Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive 01	50		2004/12/27, 12:34 pm

Gotcha. Yeah, that's all true. However, the bonus miles on the transcons would not count toward elite qualifying miles, I don't think. Only the flown miles would count. As a Plat member, I get about 20,000 from my location, with bonus. I always look at that as being 1/2 of another free trip in coach.

Of course, I wouldn't take 8 trips to Rio in a year. Of course, I will mix in other international destinations going both east and west. Ideally, you would want to start using the evips beginning in 2005 in order to requalify for ExPlat in 2006. However, I did make 6 trips to Rio last year, and 5 of them were freebies via Continental. I switched to AA at the start of 2004. I'm glad I did, because CO upped the standard freebie to 50k from 35k. More importantly, CO and NW don't give evips and it takes miles AND cash (about $300) to upgrade from some coach fares to business class.

From my location 2 trans cons would net about 12k (24K with the bonus). 12k plus the hypothetical 88k will make 100k and ExPlat.

I thought you couldn't upgrade with FF miles from economy to business unless the economy was full priced? I think that's the way it is with United if I read their rules right concerning the ticketing code letter that they give. Does American allow ANY paid economy fare to upgrade to business with 25k miles each way? If so, how realistic is it to actually be able to get the upgrade? Do you simply make a reservation, pay for it, and then hope something in business is available for an upgrade? Can you make the reservation and payment over the phone while verifying the upgrade at the same time? Thanks.

"I thought you couldn't upgrade with FF miles from economy to business unless the economy was full priced?"

If you are an elite FF (even gold) you can use an upgrade on any fare.

check out http://members.shaw.ca/fewmiles/ for more information.

Note, status is based on actual miles flown and not on bonus miles. Each time I fly to Rio I earn 10,840 miles plus a 25% bonus. The bonus does not help my FF elite miles. I also get bonus miles for booking on the web site, flight status, special offers and the the credit card. All these miles add up, I have enough for a free flight but not enough to get to Platinum.

To follow up Downandup, this from the AA.com website:

Upgrade awards are only valid on individual published-fare tickets and are subject to capacity controls.

"Upgrade on full fare" is an upgrade to the next class of service on any unrestricted full-fare ticket. Unless otherwise noted, a full-fare ticket is one that is booked in Y, B or J and is unrestricted, requires no fee for change or cancellation, has no advance purchase requirements, and is fully refundable.

"Upgrade from Most Economy/Business Class Fares" is an upgrade to the next class of service, from any eligible purchased ticket.

Upgrades are limited to a single one-way award with a maximum of three segments.

Just a couple things to add here:

"Nearly all published fares (including cheap web fares) can be upgraded with an evip or 25k. "

Not nearly all published fares, ALL PUBLISHED fares are upgradeable on AA with miles or EVIPS, even if you have no status.

They also made a change with the 2004/5 evips. Your evips expire 1 year after the day you qualify, or re-qualify for EXP. For example, you make EXP for the first time on June 3rd 2004, you will get 8 EVIPS that expire on June 3rd 2005. Lets say you requalify for EXP (another 100k butt in seat miles) on december 3rd 2004, you get 8 more evips that expire december 3rd 2005, effectivly giving you 18 months to use your 16 evips.

The way they did it before is that you would always get your "renewal" package in March of every year, now they just do it when you cross the marker (25/50/100k).

Another thing they did away with is 16 EVIPS for first time qualifiers. The way it was, is when you got EXP for the first time, they would send you a welcome kit with 8 VIP upgrades, and then you would get another kit the following march with 8 more. Now they just send one at the time you qualify.

Some see it as good, others see it as bad. In my old flying days this would really piss me off, but now that I have to work to hit EXP I can just take my final qualifying flight in december to keep things on schedule.

I'll be coming up to NY in Oct/Nov to do some JFK/LHR milage runs if anyone is interested. The fares are usually around 199 roundtrip. Get an exit row on the 777 and do a quick turnaround in london and come right back. When they run a Tokyo special it's even better. Fly 13 hours to tokyo, take a shower in the lounge wait an hour and get back on the same plane to NY.

Yes I'm crazy.

does that cathay pacific codeshare flight with aa to hong kong from jfk give miles? i noticed that they have a special on that fare.

If it's booked under a cathay flight number you only get 50%.. If you book it under the AA codeshare flight number you get full credit.

Here is the chart from AA. Check the fare code before you purchase the ticket.

http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/ViewMileageProgramsPartnerDetail.jhtml?fileName=cathayPacific.xml&repositoryName=AAdvantagePartnersContentRepository&repositoryId=10900143&itemDescriptor=AAdvantagePartnersContent

AA has a $123 fare SAN-PHL. $149 total with tax and bulshit fees. I'm got a ticket just to play patriotic tourist for a day and earn some quick status miles on AA really cheap. Seems if there are any east coast mongers looking to make a quick TJ run and earn some miles, that's a pretty good deal. I think United has the same fare SAN-BOS if that interests anyone. Are there any good whores in Philly? I'll buy a round of beers for any east coast doodz making TJ run's for miles.

Dood,

You're certainly a trooper for miles to do quick turn arounds like that. Oh well. I could never fly anywhere and turn back around for miles. All my flying will come to an end once I move to Buenos Aires next month. Maybe will fly to Rio but that's it.

Godfather,

Are you moving to BA for good? Well, we still have to hook up for a beer or two that I had promised to you. It has to be in either Sao Paulo or BA. Well, hope all goes well.

Dood:

Thanks for the clarification. Have you ever had a problem upgrading a fare you bought? I just upgraded a web fare, and fares don't much cheaper than a web fare.

If I needed miles for ExPlat, I'd go to London with you, but I've already hit the ExPlat mark and would want to stay in London for at least 3 days, anyway.

Soccer..

I never had a problem upgrading. The one thing I dont do is buy tickets from Priceline/Hotwire/Consolidator etc.. You can't upgrade those tickets. Any other fare on AA is upgradable. I do buy about 97% of my AA tickets on AA.com for the 1000 bonus miles. Sometimes, expedia or Travelocity will have a cheaper fare for the same dates, and if it's more then $30 cheaper I'll buy it from them.

I do my london/toyko turnarounds in November/December to cross the EXP mark. Fares are cheap that time of the year. I like to think of it as "get away from it all" time. Nobody can bug me for 12-24 hours

For the New York City crowd or the San Francisco crowd. You can currently book JFK-SFO or SFO-JFK round trip for $110 plus tax on aa.com . An incredible cheap way to get some transcontinental status miles and either city is a great place to spend a weekend. Dates available well into 2005 if you need to requalify for status next year. Get em while they last. I bet this deal doesn't stick around.

check out great deals to brazil on AA netsavers. 699 from NYC. I wish they would habe these deals to Asia!

Departing City to Arriving City Fare

Atlanta, GA to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $769
Atlanta, GA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $769
Atlanta, GA to Sao Paulo, Brazil $769
Boston, MA to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $799
Boston, MA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $799
Boston, MA to Sao Paulo, Brazil $799
Chicago O'Hare, IL to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $769
Chicago O'Hare, IL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $769
Chicago O'Hare, IL to Sao Paulo, Brazil $769
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $759
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $759
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX to Sao Paulo, Brazil $759
Denver, CO to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $809
Denver, CO to Sao Paulo, Brazil $809
Houston Bush Intercont'l, TX to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $769
Houston Bush Intercont'l, TX to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $769
Houston Bush Intercont'l, TX to Sao Paulo, Brazil $769
Houston Hobby, TX to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $769
Los Angeles, CA to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $759
Los Angeles, CA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $759
Los Angeles, CA to Sao Paulo, Brazil $759
Miami, FL to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $639
Miami, FL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $639
Miami, FL to Sao Paulo, Brazil $639
New York Kennedy, NY to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $699
New York Kennedy, NY to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $699
New York Kennedy, NY to Sao Paulo, Brazil $699
New York LaGuardia, NY to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $699
New York LaGuardia, NY to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $699
New York LaGuardia, NY to Sao Paulo, Brazil $699
Newark, NJ to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $699
Newark, NJ to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $699
Newark, NJ to Sao Paulo, Brazil $699
Orlando, FL to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $689
Orlando, FL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $689
Orlando, FL to Sao Paulo, Brazil $689
San Francisco, CA to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $799
San Francisco, CA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $799
San Francisco, CA to Sao Paulo, Brazil $799
Tampa, FL to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $689
Tampa, FL to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $689
Tampa, FL to Sao Paulo, Brazil $689
Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $759
Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $759
Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC to Sao Paulo, Brazil $759
Washington Dulles, VA to Belo Horizonte, Brazil $759
Washington Dulles, VA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil $759
Washington Dulles, VA to Sao Paulo, Brazil

Off2golf,

Yes. I moved to BA 6 weeks ago. I'll probably live here for the next several years if not longer. I really love this city. I just opened an office (www.argentinago.com) downtown, I bought 2 apartments and will start a property management company (www.apartmentsba.com) that will go up in mid October 2004. I've been super busy with taking Spanish classes everyday too.

Hope to hook up with you sometime.

Godfather

Godfather et al
Thanks to the excellent advice published here, I have just taken the AA Platinum Challenge, and acheived it rather easily.
I was already AA Gold status, and needed 10,000 'points' in 60 days to qualify for Platinum.

Purchasing the cheapest fare on AA from MIA to GIG (Rio) cost $625 and earned me 4162 'points' (8324 RT miles x .5).

By upgrading my next ticket from the cheapest fare of $680 to any of the following fare codes (H K L M V W 9), I received full credit for all miles flown. (8324 RT miles x 1). The cost to upgrade was less than $100!

So it looks like I'm now Platinum status, thanks entirely to all of you who posted here!

What should my next goal be?

dong,

gratz on the status! i just finished my challenege yesterday also

One question-- I coulda swore the challenge duration was 90 days?

Don Gringo - I think your next goal in Rio Mongering is not to make love to any BLOND garotas in Rio - OK please? I want them ALL - Hemp

DG, Exec Plat is a huge step up - a good nice goal but there is no challenge, you'll have to earn it.

Wait until the new year as you have little hope of the 100k annual mileage requirement (not points) in a calendar year for 2004.

Among the advantanges of Exec Plat over Plat are the 8 or 12 VIP upgrades they give you - they are good on int'l flights and can be used at time of booking; unlimitted upgrades on all domestic fares; and no fee whe you travel on an award with less than 21 or 14 days advance ticketing.

Anyone know why posts to this area don't show up on a "QuickSearch"?

they show up for me

The AA challenges are a must for anyone that travels 25,000-50,000 miles a year, a task made especially easy if you travel to Asia at all (credit for Cathay but verify the fare code). I have 12,000 miles left to maintain my Platinum for next year so I guess I'll just HAVE to take a trip to Asia soon...

FL...I found these posts using QuickSearch. Maybe you doubleclicked?

DonMarco
I stand corrected - it is in fact 90 days and not 60 days. I think I was in a self-imposed rush, and talked myself into believing I had to fly back to Brazil again in a hurry.

I guess one of the A(A)dvantages of being a west coast monger, made the platinum challenge in one trip. Recieved the 100% bonus on the return leg and have status until Feb 06. Thanks to Godfather and others on this thread.
BL

(Message edited by Bwana_Lik on October 12, 2004)

dg-- I understand!

I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about in Rio this winter (I'm going to try to head there sometime jan/feb)

As it turns out one of the biggest mistakes I made was to take the Platinum challenge. I got Platinum status which then provided motivation to use AA on two subsequent trips to South America. Baggage delays both times (in one instance I didn't have my baggage for three days since they sent it to Guatamala instead and then lost track of it for a couple of days) and a host of other problems, including exceedingly rude employees. In my experience Delta and Continental are much better airlines, although I fear with Delta's financial problems the morale of their employees may take a dive. I doubt I will ever fly American again except where there are no alternatives.

That blows. I've been on 'em all quite a bit and I for one receive fine service on AA.

Baggage problems are euqal among airlines IMO.

AA is at the tops in most all areas, and I'd say only Continental treats there status level flyers better, except for top status (over 100k miles/yr) where AA almost matched CO with their changes of Mar/04 (unlimitted free domestic upgrades).

Still, CO will upgrade any status-level flyer, based on availability at flight-time, on international routes... and this extends to their partner COPA. This makes CO a notch above AA in the area of status-level perks, IMO.

BTW, I still don't see these posts in QuickSearch, time to write Hombre...

Support problems should be addressed using our Support Request form as they are easily missed when posted in messages.

In this case we saw the issue and found a setting in FLMonger's Discus profile which was preventing search results from topics that were not flagged as "Favorite Topics". Discus profile are no longer editable by members, so this would only affect long time members that selected favorite topics before we implemented the Homepad as a replacement for the Discus profile.

BTW, FLHobbyer/FLMonger's Discus profile has been fixed.

Hey, I knew that (to write you directly), I was just seeing if anyone posting in this section once shared the problem and knew the fix.

I'll agree that CO has a much better product, but dont ever try to use your miles with them.

They're worthless.

I say CO is only better in the specific area of upgrading. In all other areas, especially award inventory availability, I say AA is better.

In terms of service, I last week flew to Hawaii. I got drunk, overslept and missed my Continental flight there. Even though it was totally my fault, Continental agents were very helpful and endorsed my ticket so I could use it on any carrier that would take me. AA had a flight 3 hours later so I went with them to Hawaii. Average service, surly flight attendants, so so plane, all and all only marginally passable. On the return flight back on Continental there was a world of difference. Even though the planes were both 767's, Continentals was an order of magnitude nicer with all fancy video games in individual seat back TV's, very attentive, friendly flight attendants who came back a number of times between meal and snack time and ask if I would like a drink or anything. AA attendants were hard to even flag down for a cup of water since they were basically only seen around meal time. CO attendants actually ask me if I needed anything a number of times throughout the flight. Imagine that. Service wise it was night and day difference between CO and AA on the same route several days apart.

Now as for their award availability, AA wins there.

Just as with say Southwest, or in general the super discount price airlines, there's a price to pay for all those ridiculously low fares (e.g. no int'l awards, with some no upgrades as they have no other cabin, etc.).

With AA, there's a price to pay for having access to an int'l route network, int'l award travel, and sufficient award inventory. The price is slightly higher fares in routes not competing with the super discounters, and very senior flight crews that might not be as pretty and friendly as other airlines.

Infrequent travelers need to realize that us consumers choose (when hub-structures don't dictate it) with our wallets, in this country, to have older flight crews that aren't always so friendly in order to receive other benefits in trade off.

American to Change International Upgrade Policy
American Airlines announced a policy change for upgrades on some international flights. Effective December 1, 2004, a nonrefundable fee of $250 will be assessed to claim Upgrade Awards used with most discounted and economy fares for travel between North America and the following destinations: Europe, Japan and South America. The fee will not apply to upgrade awards used with Full-Fare Economy and Business Class tickets. In addition, upgrade awards valid between Europe and Central/South America will be discontinued.

I am a AA EXP for the past four years, looks like just PLT for next year, then back to EXP the following year. I would recommend a website called flyertalk.com it will give you the best answers and advice concerning flying anywhere. You have it about 80% right here for AA, but the site I mentioned will give you information on all the airlines and alliances along with round the world fares. This is the best mongering site it is the best FF site.

Well, I will achieve Explat status around 10:00 p.m. on the 31st of this month. I really hope it will be worth all of the unecessary flying that I have been doing.

A VERY nice thing happened to me on my last flight. I just made Platinum. The plane was full. As I was boarding, I heard my name called. The gate attendent asked me for my ticket, took it from me, and replaced it with a 'complimentary upgrade' to biz class.

You know what? I kinda liked it up there for a change!

Champaigne, shrimp, filet mignon, ice cream sundae (hotfudge, nuts), personal DVD player, full sized pillow, reclining chair, toasty warm plaid blanky (with tassels) - hell I almost didn't bother sleeping.

Does that happen often?

That happens all the time with Plat. I want to know what will happen with Explat.

With Executive Platinum they give you that upgrade confirmed, at zero cost and without limit, up to 100 hours in advance. If not available 100 hours in advance, they re-work the math each day and then make a new decision. If still not available by the time you check in - they put you in a new queue (there are two upgrade lists, they are distinct, the advance one you can request by online or phone, and the list you get on at the airport day-of).

Of course, this is all for domestic/Canada/Carib. If you were pulled to Bus Class on a Brasil flight, as a Plat, then it was because they needed another seat and you got moved-up to put a lesser-deserving flyer (based on their algorythms of AAdvantage account and fare paid maybe) in your previously assigned seat.

All u ever wanted to know about the gold and plat challnege:


http://members.shaw.ca/fewmiles/AA/recht/challenge.html

It is now official: JAL to join OW in early 07

Personally, I can't wait for this. Hopefully this means that I can now earn AA Elite Miles on JAL on all my trips to Asia. I also have another option to Asia and can price JAL and Cathay against one another. I like Cathay a lot. And I like their late evening departures from LAX. But if JAL is a lot cheaper, I am happy to go with them, even if they do seem a little accident prone lately.

YES!

They are also adding Malev and Royal Jordanian, but I don't really travel to Budapest and the Middle East all that much so I am not really as excited about those additions to OW.

http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-06-04T150158Z_01_L04722927_RTRIDST_0_TRANSPORT-ONEWORLD-JAL.XML&rpc=66

I like JAL alot, and also think this is great news. I hadn't heard about their recent accident-proneness though. Anything major?

Nothing too major....I guess. I think even with the engine explosion that plane landed safely.

Here is an excerpt....

"Last week, he reported that JAL, until two years ago consistently ranked among the top-five global carriers for profitability, had suffered a 47.2 billion yen ($552 million) net loss in the year to March 31.

The loss capped a horror year for Asia's biggest airline, in which the financial and safety worries brought on a management rebellion that toppled president Toshiyuki Shinmachi. Travellers began deserting the airline after a string of failures, including a Boeing 767 losing its front tyres on landing, a mid-air DC-10 engine explosion, a JAL jet taxiing down the wrong runway at Seoul's Incheon airport and an emergency landing of a New York-bound flight at Sapporo.

Last year, JAL's domestic patronage dropped almost 2 per cent to 43.8 million customers and its international flights lost 3.8 per cent to 14.2 million. All Nippon Airways, its smaller rival, carried a record 49.6 million passengers and, despite sharing with JAL problems of soaring fuel costs and a slump in China-bound travellers, reported a steady Y26.7 billion net profit."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19135142-643,00.html

I don't know. Maybe I'm not so excited now about JAL joining the alliance with AA.

"I don't know"


that has to be the best post from LAG i've seen yet -- anyone who likes JAL over other SEA carriers clearly doesn't know...

(Message edited by donmarco on June 05, 2006)

Huh??? I think Don Marco is totally losing it. Aside from the fact I never said I like JAL over other SEA carriers, why would anyone post a message like that?

like is a relative term... or were you in a vacuum as usual?

Don Marco: Could you please post one more time to confirm to everyone here that you have completely gone over the deep end.

"Like" is not a relative term in that manner. I like Asians but I prefer Latinas and Caucasians.

I've never flown JAL but I'm sure I would like it. That doesn't mean I'll prefer it over Cathay, though.

Well d'art, in a vacuum, yes we all like every carrier to SEA. In terms of consumer choices though, I bet to differ. If I like a particular brand, then I am implicitly saying that I prefer that brand relative to some other potential choice (i.e. preference). Mind you not all, but least some as there would need to be a point of reference. In terms of using it as you mentioned, yes one can like every brand, but then what is the value of the information?

(Message edited by donmarco on June 05, 2006)

As I requested. Thanks.

your welcome.

I am thinking of going to LOS in November. I have been looking at Orbitz and their price has been around $780 with $234 of fees (American & EVA). Is this a good price coming from the midwest? Do I get any miles from the carriers that are used?

I do not believe you get miles for these deep discounted tickets. Call AA and check with them.

where ever you purchase tickets, the fare rules should be readily available-- if not, buy somewhere else.

AA does not reward miles for tix purchased through clearing houses, regardless of the fare paid.

AA will give miles for tickets purchased through Orbitz.

AA will give you miles thru Travelocity.

You will get miles through Travelocity; expedia and orbitz as well as elsewhere.

You will not get miles if you go through a consolidator. Many sites can find you a good deal without going through a consolidator.

Incidentally, I was able to cash in some miles yesterday to get a free trip to Rio over Thanksgiving. I'd checked before and I could not do it but they opened up some seats.

I've gotten miles through a consolidator before. You have to call AA and get them to add the record locator to the online account, then they lose track after the fact. It might take a few calls, but eventually it happens.

Help. I got a notice from AA saying that my 40K miles will expire in december if I don't add more miles by then. What is a way of keeping my miles without purchasing a ticket?

I can't make a trip right now so I need an alternative to keep my miles.

Thank you

You can get the AA credit card that gives you the frequent miles with every purchase....as long as you use the card for the occassional purchase your miles will not expire.

And you get miles with every purchase as well.....

Easier still is to go to www.aadvantageshopping.com and buy something from one of their 50 or so merchants, making sure to use the link from the aadvantageshopping website to access the merchant. If you only spend a dollar, you still get a mile or so posted, and there you go.

If you have 40K miles and don't plan on flying again any time soon, you should use them to book a free ticket. The ticket is good for a year after you book it, so it extends your deadline for 12 months.

Why cash it in for a free ticket (which I assume will require a change fee down the road) when you can, for example, buy a CD at Barnes and Noble through the American Airlines shopping mall, and by so doing extend the mileage for 18 months?

Pretty true, Laguy, that is indeed a better idea.

Another option, go to the web site and sign up for the citibank online account, you'll recieve 10,000 bonus miles and get a ATM card that allows international withdrawls with no charge if making withdrawls at a Citibank ATM.

Fooledagain

Can you provide a link?

Go to the AA web site and click on FF program and then partners, you will have to sign on through the AA web site to get the bonus miles.

I'd like to add my 2 cents of knowledge on this. I opened a checking account with Citibank over a month ago. Next, I Enrolled in the AA rewards program. You pay $65/year fee. However, everytime I make purchases, I use my ATM Card as a Visa/Mastercard and receive 1 point for every dollar I spent. I don't get charged Credit Card fees, or worry about paying the balance on my Credit Card later, because it's an ATM Card! I also agree with FooledAgain in the previous posts. I enrolled in points.com and received 100 points just for enrolling in their website. I don't even use the site anymore, but supposeddly it keeps track of all reward points for different programs. The AA website can provide you with many ways to earn points.

Got a letter from AA today specifically letting me know the checked bag fee does not apply to me.

Dear Xenono,

As you are probably aware, we recently announced a change to our checked baggage policy for travel on domestic economy class tickets. I want to take this opportunity to emphasize that these additional baggage fees do not apply to you. As a benefit to our valued AAdvantage Platinum members, you will still be able to check two bags free of charge (within current size and weight limits). In addition, customers flying on the same reservation with you are also exempt from the new checked baggage fees. For a recap of our updated policy, and to view a list of frequently asked questions, visit the link below:

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_US/utility/041208_CheckBagFee.jsp
Also, as an AAdvantage Platinum member, you will continue to be among the first customers to be boarded. This should provide ample time to locate available space for your carry-on luggage, settle in and attend to business well before takeoff.

Thanks for flying with us. It's always a pleasure to serve you.

Regards,

Rob Friedman
President
AAdvantage Marketing Programs

Kudos to AA....Made it to Exec Plat just about a week ago...bought a ticket just a few days ago, got CONFIRMED (not waitlisted) business class upgrade flying from Rio - BKK (with the exception of the NRT - BKK portion of course, since that is JAL), and all the way back to Rio, with a stopover in Miami. The AA Exec rep was great and had a lot of patience in helping me find the different legs that I could confirm for an upgrade versus having to be placed on a waitlist.

Right now as I write this I am on a quick trip from Rio to the US, and same thing - got upgraded using SWU. Was waitlisted, but it quickly cleared.

Now I have been an Exec for about one week and have already used 3 SWU (2 for the confirmed Asia trip coming up in a couple of months), and one for my current trip and the outbound Rio to US portion.

Now I will also easily make it to the 125K threshold and get 2 more SWU's...yippie....

About 3 weeks ago - before I was Exec - I had another quick trip to the US and the AA agent in the Sao Paulo Admiral lounge (I connected from Rio to the US via SP) called my name and to come to the desk. She winked and smiled, then handed me an upgrade to business class. Talk about a nice surprise.

AA rocks!

Now, just in case you are curious, getting from Rio to BKK will take some stamina. Something like a 34 hour adventure between all the connections.

One little tip for you guys that have Brazilian residence...utilize the aa.com.br website. The fares are the same, but with a Brazilian credit card you can divide the airfare into 5 installments interest fee.

Now if they could only figure out a way to get my luggage down to South America without losing it. Three out of five trips with delays ranging from 1 to 5 days before my luggage arrived does not do it for me.

Also, as far as I can tell they are the only major airline to fly from the U.S. to South America that restricts luggage to 50 pounds per bag for business and first-class travelers irrespective of status with their frequent-flier program (although by law to and from Brazil they are required to allow 70 pounds).

They definitely allow 70 pounds - I come back fully loaded on each trip from the US to Rio.

I have had luggage delays a few times, but never more then a day.

As I said, to and from Brazil they by law have to allow 70 pounds. Anywhere else, including Argentina, it is 50 with American Airlines. With most if not all other carriers it is 70, at least if you fly business or first class.

50 is the norm outside Brazil...even when I have flown Delta. Whith what airlines have you seen higher limits?

According to the Delta website, if you fly international business class it is 70 pounds, as I stated earlier.

Let me guess, you weren't flying business class and as I stated earlier I wasn't talking about economy class.

On United if you are Premier Executive/Star Allaiance Gold or higher you are allowed 3 checked bags of 70lbs each all classes

Even travel outside to/from Brazil?

Lovingmarvin:

Each airline has a website that sets forth its baggage policies. It took me all of about 20 seconds to go to the United website and confirm that "yes, what Snooky says is true" even for travel outside to/from Brazil.

I know you like American Airlines, but rather than fight without doing any research my point about their overly restrictive baggage policies (relative to their competition), why don't you take the few minutes necessary to check other websites and report back any discrepancies between what I said and what you find on the websites. And while I certainly would understand if you were to conclude it is not worth the time, then please don't continue expressing skepticism about the FACTS I and others have presented on this issue.

I am not sure what is up your ass.....but I am not going to go each website to confirm YOUR statement of other airlines having higher baggage limits for travel other then to/from Brazil. It is of no consequence to me one way or another, as I only travel AA most of the time. I have experience mainly with AA, but have also traveled on Delta which hit me with a 50lb limit on a previous trips. So you can really go fuck yourself!!!

Lovingmarvin, you are the idiot who responded to my post "most if not all other carriers it [the baggage allowance from the U.S. to South America] is 70, at least if you fly business or first class," by trying to contradict it with the idiotic and uninformed statement "50 is the norm outside Brazil." Why you had the need to contradict and argue the point when you didn't have a clue what you were talking about is beyond me.

If you don't know what you are talking about, you should shut the fuck up rather than be argumentative. If you are incapable of understanding this, then fuck you back.

I guess you are an idiot, because my initial post had nothing whatsoever do with baggage allowance, but rather upgrading on AA and the AA program in general. You took this and turned into a baggage allowance discussion....

Stick up your ass! I crown you baggage allowance knowledge King Asshole! Ok?

I am done with wasting my time with an idiot like you!

What is this some sort of hold-up? "Stick up your ass!"?? ROTFL.

Nah. I suspect it is just a descent from semi-incoherence to total incoherence.

Guys.

Its only a bag.

Each person does their own thing.

It just is not worth the energy to flame someone, and get upset.

If they don't want to do what you are suggesting, just know you are smarter than the other guy.

CHILL OUT.

Maybe you should not take so much junk anyway.

MM

MM - I will take your advise....

It is not worth wasting my time on some uneducated moron......

ok, maybe now I will take your advise....

Sorry, but I couldn't resist pointing out that the noun is spelled "advice" and the verb is spelled advise. You should never make that kind of error when referring to someone else as an "uneducated moron."

OK, truce?

Got me on that one....yes, truce :-)

Oh now I'm an "uneducated moron" because I posted some factual information that Lovingmarvin decided based on nothing to argue with?

Lovingmarvin, since you seem to consider yourself quite the educated one, how many advanced degrees from top universities do you have? And if the answer is more than zero, congratulations as that would be quite an accomplishment for such a retard.

Haha...yes, you are indeed superior all mighty one! I guess you want to prove that by turning a posting about an AA upgrade and AA membership into a show of how great and wonderful you are because you know the baggage limits on United.... yes indeed, you must have many advanced degrees.

Then.....as I try to put this to rest, you start it back up again. I guess this is your level of education. You have proven to be the bigger man!!! Good for you!!

You are nothing but an asshole and no matter how many words I misspell, this does not change nor does it make you any smarter.

But if you want to believe that....ok, more power to you!

So now, take care - a big kiss and hug to you!!!

Yes you tried to put it to rest by calling me an uneducated moron. That's your idea of trying to put this to rest?

What a pathetic loser.

Little boys in the 1st grade, did not mother say it was not nice to call each other names.

I thought you guys had graduated to the 2nd grade. We will have to hold you back another your now.

Be nice.

MM

Apparently you do not know how to read or keep track....

My LAST post stated : "Got me on that one....yes, truce :-)" Period..... I would say that is putting it to an end. But I guess you prefer to continue....

"uneducated moron" came before that....

Beijo big pussy!

I see . . . you post I am an uneducated moron, then post you want a truce.

Sounds like you have shit for brains.

Great chest pounding from a big monkey like you.... I have really enjoyed this back and forth and I am sure the audience has as well... but this is my last reply. Since this for sure means that you have to reply as well to have the last word (which can go on and on, on and on, etc), just understand that I really do not need a truce with you....I really don't give one rat's ass about you. You are nothing! However, I am not here to waste my time with an asshole like you and that is not why I am on this board.

So....post your reply..... There is no need to have a truce between the two of us, but I will stop the bickering here.

I am sorry, you guys are in preschool now. At least on this web site you get free sex education.

MM

I'm AA Platinum and they have always told me that the luggage restrictions are relaxed for the Platinum and Execs. I've only had to have that talk once when my main bag weighed almost 70 lbs and JAL tried to charge me. I called over a supervisor and showed them the Platinum on my ticket and the supervisor bitched out the agent and apologized to me.

I'm Platinum too, and on my last trip which was First Class to Buenos Aires, the guy said I was a few pounds over 50 and I should avoid that in the future. I made a remark about how all the other airlines were allowing 70 for Business or First Class and he actually looked up a few of American's partner airlines (since I was flying a few on a continuation of my trip) and told me I was right, but that AA's policy was 50 lbs. per piece of luggage for all passengers.

I don't doubt many times they give some consideration to their very frequent fliers (as they did for me on that one time), but I haven't seen any policy that says they are obliged to do so.

The other thing to take into account is within the last few months American Airlines has revised its baggage policies so Gurock1, if you rely on what happened in the past, it is possible you may be unpleasantly surprised on your next flights.

On UA, if you are Premier Exec or above and flying internationally, your allowance is 3 bags up to 70 lbs each, regardless of class. If you are First or Business class but not Premier Exec or above, you get two 70 lb bags. Those below Premier Exec and not in First or Business get two 50 lb bags unless you are coach and have no Premier status (these poor saps get one 50 lb bag).

The 50 lb baggage limit is my only bitch with AA. That being said, I am going on 3 years Exec Plat and only once have I been in a coach seat during that time internationally or domestically. Bottom line is, on UA, Delta/NWA, or Continental - you can be their highest tier but you fly coach a lot. This year I have been given 12 one way VIP upgrades (good for international upgrade) and you typically don't have to pay much more than the lowest fare for the upgradable fare.

Also, don't forget the dimensional restrictions (length, width of boxes, etc...).

I have a TON of AA miles that I have not been using. However, I need to get a lot of TAM miles. Does anyone know if it's possible to exchange with a willing TAM miles holder? Thanks.

You can use AA miles on Gol now. If you are trying to get a flight to Brasil on TAM using AA miles, you are probably SOL unless points.com exchanges them.

No, I want to find someone with TAM miles who wants to trade them for AA miles, if that is even allowable.

The way you do it is to use your miles to get someone a ticket, and the other person gets you a ticket.

Anyone with United miles could get you a ticket on TAM.

MM

Yeah, that might be the best thing. I actually have over 500,000 AA miles so I was hoping to do more of a bulk swap.

Someone always gets fucked in these situations where you're trying to swap miles and whatnot. Unless you're booking flights at the same time, it turns into a giant hassle. I'm still owed about 150k miles I "loaned" to a good friend of mine so he could fly the family to Detroit a couple of times on Northwest. All 25k awards, 7 times, and I managed to get I think one round trip back on Delta. He didn't fly that much after the tech crash, always flew airlines I never fly, didn't have status on any of them to get a better selection of flights, plus the fact that I didn't want his wife to know about my monger runs "you're going to Brazil again, what's down there blah blah blah".

Your best bet is to go out of your way a bit and just use the miles you have yourself, or sell some flights. Since AA has relatively good availability on 40k round trippers from MIA to GIG and other spots, you could hook some other guys up and charge less than cheap economy (maybe $500-600 or so) per 40k run and net 6-7 grand. That would pay for 7-8 TAM runs at least, and you would earn miles on Star Alliance carriers (I assume United for flexibility reasons).

I have an abundance of AA miles. Anybody have Taca miles to swap so I can go to Havana?

Jonsie, sometimes the best way to get what you want is to offer to buy someone a ticket with your miles in return for cash. For example I understand that the going price for an airmile ticket to Asia is about $750.00. Remember that the recipient will get no airmiles with their ticket or QEM. Then take your cash and buy whatever ticket you want getting miles and QEM on that ticket. On these points.com and other mileage swap deals you generally get screwed. If you find someone you trust to give you cash for the ticket you still don't get the price of the ticket for your miles, because if the recipient is smart they know they aren't getting the benefits from your ticket. If you don't trust the recipient make them pay before you get the ticket issued to them.

My understanding is selling a ticket in the manner described above is contrary to the terms of service of the frequent flier programs. Assuming I am not mistaken, if the airline finds out about the transaction you will forfeit all the miles you have accrued with them and they will kick you out of their frequent flier program.

So at the least, you need to be careful about doing these sorts of things.

Laguy, It's always nice to have someone around to point out the dangers in life, however minimal. Now, please go warn someone about jaywalking and let the grownups speak...


I'm about the only person who hasn't flown on my miles. I was hoping someone had use for my miles that would either book me a flight on Taca using their miles, or buy a flight in exchange for a comparable amount of miles.

Jonesie, it actually happens more than you would think. Someone sells a ticket on Craigslist or something to a tourist, the tourist needs to make a change, misses a flight, flight is canceled, etc. Tourist calls airline or goes to counter at the airport, tourist has problems. Tourist blames you, says he's paid for a ticket, the airline needs to call you. You're busted.

Selling/trading tickets goes on all the time, but unless you know the person you've sold to, you can get tagged by the airline if there's a problem and the guy you sold to throws you under the bus. I've given away flights before and almost every time have had a reason to call the airline to make a change or reconfirm something, since they're your miles and only you can make changes to the reservation. It's one thing to do it for someone you know. For someone you don't, it can be a major problem.

If you're going to go that route, exchange/sell them to someone you know pretty well.

It does happen quite a bit and my post was an attempt to be helpful. I don't know why when people give helpful informed advice on this site, certain people on this site seem to have a need to insult.

My bad laguy, I wasn't insulting you. Or at least didn't intend to. It seemed like a debby downer post Beachman would post. If you ever make it to Havana, I'll buy you a mojito and a cigar...

I have seen people do the same thing with Systemwide upgrades - I have seen them listed on ebay every now and then. I think those kind of things have a way of catching up to you eventually - all it takes is the wrong person taking a look at the listing and taking an interest for whatever reason to dig deeper.

It does seem like a pity that airlines do not allow this, but then again I can see their point of not wanting to establish a secondary award sales channel via private/third parties.

I also have a ton of miles accrued - I just prefer to buy the ticket and get to renew my elite privileges. With me now planning on making yearly Asia trips originating from Brazil, the SWU are worth a ton to me - it is one hell of a haul from Rio to BKK in economy. Also got another trip already planned to Europe in a couple of month, with a two week stopover in Miami. Again used SWU's... pretty sweet! The entire trip (Rio - Florida - Europe) , with stopover, using SWU, from GIG only cost me R$2200 ($1170). (I always buy on the Brazlian website using my Brazilian credit card as I can split the ticket into 5 payments with no interest).

I wish there was some type of program the airlines offer that allow you to trade frequent flyer miles towards elite counting miles...

You have to be asking for trouble to list a thing like this on Ebay. On the other hand if you're selling the ticket to a monger you know and have chased women with in the past it's pretty safe. Good judgment has to prevail. I asked AA about this and they told me that I can give away a ticket to whoever I want, whenever I want. They also told me that the person you give the ticket to owns the ticket and can change it anyway that you could, that in fact once your name is not on the ticket, the only thing you can do and the passenger can not is to turn the ticket back in, pay the fee and put the miles back in the account. Only the account holder can cancel the ticket.

The airlines know that this stuff goes on and don't actively try to stop it. On the other hand if you are an idiot and put this on Ebay or Craig's list that's another story.

Look, do what you want, but if you only sell the award ticket to someone you trust, have them make the reservation first, and get the money before you let the miles go for the ticket your risk is tiny.

Essentially, all I was saying earlier was you have to be careful about these things (as in "So at the least, you need to be careful about doing these sorts of things.") In my mind that means only selling a ticket to someone you know, trust, and who understands the rules of the game and therefore won't blurt out to the airline something like "I paid for this ticket" if something goes wrong.

Well I have hit over 1 million miles lifetime now on AA so I have permanent Gold. Took about 6 years with a combo of flying + bonus miles, various offers, and banking credit card miles to AA.

Once I hit 2 million I get permanent Platinum. Then I may switch to Star Alliance and start building miles there.

Gotta say though, AA has been pretty good to me considering I almost never fly them. I also use 135,000 miles at least once per year to get a free first class award ticket on either an AA/JAL combination to Asia or Cathay Pacific to Asia.

It use to be damn near impossible to get First Class award tickets on Cathay, but my last two first class awards were on Cathay. One last year and one this year. And Cathay first blows AA first out of the water.

Do credit card miles and other offer miles count? I'm pretty sure that my United account only tallies up the actual miles I've paid for to fly, not including the bonus miles I got from paying for tickets when I had status.

For AA, all miles, regardless of how they are earned count towards lifetime status. Not just Butt-in-Seat miles.

It's a very good deal. My bonus miles count, along with my AMEX Starwood credit card miles that I bank to AA, everything.

So figure I have flown at least 50,000 miles a year since 2003. Double that because of status and I have 100,000 miles times 7 for 700K. The other 300K were credit card miles and other bonus miles offers I received from AA and their mileage affiliates.

Also, don't forget about www.aadvantageeshopping.com. Although I posted their website a while back in this thread, it has changed (by one letter) for some reason. In any case, if you do much internet shopping, it is a great way to get miles (so too are the other airline-sponsored shopping malls, which essentially let you click through to various internet stores, such as Barnes and Noble, Overstock, and so forth, and so long as you click through from the airline shopping mall, you get miles for your purchase--in addition to what you may get from your credit card company).

By the way, presently if you install the American Airlines toolbar on your computer you get 500 miles. I'm not going to do it on one of my up-to-date computers as I don't want this sort of clutter, but may get an old computer out of the closet and install the toolbar on it to get the miles. The procedure for doing this is outlined in the above website.

(Message edited by laguy on July 11, 2010)

For those looking for miles (and EQMs) for next next year, AA is running a double EQM, triple redeemable bonus on all AA metal from the following cities:

Pit, Nashville, Raleigh, and St. Louis.

Those planning a run to SEA on AA, may want to factor in the price of a RT ticket to/fro one of the above cities.

As always, register before you book anything.

https://www.aa.com/netsaaver/viewAllPromotions.do?anchorEvent=false&from=Nav

I sure wish United would have a list that easily accessible or as long.

Here's a free trip to Asia for all you guys.

http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc/Travel/AA/Multi/Aug10/Triple/75k/default.htm?Promocode=away5&BT_TX=1

I'm in on this one for sure.

Unfort for most AA flyers, it is only valid for first time card holders.

I just signed up now. Card is on it's way. I called to verify the promotion 'stuck' for me since I 'had' a AA Card in the past. Lucky me, Citibank pissed me off and I told them to fuck off and die and closed all my all my accounts with them like a year and a half ago. So, after I run $1,500 through the card in the next 6 months I get a free plan ticket to Asia and then cancel the card. No strings. Of all the banks I hold in contempt, Citibank is the lowest of the low and I swore I would never do business with them again. Butttttttttttttttt, I will gladly milk them for a free trip to Asia on Cathay Pacific.

Woo hooo!!!!!!! Gotta love a free trip to Asia for doing NOTHING. I have less than 10 minutes of my time invested in this endeavor.

Big thank you Sancho, just signed up as well this is better than the chase promo you suggested a few months back. Great find!

IAS, the above link is not working for me. Could you double check if it is the right URL?

Thanks.

The link has failed and then worked again several times for me. I think there server is overloaded or something. Try it again in a few minutes. I just reconfirmed the like is still working.

BTW people on Flyertalk are reporting some success with applying for the business card even when there are existing open personal cards and also some success stories getting multiple bonuses by applying for all three cards. It doesn't work for every one but if you can take the multiple hard hard credit pulls there doesn't seem to be much down side in trying for all three cards and maybe you will win the lottery.

IAS:

You say To-mah-toe, I say To-may-toe, you say Citibank is the lowest of the low, I say Chase is the lowest of the low (and can eat shit) . . .

So it goes. I still may check out the free ticket though. Thanks!

However, before we all get too excited about this offer, those who have earned their miles by actually flying (the initial reason for frequent flyer programs) and then wonder why it is getting increasingly difficult to use those miles for actual flights, the answer lies, at least in part, in the numerous ways the airlines now give away miles to non-fliers thereby increasing the competition for the few free flights they make available.

Sort of like the government printing a shitload of money and then wondering why there is inflation.

You may get 75,000 miles but it's not going to take you any further in Asia than Japan. When I tried to input LAX to BKK or MNL I got kicked out, because American does not fly there, The furthest East I could find was to NRT and that would cost 65,000 for economy.

RG:

You can get a Oneworld award. So you either go to Japan and then connect on JAL or get a Cathay Pacific flight out of LA, SFO, etc...

You have to call them to book these.

Here is the mileage chart for OW awards.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/aadvantageAllPartnerChart.jsp

LAGuy:

I almost never have a problem using miles. I am traveling on a First Class award very soon. This is probably my fourth or fifth First Class award from AA. My last three have been AA awards on Cathay. And I NEVER use to be able to get Cathay awards. Now I can.

I have found the secret is either booking way ahead of time or just right before you want to travel. It has almost never been a problem for me to use my miles for awards to Asia.

70K of AA miles gets you a round-trip economy award ticket to South Asia on Cathay Pacific.

Thanks guys, this offer looks too good to be true, but I guess it is. Going have to get another CC now.

Fucking A YEA!!!!
Yesterday I applied for and was approved for the AA Visa. I called and very specifically confirmed I was signed up for the 75,000 mile promotion. Well today I went back and applied for and was approved for the AA Amex card. Again I called and very specifically verified I would be getting the bonus miles. So now, for filling out a couple of forms I'm getting 150,000 AA frequent flyer miles. That's 2 free trips to Asia or more likely I'll take Cathay Pacific First class. I tried that one in March this year with some AA miles I had laying around forever. Cathay Pacific First Class is truly amazing and is about a $15,000 plane ticket if you paid for it.

Getting my "business" in order now to go for the business Visa.

Well I applied for the business Visa account and I think the jig is up. It didn't outright reject me but it stopped on "Step 3" approval status and said, "don't call us, we'll call you". I guess I'll be getting a letter on that one. In any case the personal Visa and the personal Amex are sure things, done, approved and in the mail. 75,000 for the business Visa would be nice but I don't suppose I can complain to much if I 'only' am able to milk Citi for 150,000 free miles.

Actually IAS, the jig may not be up. I first applied for the business card at the link you gave us and got the same nonsense. I then applied for the American Express card and got approved immediately.

Having been down this road before with Citibank, I suspect they subject the business card to an increased level of scrutiny to make sure you actually have a business. OTOH, if anyone out there has gotten an immediate approval on a business card from Citibank, let us know.

I remember during the infancy of ATMs, Chemical Bank in NY advertised in Screw magazine, the insinuation being ATMs were good for those who had last minute cash flow needs with hookers (then again, maybe it was a satire, but it seemed real). Perhaps Citibank should consider using their 75,000 mile promotion to apply for the Club Hombre seal of good international whoring.

OTOH, having also previously had various Citibank Cards, including the aadvantage one, and then cancelling them all after a customer service incident (done this multiple times with Chase) I must reserve judgment until the 75,000 miles is in my account.

I already have two Citi Aadvantage accounts so I probably should not try this. However, I am very interested. Opinions?

Yea, I have not given up hope on the business card. But there is the whole issue of... I don't have a business. ;) We will see. I have prepared a good counter pitch to ask for reconsideration if/when I formally get denied, although I do have to admit that with successfully hitting them up for 150,000 miles already, I may be pushing it trying to bump it up to 225,000 miles.

I have to believe Citi is still stuck in bizarro banking business mode whereby they are only interested in originating new accounts, and have no interest at all in servicing existing accounts. A year and a half ago they practically told me to fuck off and get lost on an solid account with a 12 year spotless history at the same time all their other customers were defaulting right and left. No interest at all in maintaining a good current paid up customer. But they will lavish me with incentives to open NEW accounts that they must know full well many people are going to close the second the miles post. Open new accounts = profit to Citi.

Maybe giving multiple 75,000 mile sign-up bonuses to sex tourists is somehow equivalent to giving crack heads $500,000 mortgages on their ghetto crack houses. The profit is all in the origination??????? ;)

I'll ponder it all while I'm sipping Champagne in Cathay Pacific's first class. Hopefully I can cash in all my miles before the great Frequent Flyer Miles bubble bursts.

I have two Citi AAdvantage cards--one business, have had them long enough to rack up over 200K miles without actually stepping onto an AA flight. I just applied for the AAdvantage Amex card, completed the app. They'll let me know....

Just checked my yahoo account (the one I don't use that much because I give out that address when doing things like applying for credit cards)---

Citi sent me this wonderful offer yesterday:

By now, you've had a chance to enjoy your
Citi® / AAdvantage® gold card and all the special benefits that go along with it. When you apply for and are approved for the Citi® / AAdvantage® American Express® card, you'll enjoy even more benefits than before.

With the Citi® / AAdvantage® American Express® card, you'll get these benefits:

• Earn 10,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after you make $250 in purchases within the first 4 months

• No annual fee as long as your existing
Citi® / AAdvantage® gold card account remains open and the 60,000 mileage cap is shared

• Earn 1.2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 spent on purchases during the first 18 months of cardmembership(3). After that, earn 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on purchases.


So, let's see if my preapproval applies to the 75K bonus...

Not sure I get this. The footnote says it's not available to existing AAdvantage Card holders. You guys think they'll miss it and give you the Miles anyway?

I've got my fingers crossed. On 10/19, Sancho wrote:

BTW people on Flyertalk are reporting some success with applying for the business card even when there are existing open personal cards and also some success stories getting multiple bonuses by applying for all three cards. It doesn't work for every one but if you can take the multiple hard hard credit pulls there doesn't seem to be much down side in trying for all three cards and maybe you will win the lottery.

I heard back from Chase on my business account.

Dear I_am_Sancho:

Thank you for applying for a Business Card account. We are unable to approve your application at this time because of the following:

o You have submitted multiple applications for credit.

We appreciate your interest and hope to have the opportunity to serve you in the future.

Credit Department

None the less, the personal Amex and Personal Visa card are locked in for a total gain of 150,000 miles. I'm pretty damned happy about that.

Yeah I received the denial email based on application of multiple accounts too except mine is on the second personal account I tried to open not on the first personal or business card. Thanks again Sancho!

So are you saying you did get one personal and one business card and were denied a second personal? I have see speculation Citi's limit is 2 apps per 60 days. In checking my credit report I notice on my business app they did not even pull my credit. Good because no 3rd hard pull but notable I was summarily denied without my credit even being reviewed. Perhaps the stealthiest strategy would be to apply for one personal and one business card. Wait 60 days (promotion end's Oct 31) and put in a third. For the hell of it I will try again in 60 days anyway just to test that theory.

In any case 150,000 miles for practically nothing is not to shabby.

Yes I was denied on the last card I applied for which was the second personal.

I LIKE your reasoning and will try a similar approach and see what happens applying for a personal again 60 days later yet I would assume its not going to go through as it has been previously denied but you never know.

It looks as if the AMEX is automatically approved when you complete the application so you may want to have that be the last card you apply for as that may be the easiest to secure. Will certainly be intrested in how you make out.

Are any of you guys getting approved for new cards current holders of AAdvantage Citi cards?

Did you know you are killing your credit scores with multiple applications and if you have multiple cards approved the credit scoring computer frowns on that. Doesn't matter if you pay them on time having multiple open accounts makes the credit scoring computer wonder why you need so much credit.


Your credit score in no way reflects how much income you make. So as far as the computer is concerned if you have $50,000 in available credit with multiple cards it will score you the same if you make $30,000 a year as it will if you make $300,000 a year....with all other factors being the same.

Having more accounts in and of itself does not impact your credit score. New accounts will decrease your average account age which can have a major impact if you have a short 1-3 year credit history and almost no impact if you have a 10 plus year credit history. Having more unused credit IMPROVES the "utilization" factor of the score. Hard inquires will knock 0 to 5 points off your score which comes back entirely within 6 months. Having to many (5+) accounts with a balance, any balance, even a small balance can knock a few points off. Having accounts opened and closed 6 months later has no negative impact other than when you close it the credit limit is no longer factored into your utilization.

Some gun shy lenders these day will hold multiple new accounts against you even if you have an 800+ credit score.

Basically if you have a shaky or short credit history it could hurt you quite a bit. If you have a long solid credit history it is not going to have much impact on your score at all if any. If you are applying for a mortgage and are 3 points over some threshold for a lower rate, probably best not to play such games. If you have a 770 score and it knocks you down to 762 for 6 months. Well big whoopdee doo.

having more accounts in itself doesn't have a major impact, however recently adding numerous accounts does as does the combination with hard inquiries. It's not the effect of the one, but a cumulative effect. While they are diminished somewhat at 6 months, they stay on and can impact the score up to a year (longer = less imapact).

That brings up a good question then. If you have a great credit score, and you don't put it to work, what good does it do you???

RG, I think the point is that one needs to think and define what "putting it to work" means to them. If one chases a few promotions and then plans to do a refi in the near future, it could dip them below a particular threshold and cost them.

Certainly, this promotion is a great one and one to grab if possible. However, as with most things in life, it depends on ones specific circumstances, history, and objectives.

One's credit score can be a bit ubiquitous. For example, insurers often use it (or information contained in your credit file, like number of hard pulls) to justify increasing your rates. I was rather taken aback when despite my excellent credit rating, my home insurer surcharged my insurance rate owing to either "number of new credit cards" or "number of times applied for credit" (I can't remember precisely which). So, there are often consequences that one cannot easily anticipate.

I just got the American Express Citibank card I applied for under the deal--and I already have two long-term Citi AAdvantage cards!

But, I will call them up and confirm the 75K miles before I authorize it, as it did not mention the deal anywhere in the material they sent me with the card.

I did call them after opening both of my new accounts. Without me giving them any hints they were able to read back the promotion verbatim to me and confirm it was attached to my account. Nothing came up in writing though. I've got half my Amex spend completed already so hopefully I will have the first 75k actual miles in my account in the next months.

I did the same thing, and was told spend $1500 in the next 6 months and we will credit 75,000 AA miles to your account.

I usually open them, charge the $750 and then close the account.

My 75,000 miles from the Citi AMEX card posted recently. Thanks Sancho!

I already had the Citi AA Mastercard and decided not to pursue the business card.

Half way to another First Class award is good.

I now have 1.25 million lifetime miles, well on my way to getting lifetime Platinum. I now also have 375K usable miles for awards. After my Asia run in a month. I should have enough for three First Class round trips. Regardless, I only take one First Class award per year so I can re-qualify for Platinum Elite Status each year by buying tickets.

Hey, that's right: the bonus miles on AA count towards lifetime elite status!! With my periodic multi-year boycotts of AA (alternated with similar and sometimes overlapping boycotts of United) I probably won't reach lifetime Platinum on AA, but I'm now very close to the first threshold for lifetime status, 1 million miles.

FWIW all 150,000 bonus miles for this promotion from my AA Amex and AA Visa have already posted to my AA account. I have already used 70k of that to purchase a simple round trip to Manila in Japan Airlines economy but need to bulk up a few thousand more miles to purchase an additional ticket Cathay Pacific First Class over and economy back. I see the seats are available on good days for me but I need to raise just a few thousand more miles to complete the second trip out of the deal.

I've heard Citi often offers a few thousand miles retention incentive if you call them up and threaten to cancel the account.

One bit of BAD news is that if you have an existing CITI checking account you will NOT get the mileage from that deal that they send in the mail with your bill. Read the fine print, it may save you from tying up some $$$ in the hopes of getting more miles.

As a long time Citi AAdvantage Mastercard holder, it looked like I wasn't eligible for the deal. I finally decided what the heck, all they can do is say no so I finally applied for the personal Visa card last week. Two days ago the phone rings and its Citi, I think crap, here's where they tell me I'm rejected. After confirming that yes, I did apply for a new card, and yes, I am an existing card holder, the girl says that she will have to lower credit limit on the old card by a couple of grand. Christ, lower it all you want just gimme my miles!

She indicates that I'll be getting the 75K and the card is on the way. Yippee!

Who knows, maybe I'll get gutsy prior to the cut off date and apply for the business card too.

Thanks for the motivation Sancho.

Shit, Baxter's positive results made me go ahead and give it a try. I just applied for the AA Platinum Visa. This will rule if I can score these miles. I just hope they don't rape me on the rate like they have done on my AA mastercard.

Wow, they called me back in less than 5 minutes and I'm all set. I should have the card next week and after I spend $1,500, 75k miles will be added. Rate of 15.24%. Man, that was easy. Can't believe I put it off for so long.

If it's still the same day (today) you should follow your success with the personal Visa card by IMMEDIATELY applying for the AMEX card as well. Whether you are approved or denied for the second card, if it is done the same day, it should only show as one hard pull on your credit report thus the consequences for applying for both personal cards back to back are no greater than applying for just one. Why stop at 75,000 free miles when you might (or might not) get 150,000? No downside to trying.

Time is of the essence though. If you wait until even the day after you applied for the first card, the second application will likely result in a second hard credit pull and be denied on the grounds that you are a previous card holder.

I don't disagree but I feel pretty satisfied with the one card. I already have two other AA cards. I also have about 550k AA miles not including this 75k but availability for flights to Brazil is near zero even out 6 months so I'm not really sure how valuable these miles really are to me.

Already have an AA Mastercard. Tried to get a Visa card. They turned me down because I already have an MC advantage card.

Any ideas?

MM

I was afraid that the exact same thing would happen to me but I guess I got lucky.

I believe it is kind of a crap shoot in that scenario. Allot of people have reported success even when they previously have the Mastercard. But allot of people have also reported being rejected in the exact same circumstances. It is a big time YMMV situation. Unfortunately, while I have seen lots of reports of people being approved even though they have the AA Mastercard already, I have not seen any reports of people being approved for this promotion AFTER a rejection where already having the card is cited as the reason.

I'm beginning to think my one business card may be it. The same day I applied for the AA business card, I also applied for, and according to their website, was approved for their AMEX card. However, although I received the AA business card, the AMEX card application and approval seem to have disappeared from their system. So, I just applied for the AMEX and personal cards (waited 60 days), and rather than getting immediate approvals on the web as I usually get on credit card applications, got one of their "let us think about it" messages.

We will see. It would be nice to cleanup with 225K miles from this promotion, but right now I'm thinking I may have to make do with 75,000.

The one downside to all this is although I'll certainly take the miles, I still believe they are creating a "miles bubble" that could burst pretty soon with some significant miles devaluations and harder-to-book flights. This may not matter so much to those who are going to use the miles now or very soon, but those of us who have a stash of miles may well see them become less and less valauble over time, and these ridiculously generous promotions are not going to help.

(Message edited by xenono on October 23, 2010)

anyone have the link on how to get this card?

Scroll up in this thread and look for posts by Sancho.

Well, after having my second applicaiton for an Aadvantage credit card "lost", and then applying for the two remaining cards after a sixty day interval had elapsed, I just got two rejections, one for the AMEX card, and the other for the personal card (I did get the business card earlier). The stated reason was I don't qualify for the offer because I already have an Aadvantage credit card (presumably the business card I got around 75 days ago). It would have been nice though if they had figured that out before they did a hard pull of my credit information.

Well, 75,000 miles (from the business card) are better than nothing, although would have obviously preferred the grand trifecta of 225,000 miles.

By the way, for those who have not yet taken advantage of the Aadvantage credit card offer, I believe Oct. 31 is the last day you can do so (see the initial posts about the offer above).

I gave the business card one last shot. Denied again due to submitting multiple apps for credit. It's been 60 days but I have read Citi only wants to see one business application per 90 days. In any case I'm good for 150,000 miles on this promotion. 225k would be better but I can't complain much about 150k.

I concur with LAGuy about a "miles bubble" forming. That's why I am booking tickets as fast as I get the miles in my account. Spend them quick while they are still good. So far....... I'm still finding good availability of awards to Asia. Japan Airlines is showing allot of flights.

Maybe ten years ago I had no trouble booking international first class or business class trips using miles. Now it seems much more difficult, at least on the mainstream U.S.-based carriers. I had pretty good luck recently using Northwest miles to book Korean Air flights, but don't know whether that is going to work as well now that Northwest has merged into Delta.

From what I gather economy seats still aren't all that difficult to book, but given my severe allergy to sitting back there (I break out in hives and start shaking uncontrollably--I hear it is also very easy to catch diseases from your neighbors back there, especially when their butts hang over into your seat) I'm just hoping the premium seats don't dry up altogether.

I received my Visa and have been using it for the past few days. This worked out really well. Thanks IAS.

I completed one for 50K miles about 5 days ago and have not received a response yet....guess this may qualify as "lost"?

OK - AA came through and approved my card app via email

I already have 2 Citi cards but tried the American Express card alway. Today it arrived! I called to activate it and confirmed the 75k. Mahalo for the lead.

Just got the 75k miles added to my account for my new citi business card. I already had a personal citi card. It took a couple months as they only gave me a 1k per month credit limit. Anyway, thanks amigos for the tip on this promotion. Let's see how far in advance I will have to wait to get a business class seat to Brazil.

For anyone who missed the last 75,000 promotion which expired 10/30. There is a new 75,000 promotion. This one is not quite as good, because it requires $4,000 spend over 6 months instead of the mere $1,500 in the previous promotion. But none the less 75,000 FF miles for $4,000 spend is still not a bad deal. This deal runs until February 28, 2011. I'll give it 90 days from my last business card app and give that one more try.

http://www.travel2.citicards.com/

I might give it another go also, but probably real close to Feb. 28 to maximize the distance between their giving me a business card (and 75,000 miles) and the new application date.

While we are on the subject of the American Airlines Citibank cards, I would like to air a grievance, if I may. It is virtually the only airline credit card I know (maybe the only one in fact) that does not give you double miles when you buy airline tickets from the airline. I suppose this is another reason to take advantage of their 75,000 mile promotions to get miles, but then fly other airlines (and use the other airlines' credit cards to get double miles on ticket purchases).

This strategy has the additional benefit of keeping American Airlines from losing your luggage, as they are prone to do. If you value the concept of your luggage traveling with you, just remember to use the AA miles you grab from their promotions to fly on their partners, not on AA.

My crusade against both AA and United continues!

One of the few things I liked about American Airlines--my second least favorite airline in the world--was that you could become a million- or two-million miler (which conferred lifetime elite status at different levels) using not only flight miles, but also miles from any source, including transfers from the Starwood Program, from using their online shopping mall, and so forth. As far as I know, American was the only airline that allowed non-flight miles to count towards lifetime status.

Well, as of this coming Dec. 1 this will be no longer. Only flight miles will count, with the rather narrow exception that for one measly year miles earned on their recently introduced Citi Executive/ AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard will also count.

Not a biggie for me since I try to avoid the airline generally, but some of you may want to try to top off your accounts with Starwood points, or whatever, if you are close enough to one of the million-mile thresholds.

Yeah. I am bummed about this. I will be at about 1.5 million lifetime miles after this year, so it will now take me 10 more years to reach permanent Platinum since I fly about 50K a year. (And American may not be around that long unless they start making money one of these days.)

The one redeeming factor is that miles flown on AA and all partners still count. Whereas on UA ONLY miles on UA count. But at one million on UA, I think you get Premier Exec instead of just the first level.

The deal before where miles, bonus miles, credit card miles, everything all counted towards lifetime status was awesome. But it also probably swelled the ranks of their lifetime elites.

Made one million from many different sources.

Got to admit that AA is hard to like, but I have gotten a free first class to South America for each of the last five tears.

MM

Xenono: It is getting a bit confusing with the million-miler categories at many of the airlines. You are right that United only counts United miles, but the reward for hitting one million miles--premier executive status, a mid-tier elite status--is higher than for other airlines. Continental, on the other hand, counts all flight miles, Continental and its partners--towards million-miler status, but million miler status only gives you lifetime Silver benefits, their lowest elite level.

So what happens after the merger is fully implemented and they combine our lifetime miles from both programs (I have virtually the same number of lifetime miles at Continental and United)?

On a completely different topic, looking up thread, all my efforts are coming to fruition now. For opening my two cards last year plus purchasing some reimbursed business IT items from Dell at 3 miles per Dollar spent, Last month on AA miles I flew to Manila in Cathay Pacific First class two days before Forth of July weekend so prime holiday dates. I returned on ANA MNL-NRT connecting to Singapore Airlines in their new A380 flight NRT-LAX on a free ticket with Continental miles. The "return" on that free Continental ticket is LAX-MNL on the Friday before Christmas, stopping over in Manila for a few days and then continuing to BKK as the final destination before New Years on Thai Airways. To get back after New Years, perhaps the busiest travel time from Asia to the US, I have the "return" from my free 4th of July trip with the AA miles booked BKK-HKG on Cathay Pacific, connecting to Dragon Air HKG-Shanghai. One day stopover in Shanghai (might be moderatly interesting) then American Airlines Shanghai-LAX. All Prime holiday dates....... FREE.

And the rest of my AA miles from the promotion? Next week I'm flying LAX-MNL on Japan Airlines on prime holiday dates for Labor Day.

Who says FF miles are worthless? Cathay Pacific First Class last month was of course amazing. Japan Airlines or AA in economy???? Not looking forward to it, but free trips to Asia, HELL YES I'll take 'em.

Canceled both the Citi cards already and will be reapplying as soon as I see another good promotion.

How many hard inquires do you have on your credit report Sancho? Your average account age must also be really low.... LOL. But hey, free trips are free trips.

Nevermind. I see we've been through this discussion before earlier in this thread.

American is running a double elite qualifying miles promotion until January 31st.

It is good on all fares classes. Only flights on AA metal count.

http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=DblElite2011.xml&_locale=en_US

If you live in California, they are also running a double elite qualifying miles promotion to and from certain airports. So combine that with the one above for TRIPLE elite qualifying miles! This one goes until March 31st.

http://www.aa.com/viewPromotionDetails.do?fN=DblElite.xml&_locale=en_US

Travel within Argentina, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Columbia is now only 6,000 one way using miles.

This is actually a good deal.

For example, you can go from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia and back for only 12,000 miles. This is an almost 4 hour fliht.

In these days of getting screwed when using miles, this is actually a good value for the use of your AA Advantage miles.

Are there any current links out there for good AA miles cards. Best I'm seeing are for 30,000 miles.

Nothing to do with the AA Advantage.

Most of us hate those overnight flights to Brazil or Argentina.

Right now AA has a daytime flight from MIA to both GRU, and EZE. The daytime flights to GRU or EZE would be hard to get from the West Coast, but should be doable from most any East Coast City.

As far as GRU or EZE to MIA, you should be to reach MIA in time to make a connection to most US cities.

I thought some of you might be interested.

AA applied for daily flights from LAX and ORD to GRU today. LAX could start later this year.