60k needed to get 2 J award seats from Oz. Still a lot better value (imo) than the QF scheme

Dave

 

[simongr]

Not arguign the value any more - it all makes a lot more sense now I have been through the earn/burn calcs myself (I am an auditor so trusting other peoples calcs is always a challenge for me).

Given that I dont plan to be in the UK until 2008 - I reckon I will probably have the 240K points for 2 j class tickets (mind you by then there might be a little sim around so we will definitely need business).

Now I finally understand the eVIP I have to work out how I can use them best. Given that I wont hit Exec Plat until late 2007 at the earliest (subject to other changes) I dont think I need to worry about them for a while

Thanks alot for your help over the past few pages/weeks talking me through this. It has certainly helped me understand it all a lot better and helped me make my decisions

 

[Dave Noble]

Not arguign the value any more - it all makes a lot more sense now I have been through the earn/burn calcs myself (I am an auditor so trusting other peoples calcs is always a challenge for me).

Given that I dont plan to be in the UK until 2008 - I reckon I will probably have the 240K points for 2 j class tickets (mind you by then there might be a little sim around so we will definitely need business).

Now I finally understand the eVIP I have to work out how I can use them best. Given that I wont hit Exec Plat until late 2007 at the earliest (subject to other changes) I dont think I need to worry about them for a while

Thanks alot for your help over the past few pages/weeks talking me through this. It has certainly helped me understand it all a lot better and helped me make my decisions

Glad that ya convinced, I know how hard it can be to wean people across to AA ( took me ages to convince QF WP ) . If you reach EXP and get the eVIPs , you'll have no trouble putting them to good use

Dave

 

[simongr]

If you get the opportunity to do 1 short extra sector before flying to SIN. e.g. fly SYD-MEL-SIN I think that you would complete the challenge on SIN-SYD and get an extra 3908 miles

Unsurprisingly my fluid plans have changed again (I must get a bigger eraser with all these changes) and now instead of SIN in September its potentially going to be AKL in September and SIN in October. So that short sector might be on the cards. Mind you I will have to either fly economy or use a few thousand QF points to upgrade to business...

 

[Dave Noble]

Unsurprisingly my fluid plans have changed again (I must get a bigger eraser with all these changes) and now instead of SIN in September its potentially going to be AKL in September and SIN in October. So that short sector might be on the cards. Mind you I will have to either fly economy or use a few thousand QF points to upgrade to business...

Even if you fly in economy in any eligable fare, that will give you enough points to ensure that ya J to SIN completes the challenge. If you use miles to upgrade you may find that it even credits to AA as business class

Dave

 

[mileagemax]

Just cottoned on to this (I know I am a bit late). Quick question.... is there any expiry to the Challenge?

Reason is that I probably won't have paid flights until early next year, so I should wait to sign up then, as you need to fly within 3 months of signing up.

 

[Dave Noble]

Just cottoned on to this (I know I am a bit late). Quick question.... is there any expiry to the Challenge?

Reason is that I probably won't have paid flights until early next year, so I should wait to sign up then, as you need to fly within 3 months of signing up.

You can sign up in advance ( e.g. could sign up in August for commencement in September ) but you have 3 months from the commencement date. If you are planning to fly next year, then best waiting off till closer to the time to start

Dave

 

[GeorgeD]

This whole Platinum Challenge sounds like gold!!! (no pun intended)

I started a thread yesterday about trying to get the extra points I needed to move from Silver to Gold on Qantas FF, and it was very helpfully suggested that this might be more useful to me. I've read this entire thread, and if I understand the rules correctly, I can achieve Platinum Status with AA, with one flight on Qantas from Brisbane to London...could someone possibly confirm this given the following flight details?

Flight 1:
Sat 06 Jan 07 13:40 Brisbane 19:30 Singapore QF051 International
Class: Economy (B)

Sat 06 Jan 07 23:25 Singapore 05:30 (Sun) London QF009 1
Class: Economy (B)

Flight 2:

Tue 20 Mar 07 22:00 London 18:35 (Wed) Singapore QF010 4
Class: Economy (S)

Wed 21 Mar 07 21:10 Singapore 06:55 (Thu) Brisbane QF052 1


Now the only problem I see is that my Qantas FF number has already been added to this booking. Is there any way that I can change this to the AA number?

My other question is regarding preferred seating. I've always had great success with Qantas getting my requested seats. I'm assuming they'll completely ignore my request if my QFF number isn't on the booking and the AA one is? Is there any way to lodge this preference with AA instead perhaps?

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[NM]

This whole Platinum Challenge sounds like gold!!! (no pun intended)

I started a thread yesterday about trying to get the extra points I needed to move from Silver to Gold on Qantas FF, and it was very helpfully suggested that this might be more useful to me. I've read this entire thread, and if I understand the rules correctly, I can achieve Platinum Status with AA, with one flight on Qantas from Brisbane to London...could someone possibly confirm this given the following flight details?

Indeed. B class earns 1.5 EQP per mile flown. So BNE-SIN gets you 5,724 EQP, and SIN-LHR completes the Plat Challenge with a further 10,147 EQP.

You would earn more AA miles if you routes via SYD or MEL and took QF1 or QF9 or QF29 on a single ticket coupon from SYD/MEL to LHR since you would get the 100% Plat Bonus miles for the entire SYD/MEL-LHR instead of just the SIN-LHR sector.

Now the only problem I see is that my Qantas FF number has already been added to this booking. Is there any way that I can change this to the AA number?

No problem. Just call QF and ask them to change the FF number to your AA number. Then look at CheckMyTrip.com and ensure the correct format for the FF details being:
Qantas Airways: AAxx_xx_

My other question is regarding preferred seating. I've always had great success with Qantas getting my requested seats. I'm assuming they'll completely ignore my request if my QFF number isn't on the booking and the AA one is? Is there any way to lodge this preference with AA instead perhaps?

Just get the seat pre-allocated by QF before you have them remove the QF FF number from the booking.

Also note that you can use QF FF points to upgrade any of those QF flights even though you have your AA FF number in the booking. And you join the upgrade waitlist with the priority defined by your QF FF status since that is the account from which the FF points will be used.

 

[GeorgeD]

Wow! That was a super fast response NM!! Thanks And it all sounds like great news!!!

I could potentially look at a routing via Sydney or Melbourne...could you possibly tell me how much of a difference this is likely to make? And why does this apply when you fly the one flight code all the way through, as opposed to two different flight numbers?

Sorry if that's a really dumb question! I think I've just taken so much information in in the last couple of hours that my intelligence level is actually decreasing due to brain overload!

 

[Dave Noble]

Wow! That was a super fast response NM!! Thanks And it all sounds like great news!!!

I could potentially look at a routing via Sydney or Melbourne...could you possibly tell me how much of a difference this is likely to make? And why does this apply when you fly the one flight code all the way through, as opposed to two different flight numbers?

Sorry if that's a really dumb question! I think I've just taken so much information in in the last couple of hours that my intelligence level is actually decreasing due to brain overload!

BNE-SYD would earn you 500 qpoints and 500 miles

SYD-LHR is 10572 miles and in B class would complete the challenge on its own. Since you get the 100% platinum bonus on the flight you complete the challenge, you will earn a bonus 10,572 miles

total miles earned would be 21,644 miles one way vs 17,346 going BNE-SIN-LHR so an extra 4298 miles

Dave

 

[GeorgeD]

Ahhhh, I see, it all makes sense again...phew!! Thanks for the speedy reply Dave.

Man, it seems almost too easy. No wonder everyone keeps mentioning babies and candy!!

How does the whole world not know about this? How did I not know about this?! Thanks for everyone at FrequentFlyer.com.au, you rock!!!!

 

[Dave Noble]

Ahhhh, I see, it all makes sense again...phew!! Thanks for the speedy reply Dave.

Man, it seems almost too easy. No wonder everyone keeps mentioning babies and candy!!

How does the whole world not know about this? How did I not know about this?! Thanks for everyone at FrequentFlyer.com.au, you rock!!!!

No worries.

You might also like to have a look on aa.com at the award charts to compare award flight costs to really appreciate it . e.g. economy award SYD-PER-SYD would cost 20,000 points in economy and 35,0000 in business using AA with approx $40 in taxes vs 36,000/72,000 using Qantas plus fuel fines and taxes


Dave

 

[GeorgeD]

Oh my gosh, that is unreal!!!! I can't believe you need so little points. I wasn't even considering the program for the points value (more interested in status...), but this puts Qantas to shame!!

 

[NM]

Oh my gosh, that is unreal!!!! I can't believe you need so little points. I wasn't even considering the program for the points value (more interested in status...), but this puts Qantas to shame!!

There's so much candy and so many things to do with it that it reminds me of being inside Willy Wonka's factory!

 

[Dave Noble]

There's so much candy and so many things to do with it that it reminds me of being inside Willy Wonka's factory!

With all this candy, do make sure you brush ya teeth thoroughly

Dave

 

[simongr]

OK - a slightly updated travel profile might now be being used for this as I have slotted in some personal flights between now and my Singapore trip. Still wondering at which point to call and confirm the platinum challenge (and that means I need to then commit to AA). The planned travel is as follows:

http://202.174.105.90/~bduc/attachment.php?attachmentid=4205&d=1156729802[img]


[SIZE=1]I must learn how to use that code tag rather than posting an image file[/SIZE]

I currently have about 80k of QFF points (and might add 20K from my diners card)

The only flights currently booked (and paid) are the SYD/BNE flights and that is in O class - so I think I can ODU for me and mrs sim.

Any thoughts on the itinerary? I might have to fly to New York (2% chance) on 30 October for the day so I would then fly SYD-JFK-BKK-SYD instead of SYD-BKK-SYD but that is very unlikely - I think I might have to do a conference call from Thailand whilst I am on vacation :)

Any thoughts?

 

[simongr]

Hmm - just trying to get this to work - this is a link to an image file of the itinerary...

http://202.174.105.90/~bduc/attachment.php?attachmentid=4205&d=1156729802

 

[serfty]

... The only flights currently booked (and paid) are the SYD/BNE flights and that is in O class - so I think I can ODU for me and mrs sim. ...

Can't upgrade from O class. (FWIW N & Q are also excluded)