AA Challenges - Questions and General Discussion

[drewbles]

Re: [Confirmed] QF removing [cheap] ASAs [from web booking engine Jun 26] was 10Apri

Hi All
Hope this is the right place, this might be a real dumb question but just want to confirm.

I have found an amazing SR, 7 legs 640SC for $900usd all in J or F class under $2 a SC though over $2 when using AUD.
This does not include the flight to Aus return, so its like 750SC with the Aussie flight.

I was wondering with all those flights direct AA and no QF code on the flights can all the points and SC be earned for QF, will they all be credited to my QF account or to my AA account, Guessing now that the have a direct relationship like Emirates, I would still get the points and SC is this correct.
New to this SR stuff but think I addicted already so much wonderful information and links out there.

Thanks for any help

Cheers

Suggest you look here:

https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/do/dyns/initialPointsEarned

Put in the flights and be sure to select the right cabin and airline. If you calculated it at QF SC earn rates, you're going to be well short when you move to AA codes. Try it and see though.

There are many runs around the USA for approx. $2USD per SC.

 

[MikeG]

AA Platinum Challenge & flying with them

I've just completed my return trip to the USA with American, 8 flights in 7 days, and I've confirmed my status is now Platinum (a la Gold QFF) for the next 18 months.

The American Airlines app was really brilliant in keeping track of flights and my status, and due to a 4 hour delay got a bonus 4000 miles although getting to your hotel at 3am before a 9am meeting wasn't really what I would have liked...

Thanks to those who let me know about this, the only down side is that the American Airlines Admirals lounges are pretty lame with no meals to speak of except for occasional free soups, or purchasable sushi in addition to cheese and crackers, and miscellaneous raw vegetable matter.

One thing I noticed with AA is that most people know the rorts that go on, like checking your luggage at the gate to avoid fees, etc. So the delays at the gate are substantial...

I've also noticed that AA staff are not very forthcoming with information about delays, in the case of my 4 hour delay, it was not clear why the plane was delayed. The plane was on the tarmac, and it seemed it was out of fuel??? For 4 hours??? This occurred at Charlotte International Airport on a regional flight to Tri-cities Airport. In a Dash-8 prop driven aircraft. That said the plane was in very poor condition, with folded paper inserted to try and stop rattling. It was bizarre to then fly a QF Dash-8 a day later and find that there were no rattles, and the interior was much better cared for.

With the flight from Sydney to LAX, I purchased the onboard wifi, only to find that after an hour it failed to work at all. I emailed the wifi provider in Germany (the only customer service option) after arriving in LA and received a refund same day. Obviously its a known problem.

I used the onboard wifi for all of my internal flights, and it worked really really well - fast and reliable. It was $45 for a month, which I thought was a reasonable way to be able to continue working on emails / iMessages during the flight.

I flew back to Sydney on a Qantas bird on an American ticket, and the downgrade in service was noticable. No wifi was offered either...

Mike

 

[docjames]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

Nice summary.

Re: wifi, i'd add that there's a big difference in the practicalities of providing onboard wifi over the continental USA vs the Pacific Ocean.

 

[dfcatch]

Re: AA Platinum Challenge & flying with them

I flew back to Sydney on a Qantas bird on an American ticket, and the downgrade in service was noticable. No wifi was offered either...

Mike

Which QF flight were you on? In economy?

 

[MikeG]

Re: AA Platinum Challenge & flying with them

QF8 economy

 

[MikeG]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

You know there's full satellite coverage over the Pacific Ocean right...

 

[serfty]

Good Report and well done

It looks like you started it right after July 16th, thereby giving the 18 months. Good move!

For those at home, there is a good thread on this:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....atus-challenge-options-73194.html#post1374047

I have moved these posts to the existing thread.

 

[dfcatch]

Re: AA Platinum Challenge & flying with them

QF8 economy

Interesting that you had poor service - the QF crews on that flight are usually top notch and AA in economy is not know for "service".

Wifi - United suffers the same issues on ex-Australia flights.

On flights to Australia both airlines seem to be very reliable until a couple of hours out from Australia.

 

[docjames]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

You know there's full satellite coverage over the Pacific Ocean right...

Yes but the continental US uses air-to-ground coverage not via satellite.

Every Major Airline's Wifi Service, Explained and Ranked

 

[MikeG]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

I had fairly good (but slow) wifi access on Emirates from Australia to Manchester via their hub in Dubai last year... US$1 per leg (where I did pay for it) and 100% reliable, but slooooow.

 

[Mattg]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

Apparently AA is making further changes to the status challenges in 2017. You can now pay a little more and receive status benefits during the challenge period.

But they're also adding a revenue requirement. You now need to earn 1,000 EQD (elite qualifying dollars) to earn Gold status or 2,000 EQD for Platinum within the 3-month challenge period.

American Modifies Their Gold & Platinum Status Challenge For Better And Worse - One Mile at a Time

I wonder how this would work if you completed the challenge entirely on QF flights?

 

[MikeG]

Re: American Airlines Platinum Challenge & flying with AA

Looks like I got my Platinum at the right time!!!

 

[downloadingdata]

Pretty sure AA removed the 4 segment requirement for obtaining / maintaining status

 

[AFF Editor]

Pretty sure AA removed the 4 segment requirement for obtaining / maintaining status

Indeed they have! Well spotted, I have updated the article.

 

[andye]

Indeed they have! Well spotted, I have updated the article.

May be worth warning readers of the AFF article about the lack of AA domestic lounge access too

 

[andye]

On a slightly related issue I was looking through the AA status benefits, and see it says no access to Qantas Domestic Business Lounges with AA Plat. We know that still means you can access the Qantas Club but suspect most Americans wouldnt know that

 

[kpc]

I will be crediting my upcoming AA return J flight Syd-Lax-Ord to AA (already requalified QF Plat)....will I meet the AA Gold or Plat challenge with this? Is it even worthwhile for me to do given that I'm QF Plat? Ta

 

[Mattg]

I will be crediting my upcoming AA return J flight Syd-Lax-Ord to AA (already requalified QF Plat)....will I meet the AA Gold or Plat challenge with this? Is it even worthwhile for me to do given that I'm QF Plat? Ta

Sounds to me like this should be enough to earn AA Platinum, but I don't think it's worthwhile given that is equivalent to QF Gold and you're already QF Platinum. Maybe save the AA challenge for a rainy day (as you can only do it once per 5 years)? Unless of course you're planning to ditch QFF going forward...

 

[big_RED]

I'm flying SYD - LAX return in J on Qantas in August. So I assume from the article going for the AA Platinum challenge is a no brainer (I'm Bronze on Qantas).

Question is, when I make future Qantas bookings while I have the AA status, do I need to quote my AA number to get the privileges and therefore won't receive any Qantas points or status on those flights? E.g I pretend I am a AA member for every Qantas booking until my AA status runs out to benefit from the status correct?

 

[ajd]

I see reports on other parts of the internet claiming that QF has been removed from the list of eligible partners for status challenge purposes... hmm. Perhaps someone here can confirm?

Anyway, I'm thinking it could be worth taking up the platinum challenge and using an upcoming Y trip to Europe on BA that work is paying for to get AA Plat. It would probably mean losing my PS status on QF for next year. I also have very little chance of holding on to AA Plat next year, so I'd probably just credit everything to QF and try to get back to PS while using AA for lounge access.

Does this seem like a sensible course of action?

(edit: Anyone know the maximum number of times you can change your FFP number on one booking? I might be able to meet the Plat challenge requirements purely with the long haul flights, and if I credit my short haul connections to QF I end up very close to keeping PS - the only real advantage of which would be the lower requal requirement next year, and PS status isn't worth much anyway, but I might as well try I guess?)