AA Platinum Challenge - Tips

[Jeff Abbott]

To Dave and all who answered my query about joining the AA Gold/Platinum Challenge - many thanks to you all. Will follow through and see what happens?

Cheers,

Jeff A

 

[Altair]

I was wondering if the qpoints had a minimum eg. 500? Or is it just the airmiles that has the minimum?
The reason I ask is that SO & I will be flying WLG-SYD return in J for Xmas and we are also doing SYD-DBO return in "O" as well. Would this allow her to do the Gold Challenge of 5,000 to start 16 December? I was holding off the Platinum Challenge for our honeymoon as we were thinking about doing a DONE4 routing but instead chose TG as they offered a good price, and also the wedding "budget" is more a fictional ideal rather than something that was to be adhered too
Oh if I only had recieved that targeted offer of double SC I would have actually made it to SG easily rather than me toying with the idea of a SC run after we return.:-|

 

[simongr]

Yep min EQP 500
Min EQM = 500 + bonuses

 

[QF WP]

Yes, the minumum q-points are 500 for any sector in any class with any partner airlines from whom you are eligible for qpoints.

The minimum mileage is 500 for all partner airlines with the following exceptions - BA is specifically minimum of 125 and IB is minimum 300.

 

[Altair]

Thank you guys,
So that means the following:
WLG-SYD in J = 1,384 x 1.5 = 2,076
SYD-DBO in O = 500 x 0.25 (but 500 min) = 500
DBO-SYD in O = 500 x 0.25 (but 500 min) = 500
SYD-WLG in J = 1,384 x 1.5 = 2,076 (challenge successful and bonus miles apply).
Total = 5,152 so challenge successfully completed.
This will be before the rumoured change to the challenge rules where only AA metal flights count.
So I will get SO to call (or can you email customer service I read that earlier) AA to request a gold challenge.

 

[serfty]

... So I will get SO to call (or can you email customer service I read that earlier) AA to request a gold challenge.

Going by Dave's post #1 in this looong thread:

How do I sign up for the challenge

Phone AAdvantage Customer Service in the US on +1 817 799 2500 ( from Australia , replace the + with 0011 )

 

[Altair]

Going by Dave's post #1 in this looong thread:

Yep I know about that and you can try your luck with the regional customer service lines but I thought that I had read either here or on flyertalk that someone just sent in an email request. I tried to search but it did not come up with the correct answer.
Either way it will be up to SO to organize it as it is her account and I should not be allowed to make queries etc....or does the US not have privacy regulations like Australia, NZ etc?

 

[Dave Noble]

Either way it will be up to SO to organize it as it is her account and I should not be allowed to make queries etc....or does the US not have privacy regulations like Australia, NZ etc?

LOL. AA and protecting accounts. As long as you know the account number , you can easily phone and sign the person up

Dave

 

[simongr]

I signed up both for me and mrsimongr - very easy by phone. Very nice AA staff - who seemed either to be american or had a great fake accent.

 

[novacatz]

I heard over on *ahem* another website (FT) that platinum challenges would be restricted to AA flights only from Jan 1 2007. Does anyone have a source or heard this as well?

 

[Dave Noble]

I heard over on *ahem* another website (FT) that platinum challenges would be restricted to AA flights only from Jan 1 2007. Does anyone have a source or heard this as well?

The rumour is still a rumour, though I have heard from another reliable source that there is a strong likelihood that the IT systems may well not be ready to handle it ( remember this is coming from the same IT team that have not been able to handle displaying eVIP balances on the aa site ).

Dave

 

[JohnK]

I heard over on *ahem* another website (FT) that platinum challenges would be restricted to AA flights only from Jan 1 2007. Does anyone have a source or heard this as well?

It was discussed on a thread on AFF recently. It appears to be the case but when it will happen is anyone's guess.

 

[tuapekastar]

I heard over on *ahem* another website (FT) that platinum challenges would be restricted to AA flights only from Jan 1 2007. Does anyone have a source or heard this as well?

The obvious follow-on from that, if/when it becomes fact, is will codeshares be eligible? Particularly meaningful for anyone wishing to commence a challenge on a transpac from Oz

 

[simongr]

Its also not clear if its flights after jan 2007 or challenges starting after jan 2007.

I will be speaking to some friends over the next few weeks to suggest that they join up and get a challenge started on Dec 15 - worst case scenario being they fail the challenge - but will check that before 2007 flights are flown

 

[Dave Noble]

Its also not clear if its flights after jan 2007 or challenges starting after jan 2007.

There's no ambiguity there; a challenge started now will be started under the current rules in force

Dave

 

[GeorgeD]

I have just signed up to start the platinum challenge from the 16th November...about time! I've been eyeing this thread off for several months now

I have a ticket booked in H class with Qantas from London to Brisbane. I have a connection from Milan to London, but can't seem to find the booking code anywhere (either on the BA or Qantas site). Would anyone be able to shed light as to whether this would automatically be in the BA equivalent of H class, as that's what the rest of the ticket is?

I've also calculated the following Q points...could an expert eye possibly confirm that I've estimated correctly?

Flight 1:
21:50 Milan 22:45 London BA579
Q points = 146

Flight 2
22:00 London 18:35 (Wed) Singapore QF010
Class: Economy (H)
Q points = 6757

Flight 3
21:10 Singapore 06:55 (Thu) Brisbane QF052
Class: Economy (H)
Q points = 3814

Which should in theory give me 10,717 Q-points?

And sorry, last question I promise!! My Qantas FF number already exists on the booking, so I will need to get it removed. However I'd prefer to do that right at the last minute so they hopefully overlook my excess luggage (I'm moving, it's not a regular occurence!) And where I don't get my seating preference via the automatic allocation, I've found they can generally work something out at check-in, which I think may have something to do with being a Qantas Frequent Flyer. So ideally, I'd like to leave my qantas FF number on the booking right up until check-in...is there any way this could work, or should I just accept the possibility of having to pay for being overweight in baggage, and a not-so-great seat, in return for taking the candy from the baby?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!! It's the first time in a looong time that I've actually looked forward to an international economy flight...amazing what a little bit of temptation can do!

Thanks all!

 

[simongr]

Flight 1:
21:50 Milan 22:45 London BA579
Q points = 146

Min qpoints is 500 so you should get a little more

And sorry, last question I promise!! My Qantas FF number already exists on the booking, so I will need to get it removed. However I'd prefer to do that right at the last minute so they hopefully overlook my excess luggage (I'm moving, it's not a regular occurence!) And where I don't get my seating preference via the automatic allocation, I've found they can generally work something out at check-in, which I think may have something to do with being a Qantas Frequent Flyer. So ideally, I'd like to leave my qantas FF number on the booking right up until check-in...is there any way this could work, or should I just accept the possibility of having to pay for being overweight in baggage, and a not-so-great seat, in return for taking the candy from the baby?

Two things - are you a Silver/Gold/Plat QFF? If not then it wont make any difference. If you are then leave the number until the last minute - you can even do it in the Qantas Club after your BP has has been issued. Just make sure you do it. I regularly have them change my FF number after they issue the BP at the check in desk as my TA refuses to input my AA number.

Welcme to AFF GeorgeD

 

[Dave Noble]

I would recommend taking the number out and putting the AA one in ; I have seen problems with points ending up going where they were not wanted and the hassles of trying to fix it later. Do you want to risk a check in agent messing up and not getting the challenge completed ?

I would definately not be expecting BA in Milan to be overlooking anything more than a few kilos regardless of the card you have unless you were travelling in 1st and would recommend sending the excess luggage with one of the companies that specialise in it ( which is what I have done when moving from one country to another )

Dave

 

[simongr]

Just an interesting observation that again reinforces the benefit of the AA program. I was just discussing mrssimongr's potential trip next year with me on a RTW award in J. Itinerary is likely to be syd-lax-jfk-lhr-lca-lhr-hkg-syd in J. That would require a 35K miles oneworld award on the AA program costing 140K points (slightly more than I budgeted - but that's ok - and we still 3K miles at the end to play with ). I put the same itinerary into the QF "how many points do I need" tool and it suggested 396K points!!!

And people still think this is not worth doing?

 

[JohnK]

I put the same itinerary into the QF "how many points do I need" tool and it suggested 396K points!!!

That is very high. The reason it has calculated so many FF points is that you have exceeded the 5 stopovers and/or transfers rule and in theory the award booking engine starts to calculate individual trips.

And people still think this is not worth doing?

For some people it is not worth the time & effort. I have been reading the AA threads on AFF & FT for a while now and have made a decision to stick with QF as it suits me best. Points are a nice bonus but couldn't really care about them. In order to maintain QF Gold/Platinum each year I would need to do a certain amount of flying and would not have the time to burn accumulated points.

I am quite happy being a QF Gold and soon to be QF Platinum on sale fares and red e-deals. Most of these are non earners on the AA FF program. I am not about to start chasing higher airfares. Although I haven't tried hard enough I do not think that it would be possible to find AA codeshares if your only international travel is Australia-SE Asia 3 times a year.

One other thing just out of interest. Please tell me how many FF points you will need with AA to fly SYD-ADL-ASP-AYQ-PER-BME-KNX-DRW-GOV-CNS-SYD. Stopovers in PER, BME & DRW. BME-KNX-DRW is on Air North.