How do I sign up for the American Airlines Platinum Challenge?

[redmia]

Hi

I've just joined this website after reading an article in the Xmas 2007 edition of the AFR entitled "Insiders' Guide to Frequent Flyers" by Debra Cleveland which I thought was very illuminating.

That article claimed that if you earn 10,000 points with American Airlines in 3 months, then you qualify as an AA Platinum member under their "Platinum Challenge rules". I therefore immediately signed up for AA's Advantage program in December 07 just before I flew off to South America and have since been credited with over 17,000 AA miles (10k + as base miles & the balance as bonus miles) in flights with QF, LAN and Air Tahiti Nui and 5 status credits. More flights are awaiting processing.

Unfortunately I'm having great difficulty finding info on the "Platinum Challenge" on AA's website and can't get through to the their AA Advantage office in Fort Worth Texas. So do any of you experts know whether;

1. any of those 10,000 qualifying miles need to be on AA flights? I hope not as mine were all on QF, LAN and Air Tahiti Nui flights, not AA itself!

2. I need to specifially sign up for the Platinum Challenge (if so, where on the AA website do I do this?), or does AA monitor this automatically and notify you if and when you've qualified?

3. Does anyone have a contact number for AA Advantage in the US other than the 1800 882 8880 number listed on their Advantage website (which doesn't work from Australia)? I've tried 0011 + 1 + 817 + 963 1200 (the number listed in international White Pages) but nobody answers! Alternatively, does anyone have a current email address for them?

Thanks so much
redmia

 

[simongr]

Hi redmia -

This thread will pretty much answer all of your question on the challenge but I am afraid I might be the bearer of bad tidings.

In summary you need to sign up for the challenge before you fly and the flights need to be on AA flight numbers (not AA aircraft necessarily.

Sorry about that.

S

 

[Dave Noble]

1. any of those 10,000 qualifying miles need to be on AA flights? I hope not as mine were all on QF, LAN and Air Tahiti Nui flights, not AA itself!

They do need to be on AA flight numbers

2. I need to specifially sign up for the Platinum Challenge (if so, where on the AA website do I do this?), or does AA monitor this automatically and notify you if and when you've qualified?

There is no specific link for it on the AA website so either need to call AA or try doing it by email. You do need to sign up for it though

The details of the challenge are in the Aadvantage forum on this site at http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...ntage/aa-platinum-challenge-mileage-8595.html which will hopefully answer most questions

Dave

 

[redmia]

Thanks so much Dave and Simon. Very depressing news! What a shame that the AFR article didn't make it clear that you have to sign up for the AA Platinum Challenge before you fly and that you have to fly on AA codeshare flights, not just on Oneworld members to qualify. At least I know now!

Also, are there any Australian credit cards that earn points towards AA Advantage miles?

Thanks again
Great website!
Mia

 

[futaris]

Nothing earns AA miles directly in Australia. The best you can get is Diners Club, or AMEX. For Amex you need to transfer your points into SPG first.

Best rate is ~60,000 AMEX MR points = 25,000 AA points.

 

[drron]

Diners club does allow you to credit directly to AAdvantage at 2:1 rate.Better to do it via SPG which is also at 2:1 but then if transferring to Aa from SPG and you do it in 20000 lots you get a 5000 mile bonus.
You can enroll for the challenge by email through aa.com and customer relations.