Will the AA Challenge succeed ?

[DTM1]

My sister is in the process of booking a LONE5.

She is going to try for the plat challenge, but I'm not sure if she'll have enough Q points, given the airlines she is flying.

I understand that the challenge must start on either the 1st or 15th of the month. If that is correct, then the relevant part of her current itinerary (being the only part to complete within the 3 month window) is:

SAO - BUE; ZOS - SCL - ARI - SCL - JFK - LAX - MEL

She is currently flying/ticketed:

BA for SAO - BUE
LAN Airlines for ZOS - SCL - ARI - SCL - JFK
Qantas for JFK - LAX - MEL

I saw an old post from Dave Noble that allocated the following Q points to these airlines for L class fares:

BA - 0.25
LAN Airlines - 1
Qantas - 0.5

Are these still current ?

On that basis, I have calculated that the relevant Q Points for the current itinerary would be as follows:

BA for SAO - BUE [1036 x 0.5 = 518]
LAN Airlines for ZOS - SCL - ARI - SCL - JFK [7718 x 1 = 7,718]
Qantas for JFK - LAX - MEL [10,407 x 0.5 = 5,203]

If this is all correct, then the challenge should succeed.

Could anyone please confirm that these calculations and assumptions are all correct.

Also, would it be better to book the JFK - LAX - MEL ticket as the AA codeshare ? I think that would mean that she would get 1 q point per mile, and then achieve AA Platinum on arrival into LAX ?

 

[Dave Noble]

If you book JFK-LAX-MEL on the AA codeshares then that will complete the challenge. To complete the challenge the flights have to be on AA flight numbers as described in the challenge thread on the AA forum

The LA and BA flights will not count towards the challenge, but since JFK-LAX-MEL is just under 10,400 miles, if you do it on the AA flight number then the challenge will be complete and the candy stolen

Dave

 

[DTM1]

Thanks Dave. As usual, extremely helpful.

I do have one other question, so apologies if the answer is really obvious, but I have done all most of my flying on QF and AA, so I'm not so familiar with the other oneworld airlines.

If the AA challenge is just on AA flight numbers, then what is the discount applied by other airlines to the "L" class fare ? Is that simply the discount they apply to the FF points that can be accrued in that fare basket ? (ie Iberia gives 0.15 AA points for a trip on Iberia in L class ?)

If that's the case, then I assume that an AA member should always try to have flight numbers in the following preference:

AA
LAN
BA/QF
others...

Is this right ?

 

[Dave Noble]

If the AA challenge is just on AA flight numbers, then what is the discount applied by other airlines to the "L" class fare ? Is that simply the discount they apply to the FF points that can be accrued in that fare basket ? (ie Iberia gives 0.15 AA points for a trip on Iberia in L class ?)

The accrual rates are relevent when earning/renewing status the normal way rather than by a challenge

Dave

 

[serfty]

In relation to FF miles earning, here's a link to a post on FT containin g a table of L class earnings across the oneWORLD programs. (Note, It was valid late last year, but does not have entries for this year's new oneworld members, nor any subsequent changes.)

Booking Class L - Redeemable miles/km per mile/km flown

 

[DTM1]

That's fantastic. Thanks.