AA Platinum Challenge - Tips

[Dave Noble]

Is it possible to have them moved?

Indeed... This is the thing to avoid happening. In the 1st instance phone the QF FF department and ask them to remove the points. They can do it ( though I have had them say it cannot be done, but thats a lie ) . If that fails, call customer relations and complain there and get them to sort it out. They will deal with QFF and get the points removed

Once that is done , then submit a points request to AA

Dave

 

[tuapekastar]

Warning

Do not let any friendly QF check-in staff just "add" your QF number to your booking! Even if they say it will not effect the booking.

She told me it was so I could use my GC to get in the lounge, but al the points for BNE-SYD-SIN-FRA have been credited to my QFF and not the AA. :twisted:

Is it possible to have them moved?

On this subject, my friend, who is a paid QP member, but only PS status (says the NB!), travelling on 1st leg of a OWE RTW trip, and also on the AA Plat Challenge, lobbed at MEL International QP, booked on QF25 MEL-AKL, but on the AA codeshare. After the boarding pass went through the reader the lounge lady queried her and said something along the lines of "because you have an AA Freq Flyer scheme number, the computer automatically decides you don't have lounge access". Production of the QP card resolved everything, all exchanges were amicable, the lounge lady said she was entitled to QP access in this instance. No need to add QFF number. Also accessed AKL domestic and international QP's under similar circumstances.

This is the RTW I was originally going on, and had asked a number of questions about here. My 2 friends made AA Plat, I think on their YVR-DFW leg, and should have just finished floating down the Nile, so thanks to those here who assisted with my planning for this trip. To make up for missing this one, I'm planning a doozy in 2 years time (well, maybe, see how we go).

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Agree with tuapekastar that you just need to show the card for lounge access, no need to have it entered at check-in.

That said, there are some folk who would have the QFF number entered and change it in the lounge or at the gate. The reasons one might do this are to increase chances of upgrade (slim anyway), improve seating, get your status onto the passenger manifest for better onboard treatment.

I would be cautious with this approach - desk in lounge may be unmanned or busy, and gate agent may not have time (and unlikely to be sympathetic) to change your FF # at boarding. Then you end up like madmat777 with a mess to sort out.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Is it possible to have them moved?

Indeed... This is the thing to avoid happening. In the 1st instance phone the QF FF department and ask them to remove the points. They can do it ( though I have had them say it cannot be done, but thats a lie ) . If that fails, call customer relations and complain there and get them to sort it out. They will deal with QFF and get the points removed

Once that is done , then submit a points request to AA

Dave

It certainly is possible to sort out, but be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort to make it happen.

FFPs are very reluctant to reverse out your points and get them credited elsewhere - they think you are trying to scam the system. If you don't have any evidence to support your claim that you wanted points to go to AA and it was a bungle by check in agent then it will be difficult, if not impossible to get it sorted, in my experience.

I've had points credit to the wrong program a number of times and my average time to get it sorted is 4 months with well over a year on a couple of occassions.

Agree with Dave Noble that you need to get QF to reverse the credited points (and SCs) first, before chasing up AA. The only thing AA can help in the interim, is any evidence that you intended crediting to them.

 

[QF WP]

I also had no trouble with my recent QF flights BNE/PER/ADL/BNE with having only my AA number in the booking. It showed on the BP and I accessed QP by flashing my QF Plat card. The only negative on my BNE/PER flight was being on an A332 (2 4 2 config in Y) and being unable to get an aisle seat because of it being a full flight and being a mere AA pleb meant I got the raw end of the seating deal).

Each time at check-in, they asked whether I had a QFF card - I replied I did but I wanted the flights to credit to AA. A couple of strange looks but I gave them the "availability to upgrade to First on AA flights" so some understood.

However, the upside has been that both my PER/ADL and ADL/BNE flights have posted as J flights (so an extra 25% bonus miles),although the booking class was full Y and I used QFF points for upgrades.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

nice when it works out like that

 

[Yada Yada]

I also had no trouble with my recent QF flights BNE/PER/ADL/BNE with having only my AA number in the booking. It showed on the BP and I accessed QP by flashing my QF Plat card. The only negative on my BNE/PER flight was being on an A332 (2 4 2 config in Y) and being unable to get an aisle seat because of it being a full flight and being a mere AA pleb meant I got the raw end of the seating deal).

OK, I've finally dived in and read this thread! Thanks to all for sharing your experience.

I am a little puzzled, though. The benefits of being QFF WP have been extolled in this forum in many threads. Given that AA Platinum seems equivalent to QFF Gold, why would you willingly change to the AA program and therefore lose QFF WP benefits such as better seating allocations, being higher up on waitlists for flights and upgrades, etc? Or have I not understood?

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I am a little puzzled, though. The benefits of being QFF WP have been extolled in this forum in many threads. Given that AA Platinum seems equivalent to QFF Gold, why would you willingly change to the AA program and therefore lose QFF WP benefits such as better seating allocations, being higher up on waitlists for flights and upgrades, etc? Or have I not understood?

It depends on your circumstances. I've posted some thoughts in reply to your post in the other thread.

More generally it depends on what you value more and what you can get in terms of status and award/upgrade benefits.

It wont necessarily be the same answer for everyone. For my situation where OW is secondary alliance I currently get more value with QFF status than I would on AA. Of course when programs change, or my circumstances, I review using the information available here, on FT and elsewhere to decide what is best for me.

 

[Nobby]

One thing I'm not too clear about. Say you fly SYD-LAX return to qualify, in a class that earns 1.0 qpoints. You would qualify as Platinum during the LAX>SYD leg. Would that leg get the Platinum mileage bonus? Or would it only be for flights after that?

Similarly, if you enrolled in both the Gold and Platinum challenges, would the SYD>LAX leg, which qualifies you for Gold, get the Gold bonus, while the LAX>SYD leg got Platinum bonus points?

 

[Dave Noble]

One thing I'm not too clear about. Say you fly SYD-LAX return to qualify, in a class that earns 1.0 qpoints. You would qualify as Platinum during the LAX>SYD leg. Would that leg get the Platinum mileage bonus? Or would it only be for flights after that?

The flight on which you complete a challenge gets the bonus

Dave

 

[raccoon111]

How long do points for flights on BA take to post to my AAdvantage account?

I become AA Plat on Monday morning 10 June, arriving in SYD on BA15 from SIN. Will probably be hopping on the 21:45 QF188 to MEL.

Should the points get posted to my AA account on the same day, is it suffice for me to print out my account summary showing status, in order to get QP access before my flight later in the day?

Wouldn't mind chilling at the international QP for as long as possible...

 

[Dave Noble]

How long do points for flights on BA take to post to my AAdvantage account?

I become AA Plat on Monday morning 10 June, arriving in SYD on BA15 from SIN. Will probably be hopping on the 21:45 QF188 to MEL.

Should the points get posted to my AA account on the same day, is it suffice for me to print out my account summary showing status, in order to get QP access before my flight later in the day?

Wouldn't mind chilling at the international QP for as long as possible...

You have pretty much zero chance there. It normally takes a couple of days ime for BA flights to post; it also takes up to a day for the Aadvantage system to update your status to Platinum once the points are posted

Dave

 

[NM]

How long do points for flights on BA take to post to my AAdvantage account?

My QF flights (BNE-MEL and MEL-LHR) posted in 2 days. My BA flight (LHR-FRA) posted on 2 days, and so my Plat status was recognised for my next flight which was 2 days after arriving in FRA. My AA flight FRA-DFW posted in 4 days. My DFW-PHX flight yesterday, and my PHX-DFW flight today (arrived about 2 hours ago) have not yet posted.

I become AA Plat on Monday morning 10 June, arriving in SYD on BA15 from SIN. Will probably be hopping on the 21:45 QF188 to MEL.

Should the points get posted to my AA account on the same day, is it suffice for me to print out my account summary showing status, in order to get QP access before my flight later in the day?

Wouldn't mind chilling at the international QP for as long as possible...

The BA flight is not going to show up on you AA account for a few days.

 

[madmat777]

Go to www.ba.com and select "Manage my booking" and then "Retrieve booking" from the list on the left. (It doesn't matter if is a Qantas flight , the BA MMB will do whats needed).

Put the reference number and name into the fields and retrieve the booking

On the right hand side list there will be a link to "Add frequent flyer number" . Select this

Select American Airlines from the drop down menu and fill in your AA Frequent Flyer number in the box

If you go to www.checkmytrip.com and check the booking, it should appear correctly ( as detailed further down )

Hi Dave,

I did this on domestic L flight next week and it results in the following :

You have successfully entered the following Executive Club / Frequent Flyer numbers for booking: xx_xx_

MR MATHEW VERDOUW

Frequent Flyer Programme No details entered

Frequent Flyer Number No details entered

I used American Airlines (save you from asking) and CheckMyTrip also shows no FF #.

Appreciate any pointers

 

[DJ737]

Hi there

I too have had trouble putting my AA number into BA's MMB, can input ok when making a booking on ba.com

Cheers
DJ737

 

[cowombat]

Just a quick note of thanks to Dave and other posters on this string... my Exec Platinum came through this morning from the nice folks at AA (despite a screw up by the BA check-in staff at Chennai 10 days ago that incorrectly posted some points to QF ) So it took 5 months from starting the Platinum Challenge to hit the numbers.....

 

[Dave Noble]

Just a quick note of thanks to Dave and other posters on this string... my Exec Platinum came through this morning from the nice folks at AA (despite a screw up by the BA check-in staff at Chennai 10 days ago that incorrectly posted some points to QF ) So it took 5 months from starting the Platinum Challenge to hit the numbers.....

Congratulations; if you have more systemwide upgrades that you'll use, then FTs coupon connection might be worth a visit; should be able to swap 1 for a business r/t within Australia/New Zealand

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

Hi Dave,

I did this on domestic L flight next week and it results in the following :



I used American Airlines (save you from asking) and CheckMyTrip also shows no FF #.

Appreciate any pointers

The BA MMB seems to have stopped working so well for adding AA FF numbers for QF flights unfortunately. The easiest way to ensure it is added is to book on AA.com or failing that , get QF to add it.

Dave

 

[cowombat]

Congratulations; if you have more systemwide upgrades that you'll use, then FTs coupon connection might be worth a visit; should be able to swap 1 for a business r/t within Australia/New Zealand

Dave

You are a font of good information Dave.... I went to FT to check this - seems one needs to have made 90+ posts to get access to Coupon Connection. (And I have made about 5 ) Do you know of another access method, as opposed to posting 85 spurious messages?

Cheers

 

[Dave Noble]

You are a font of good information Dave.... I went to FT to check this - seems one needs to have made 90+ posts to get access to Coupon Connection. (And I have made about 5 ) Do you know of another access method, as opposed to posting 85 spurious messages?

Cheers

Oh, I don't know another way....85 posts sounds like the easiest way ... shouldnt take long if you get into the whiny rant thread about BAs new bag allowances

Dave