For any of you who are members of American Airlines AAdvantage Program, And are Gold, Platinum, or Executive Platinum members, I have good news for you.

American is giving all existing premium members of their Frequent Flyer program one additional year of premium status at the same level as last year. (if you were Platinum, you remain Platinum, even if you did not bank the needed miles for that status in 2001. Same thing is true for Gold and Exec Plat. Status) Normally, you'd be coming up on the end of your year of premium status at the end of this month. But, as a result of the travel decline post 9-11, American is giving everyone an additional year to 'get back to normal' as far a travel status is concerned.

This is a Great thing for those who travel to distant lands for their 'fun'. Those guys who go to Rio or BKK normally get premium status in just a couple of trips, and the perks are well worth it.

Just thought I'd pass this info along. I suspect that the other domestic airlines may follow suit, so you may want to check with your FF program.


StrikeEagle

I never knew this section was here. I rarely read other sections besides trip reports. Helping you Hombres is a double edged sword as it will hurt others when they try to upgrade, etc. but I'm always willing to help.

For those that fly long distances it is very foolish to book a ticket on Priceline, Hotwire, etc. For one thing you can't change your ticket in case you want to extend, you can't pick your flight times, you might not get a direct flight but more importantly you get NO FF miles!

FF miles are like gold. They add up. For those that don't understand how American's FF program works you can become Gold for flying 25,000 miles each calendar year, Platinum for flying 50,000 and Executive Platinum for flying 100,000 miles. These are paid actual miles flown. The benefits are outlined on www.aa.com so go there and read it.

The main advantage of becoming a status member is you get priority seating and can board in Group 1 and you can pick your seats. You can select even the exit aisles with more room. Go to www.seatguru.com and you can always see which seat is the best on the plane.

Once you become Platinum the benefits really start to add up. Platinum members get 100% bonus miles on each flight. So instead of getting 10,000 miles to fly to Buenos Aires or Rio or Europe I'm getting 20,000 miles. ALWAYS book your fare online and you get an extra 1,000 miles. Not only that but Platinum enables you to have access to any Admiral's Club when flying internationally (Mexico and Canada don't count). You also can use the ticket countes in First Class no matter which class you're flying in. This is KEY in many foreign countries as the regular lines are extremely long.

There are other things you can do to make Gold or Platinum quicker. You can call AA and request a Gold or Platinum Challenge. Instead of waiting the whole year you can fly a certain mileage within 90 days and they will give it to you now. For Gold you must get 5,000 points and Platinum 10,000 points. Most guys paying cheapo internet fares you get 0.5 points per mile flown. So fly 20,000 miles in 90 days and you will get Platinum instead of waiting the entire year and flying 50,000 miles.

American also has periodic promotions. For instance they have the FLY04 promo going now. Fly 10,000 miles by the end of January 31, 2004 and you will get 3X miles for any flights you fly until March 31, 2004. However, they can't be L or N class fares (the cheapo internet fares). You must buy a V, M or S class fare which is sometimes double of the cheapest internet fare but still worth it in a promo like this.

You can see how the points will add up. I'm flying to Paris next week and will get 10,000 regular miles. I'll get 10,000 bonus miles for being Platinum and another 1,000 miles for booking online. In February I'm flying to London. The cheapest internet fare was $450 with taxes. I didn't want to book that one because it was an N fare. I had to purchase a V class which was almost $800. It was almost $350 more but instead of 20,000 miles I'll get 50,000 miles for that one flight.

There are lots of promos you can qualify for. Go to www.flyertalk.com and you can check the best deals on your particular airline.

You can get an AA Mastercard and get even more miles. I have a Platinum AA MC that I use to charge everything. I routinely get several thousands of miles each month for paying things I normally would pay anyway. Use it for groceries, gas, auto/home insurance, medical bills, electricity/gas, cable, internet, water, cellphone, clothes, online purchases, heck even your CH membership! The miles add up. You can even use it to pay your property taxes if you own a home and get thousands upon thousands of miles. You do pay $50 a year for Gold card and $80 a year for Platinum but I charge enough to get a free international ticket a year with it so that can be worth as much as $1700.

Plus, every quarter American has "reduced mileage awards" that allow you to book for fewer miles. They often have great destinations to Central and South America and Europe. www.citi.com/aadvantage. For Gold you fly for 5,000 less miles and Platinum 7,500 less miles. For example, now one of the cities is Cali, Columbia. You can fly down there for as few as 22,500 miles if you're Platinum card holder (January 16 - March 31); or fly to Europe for only 32,500 miles. Although it would be silly because Europe is so cheap right now to fly.

Other things you can do that most people don't know is you can use one mileage award and fly to two gateway cities in the same area. Example, you can fly from USA to Buenos Aires and stay there a few weeks then fly from BA to Rio then fly home from Rio. You can do all of that with as few as 40,000 miles during off peak times. Other peak periods are 60,000 miles. A ticket to Buenos Aires is cheap for people on East Coast but for all others a ticket to BA can be as much as $1200. A ticket from BA to Rio can be as high as $400 or $500. So with as few as 40,000 miles you can get $1700 in tickets.

Another good use of mileage if you have a ton of miles is to use 50,000 miles and upgrade to Business Class. You can buy a cheapo internet fare and then use 50,000 miles and get a VERY expensive ticket. A business class seat can be as much as $6,000 to SA but with 50,000 miles you can get a cheapo ticket and fly in style.

There are also other things like VIP certificates that allow you to upgrade. VIP certificates are given to EXP members of American. Once you fly 100,000 miles they give you 8 one-way certificates to upgrade anywhere in the world American flys. In February of the following year they give you another 8 certificates. These are worth big money because it's so expensive to buy a Business/First class ticket. These are fully transferable so you can give them to friends or "trade/barter" them. It's technically illegal under AAdvantage program to buy/sell them but lots of people do. You can buy them on Ebay. Do a search under American Airlines VIP certificates. They usually go for about $350-$400 each. You can upgrade to business on a long haul flight for around $700 - $800 usually.

It's VERY difficult to make Executive Platinum. I've only done it one year and I do a lot of flying. It's so tough because you only get points for actual PAID flown miles. Most people that accumulate so many miles use those miles. Last year I used 250,000 award miles. So even though I flew over 100,000 miles on American I only flew about 60,000 PAID miles. I'm sure I'll make EXP this year though.

You can do other things with your miles. If you have a chica friend or girlfriend in another country and she has a visa you can use your miles to fly her here. Odds are she probably doesn't have a Visa as it's almost impossible BUT you can fly her into Mexico! Why not fly her into Cancun with your miles? Brazillians/Argentinians don't need a visa to enter Mexico. They only need a passport which anyone can get. Use your hard earned miles and fly your favorita to Cancun. She'll love it!

I realize that may sound hardcore but some people are at different levels in life. The key as always is about having fun. She'll get a GREAT vacation out of it and never forget you. Guys that live in Europe can easily fly their favorita into their country without a visa. Very simple.

Hopefully this helps some of you. It only scratches the surface of how you can manage your miles more effectively. Good luck.

Oh yeah. When I said to fly your chica to Cancun I meant to meet her there. You can also fly there with miles and meet up with her. I suggested this last year to someone that never even thought about it. He did meet up with her and had a great time.

Keep in mind if you're only taking one international trip per year or two then it might be cheaper to go ahead and use a Priceline or Hotwire but even if you fly two times a year you'd get a free international award ticket after two years. That ticket if you play your cards right can be very valuable if you use it to hit 2 different countries. Keep in mind that American doesn't publicize some of the best benefits like this so you have to kind of figure it out word of mouth or on your own.

Oh yeah. You can also call the other airlines that American competes with and have them match your status. I only fly on American now but I used to use the other carriers. I still called them and had them match my status on their airlines. I did this with Delta, United, Continental, America West and maybe another one. I had to only fax in my most recent statement so they could verify how much I'm flying. I spent a ton of money with American the last few years and I find them pretty good. The key is taking AAdvantage of all of these type of things. Try to stick with only one airline if you can.

There are other ways to get AA miles. You can open an "Airmiles account" at Guaranty Bank and get 1 mile for every $10 you have in it each month. So if you have $10,000 in it you will get 1,000 miles per month. If you have $100,000 you'll get 10,000 miles per month! Yeah, the interest rate is slightly lower than any other bank but the mileage is incredible. 10,000 miles per month X 12 months = 120,000 miles a year. If you travel during non-peak times that is 3 tickets to Rio or Buenos Aires or Europe. Use my hitting 2 gateway cities rule and you can hit 6 different cities out of those miles. Sure it takes money to make money but it usually does in life.

I personally have recommended this program to guys. One of my best friends has a few hundred thousand $$$'s in an Airmiles account and he is getting like 40,000 per month!!! That is almost half a million miles a year. The interest rate is a little lower but all banks are paying practically nothing. He just used 125,000 of his aquired miles and got a first class ticket to Asia. He is hitting two countries and the ticket would have been $13,000. Instead he paid nothing because of his miles and he'll still have over 350,000 miles. The kicker in this is that as far as I know the miles you get aren't taxable. I could be wrong but I doubt it.

There are other ways to get AA miles. Order flowers, send gifts, car rentals, hotel stays. Another great way is the Idine program. Go to www.aa.com and check out the other ways to get miles.


(Message edited by godfather on January 17, 2004)

For the Cancun trip, make sure she does not travel through the U.S. because they require transit visas now (new policy). American has partner airlines that she can fly on for slightly higher mileage. For example, 100,000 to Europe instead of 90,000 on American. This can still be done at aa.com.

Great post GF. Informative and practical.

And don't forget the current AA promo-- fly twice from either NYC or BOS to either FLA or CAL and you get a free round trip ticket anywhere American flies worldwide.

Yes, the promotions are great. I've never taken a "mileage run" just for miles. I can't see how these guys can fly all day/night then turn around and come back home. I'd rather fly somewhere and take time to see the city and maybe some girls then come home happy. Many FF's (frequent flyers) use a formula to see what their cost:mile ratio is. My formula is more of a how happy will I be ratio. Good luck gents.

A great website to check the fare class codes on most airlines is listed below. With all of these promos from American and United it's important you book the correct fare code if you want the bonus miles. Some good advice is to use this website to see the fares. Hold the cheapo internet fare on the airline's website for the dates you want. This way you can get the bonus 1,000 miles for booking online. Then call AA web services at 800-222-2377 and tell them you want to change your fare class. You can see the price it is on the website:

http://www.thestoremaker.com/cgit/porch?agentid=aircenter

They will change the fare class code and you can go ahead and purchase it online.

You should also go to a site like Travelocity.com and add in your 5 favorite cities. It will then give you an email anytime your favorite cities go on sale.

Here is a link to everywhere American flys:

http://www.aa.com/content/aboutAA/whereWeFly/maps/world.jhtml

Here is the link to the # of miles needed on American and Partner Airlines:

https://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantage/programDetails/awards/awardCharts/all_airline_chart.jhtml

Unofficial site explaining AAdvantage program:

http://members.shaw.ca/fewmiles/AA/index2.html

Great website that lets you calculate # of miles between cities and with your status:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/miles/calculator.htm

GREAT website that searches multiple website's hotel prices. You need to download the free program: http://www.travelaxe.com

** Make sure if you request a "Gold Challenge" or a "Platinum Challenge" you do it a few days before a trip. I believe they can start it on the 1st or 15th of any month. If you know you'll be flying alot in 3 particular months then start it right before the trips. Most long haul trips are around 10,000 miles for those not on the East Coast so any two of these trips in 3 months and you'll make Platinum. These have to be paid trips that you purchase that are eligible for miles. I don't think Priceline or Hotwire trips count.

Since this is based on points and not miles flown if you have a very expensive business class ticket international you'll make the Platinum on one trip. I just told a friend about this and he made Platinum via the challenge on only one trip! Remember this isn't an advertised benefit.

Most people believe the best usage of miles is using them to upgrade to first class. Personally, I think the majority of the members of this site would rather just concentrate on getting a free ticket somewhere the cheapest possible way. For those that like to fly in style I highly recommend you subscribe to this website:

http://www.firstclassflyer.com/

There are various tidbits of information to help you always fly first class. Once you make status with American you get 4 electronic upgrades for every 10,000 miles you fly. It also gives you the opportunity to purchase 1 electronic upgrade for around $40 if you're Platinum. It takes one electronic upgrade to fly 500 miles so if you fly 2000 miles you need 4 upgrades. They will give you a 50 mile leeway. If it's 2049 miles you only need 4 upgrades. If it's 2052 miles you need 5 upgrades. Pay attention to this. You can use these upgrades in the USA, Canada, Mexico and some Central American locations like Costa Rica.

It's a good way to fly first class for cheaper. A first class ticket from Miami to Dallas might be up to $2,000+ normally but you'd burn 3 upgrades each way. 6 upgrades X $40 = $240 extra. So if you buy a $360 ticket you're paying $600 instead of the $2,000+.

Here is a link to the page that shows all the Partner programs of AA to earn miles:

http://www.aa.com/content/AAdvantage/partners/main.jhtml?anchorEvent=false

Of particular interest should of course be the Citibank card where you get a 10,000 mile bonus to get the card and 1 mile per $ charged; the Guaranty Bank Airmiles account and possible the TD Waterhouse account. I have all of them and routinely gain miles.

Oh yeah. If you own your own business get a Citibank Platinum AA Business Mastercard too. You'll get 10,000 more bonus miles and charge EVERYTHING with it. I wish I could get my company to do this but they won't for some reason. For those that own your own businesses this should be a given. I think if you're Platinum you can charge up to 100,000 miles a year and gain mileage.

Another thing you can do is the AT&T residential phone service. Gain 1000 miles a month for 5 months for EACH home phone number you have. If you have a fax # or 2nd or 3rd line in your house you gain the mileage on each one. After 6 months switch back to your old carrier and start the process over after a few months.

Another great way is the Idine program as I mentioned earlier. Register up to 3 credit cards FREE. Go to places you'd go to eat anyway. You get up to 10 miles for every dollar you spend. Something GREAT is for Platinum and EXP members if you dine at 3 of their listed restaurants a month you get 500 bonus miles per month. Keep in mind they have cheaper places like Burger King or Denny's on it. If I don't go out to eat at nicer places I'll at least hit a BK 3 times a month. You can spend as little as you want. For less than $10 of food a month you can get 6000 miles a year.


(Message edited by Godfather on January 18, 2004)

Godfather, great info, thanks!

Regarding the challenge, once you reach Gold Status, you are automatically on challenge per each 3 months. The trick is, if you reach Gold, you still want to call in if it will be a couple of months until you fly again. Basically, if you are an infrequent traveler but have a couple of trips or more coming up in the same 3-month period, call to have the challenge reset for that 3-month period. It would suck to have on trip to Rio in early May and then one in early July, but with your challenge quarter ending/starting in June sometime.

Any confirmation on this? Let's say you complete the Gold challenge but then don't travel for three months, do you lose your status?

How about once status is lost? Can't you just challenge again or do they not allow that if you were unable to maintain status before?

I checked all over http://members.shaw.ca/fewmiles/AA/index2.html, you couldn't find anything regarding the automatic challenge. That page seems to suggest that once you complete the challenge, you're set for the rest of the year, or year and next if July or later. But all that seems to good to be true.

Once you complete a challenge you are Gold for the rest of the year until February 28 of the following year at the VERY least. If you start the challenge after June I believe you get Gold until February 28, 2006.

You don't lose your status if you don't fly after you get it. After completing a challenge you get a Gold card mailed to you (or Platinum). It has your name on it with an expiration date. They can't take it away from you. Once status is lost you can try to do another challenge. There are some reports that you can only do a challenge one time but I know some people that have done it more than once. If an agent says you can't do it again, hang up and call again and ask the new agent. Be courteous.

This as with any other business I do I always repeat their name. They will answer the phone, "This is Jane Doe can I help you". I always say, "Good morning Jane...how's your day going? Busy?". Chat her up a little. These people are on the phones all day and get bored. The times I've needed something from the Platinum/EXP desk I've done this. Sometimes they bend over backwards without charging me simply for being nice or making them laugh.

d'Artagnan, believe it amigo. It's almost too good to be true but it isn't. I've told lots of friends about the challenges and most of them made Platinum via a challenge. Take advantage of all the benefits you can. Good luck.

d'Artagan,

Also, remember that the AAdvantage program year always ends at the end of February of each year. Although you need to fly a certain number of miles within the CALENDAR year (January 1st - December 31st) the AAdvantage program ends February 29.

Also, remember that if you will fly enough to get Platinum in 90 days (20,000 points) definitely ask for the Platinum Challenge instead of the Gold challenge. Some people say you can do both challenges at the same time but I know others that didn't get to. They weren't paying attention and asked for the Gold Challenge only to fly enough for the Platinum Challenge. IMHO, Gold is meaningless on American. Everyone and their brother is Gold these days. The benefits really start to open up at Platinum level. (double mileage, free use of Admiral's club, use of first class lines anywhere, etc.).

Also, remember this is an UNDOCUMENTED benefit so American can stop this program at any time. If you are sure you will fly a lot in a 3 month window then call NOW. Even if you won't start flying until May. Call now and request for your challenge to start on May 1st. American can stop this benefit tomorrow but if you already called in you will be set. American has been scaling back on benefits so I'd start this ASAP if I were all of you.

There are some other undocumented benefits like once you hit 1 million total AAdvantage miles in your account (can be from combination of things..not just flown miles) American will give you Gold for life. Once you hit 2 million miles American gives you Platinum for life. Of course this could change whenever American wanted to end it.

Also, something VERY important is remember the flight that puts you over your challenge you are entitled to get 25% bonus miles for Gold or 100% bonus miles for Platinum challenge. So if you will hit your 20,000 miles while on a flight from GIG to JFK you will get 100% bonus miles. You heard that right. Many guys don't know this and American's computer's don't always give it to you. You must KNOW you are entitled to this. Keep close tabs on your miles. If you don't see it posted call American and ask them to post it. Again, do it in a nice and courteous manner.

(Message edited by godfather on January 19, 2004)

My point was to achieve Platinum after you've received Gold. It's a big improvement, as Godfather has mentioned.

The main problem with the American program is the fucked up situation with British Airways. Unlike Star Alliance, where I can fly any Lufthansa or other Star partner and get full United credit, if you fly BA across the Atlantic and then on beyond Heathrow, you get American credit for the connecting flights beyond London, but zippo on the transatlantic flight. Since BA flys to at least 18 US cities but American only flys to London from their hubs, if you live in DC, Atlanta, etc you have a dissincentive almost to do the BA/American tie-in to get you to Europe.

This is due, by the way, to flight and gate restrictions at Heathrow. American and United are the only US airlines that can fly there, the others all have to use Gatwick instead, so until the EU has an open skies agreement and Heathrow opens up some slots, that will probably remain a rule. No American credit on BA transatlantic flights, which sucks.

Godfather--

Are challenges limited to Platinum, or can you challenge for Executive Platinum? What I am looking at putting together is a series of trips to CR, Frankfurt and Rio sometime during Q2, and figure I can make a Platinum challenge, especially given my regular business travel during the late spring/early summer. Any advice would be appreciated . . .

The highest level you can go for a Challenge is Platinum. EXP is ONLY obtained by flying butt in seat PAID miles. Unfortunately. If you are going to fly 2 international trips within 3 months and maybe one domestic trip that should be enough for the Platinum via the challenge. Remember it's POINTS and not miles. You need 20,000 points. You get 0.5 points for every 1 mile on a cheap L or N class ticket. If you are flying business class or first paid ticket you can make the challenge in one trip because you often get 1 point or 1.5 points per mile.

Remember not to start your Challenge until you start to fly. Remember they can only start it on the 1st or 16th of the month. Pay attention to this. If you will be doing a ton of flying on May 28 make sure you don't start the Challenge until May 16 instead of May 1st. Some people make that mistake. Take AAdvantage of every opportunity you can. Sure it's only two weeks but that can be the difference sometimes.

Some guys probably will criticize me for helping all of you AA newbies but I don't care. Everyone started out as a rookie in the FF game at one time or another. The reason why I post is to help people. No difference in this case.

You have to understand the rationale why American does this. It's simply to make more money. It's a proven fact once you make Platinum on an airline you will fly them more. I used to spread out my trips on various airlines based on the cheapest price. Now I only fly on American even if it's a little more. The miles are valuable. Basically for every 2 trips I am taking internationally I'm getting a free international ticket (off-season).

Example: USA - Buenos Aires (EZE) is around 10,000 miles. With the Platinum 100% bonus (10,000 miles) + 1,000 miles to book online I'm netting 21,000 miles.

Then I fly USA - Rio (GIG) or Sao Paulo (GRU) it's 10,000 miles plus another 10,000 miles for Platinum bonus. + 1,000 bonus. That's another 21,000 miles.

Voila. 42,000 miles netted in only two trips.

Plus, of course, I'll use my Citibank Platinum AA Mastercard and pay for the trip. I'll usually gain another 1,500 to 2,000 miles this way.


An off-peak award to South America or Europe is only 40,000 miles on American. So with two trips I net a free trip. Not only that but again, I maximize my miles and fly to two gateway cities. I'll fly USA to Buenos Aires. Spend a few days or weeks there then fly BA to Rio on AA's partner airline (TAM). Then I'll fly American back home to USA.

Always maximize your miles. Always hit two cities if you have time. If you fly to Europe you can hit two cities as well. Why not fly to London and spend a few days there then fly on to Prague or wherever American flys.


*Off-peak travel season is March 1 through May 31 and August 16 through November 30 for South America.

*Off-peak travel season is October 15 through May 15 for Europe.

*****VERY IMPORTANT******

Remember if you are flying home on the last day of an off-peak award date you MUST come home on that date or before. If something happens and you miss the flight you will have to buy a new ticket to come home. There are NO exceptions. You could get in a car accident, get sick, parents die, whatever. American will make no exceptions. Be aware of this when booking. Good luck.

Godfather



(Message edited by godfather on January 20, 2004)

Thanks Godfather . . .

So if I do the Platinum challenge, and then rack up the balance of 50K miles to make EXP, will I qualify?

Nope. The ONLY way to make EXP is to fly 100,000 PAID butt in seat miles from January 1st - December 31st of any given year.

This is a VERY difficult task. Remember when you use FF awards these flights don't count. It's a catch 22 because you will rack up a TON of miles flying but if you use the awards you don't get credit towards your status for those flights. As I mentioned earlier, I flew well over 100,000 miles during 2003 however, I used FF awards for about 5 of those trips. I did manage to take 6 other long haul international trips to keep my Platinum status though.

Here is the kicker. American essentially gives you 8 round trip VIP certificates (4 when you first hit 100,000 miles and qualify and another 4 when they send out enrollment packages for the next year) so let's say you make EXP. The following year you have these VIP coupons that you only have one year to use. You can ONLY use them on paid flights. So you are almost forced on taking 8 more long haul international trips the following year or you can gift them or sell them.

People ask why American give you these VIP certificates. It's actually smart marketing. They want to give you an incentive to keep paying for tickets instead of using all that mileage. This is the reason many EXP members have hundreds of thousands to millions of miles in their account.

Funny story. This is actually how I got my start in the "hobby". I was a young kid in my early 20's that traveled a TON for work. I became EXP and had a ton of miles sitting in my account. I didn't travel overseas then. This was back when flying was very expensive. I would sell my AAdvantage awards. Back then you could routinely sell a 25,000 domestic award for up to $500-$600 and a 40,000 international award for up to $1,000.

I think Hombre should start a Buy/Sell/Trade section on CH. Airfare to many international destinations is still expensive by most people's standards if you're not in Miami/DC/New York/East Coast. Especially if it's a last minute ticket.

Example: A last minute ticket from LA to Buenos Aires can go for as much as $1500+. However, someone might be willing to sell a 40,000 award to that person for $1,000. Both people win because the fare is ALOT less than they would pay and the person with tons of miles ends up with the cash they need. The person might want to add on an extra $75 because you have to pay that fee to get an expedited ticket. Something to think about.

P.S. The majority of guys that don't travel for work will never make EXP. It's a lofty goal. You have to stop and consider not only the expense of the airline ticket but also the hotels, food, taxi's, parking, and most importantly the GIRLS (typically the biggest expense). International travel is NOT cheap when you factor all of these things in. Not to mention, vacation time which is tremendously valuable.

IMHO, the difference between Platinum and EXP isn't too great. EXP is definitely better as they don't have black out dates for award tickets, have expedited ticket fees and a bunch of other fees waived. The EXP desk is excellent and they can move mountains. You are definitely treated a LOT differently by the airline once you make EXP. The guys that live in Miami or NYC are lucky because they have cheapo ticket anywhere! The rest of us are stuck paying high fees to the same places.

Case in point. American has a fare sale now from East Coast (NY/NJ area) to Tokyo (NRT). It's a long ass haul that will enable you to earn a ton of miles. It's only $365+tax. The routing is Newark,NJ to Dallas (DFW) to NRT.

That SAME flight from DFW-NRT is over $900+ taxes. Even though it goes through DFW anyway. Highway robbery but it is what it is.....

(Message edited by godfather on January 20, 2004)

Here is an excellent link to find out the various ways you can gain frequent flyer miles not only with American Airlines but the airline of your choice.

http://www.smarterliving.com/usatoday/ff/search/index.php

Also, something I never even knew about but came across last night is American's RTW (round the world) awards. If you have the time and more importantly the money this is a GREAT option.

You can read details of it here:

http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/ViewMileageProgramsPartnerDetail.jhtml?fileName=oneWorld.xml&repositoryName=AAdvantagePartnersContentRepository&repositoryId=100082&itemDescriptor=AAdvantagePartnersContent#using

Basically you can flew from city to city unlimited stops as long as you stay under the maximum mile limit. You can't hit a city more than two times. You can hit about 15 countries in Europe in coach for 120,000 miles; Business class for 150,000 miles; or First class for 230,000 miles.

I looked at the Zone 8 Distance chart. It's 140,000 miles for coach and 190,000 miles for Business class. You can fly up to 35,000 miles total.

Here is a sample itinerary: Miami-Panama City-Caracas-Rio-Sao Paulo-Buenos Aires-Sydney-Phuket-Bangkok-Brunei-Singapore-Tel-Aviv-Cairo-Rome-Madrid-Helsinki-Glasgow-London-Miami.

This seems amazing to me! I don't know much about it but if anyone has more info or has taken one please post.

http://gc.kls2.com/ Let's you plug in all the airport codes and calulates the distances.

http://www.ityt.com/misc/airport_codes.php Gives you all the airport codes.

http://www.airtreks.com Helps you find sample itineraries.

Talk about a GREAT trip! Even if you don't hit all those cities it makes sense to use one of these awards and hit multiple cities. I'm thinking of doing one later this year.

I wanted to add a couple of other pointers to Godfather's excellent posts. An excellent card to get in addition to AAAdvantage Citicard, after you've collected your bonus miles from the Citicard, is the American Express Starwood Platinum card. The reason is this:once you have accumulated 20,000 points, these can be converted into miles(1 to 1)and transferred to any airline, including American. The bonus is, 20,000 points convert to 25,000 miles, so you get an extra 5000 miles for nothing. This card is free for the first year, $35 per year after, cheaper than the AAAdvantage card. I use it for all my purchases(yes, terma runs too)because of the mileage bonus. So after you've gotten your mileage bonus for signing up for AAAdvantage Citi card, use the starwood card for purchases to get the extra mileage bonus. This bonus put me over the top for my last trip.
Point number two: you get mileage from Kelloggs cereal boxes-100 miles for each box. Sounds silly, but I just sent in 20 of these, and the 2000 miles put me over the top for my next free flight.
Point #3: You can get mileage on American by doing online questionnaires at:
http://live.opinionplace.com
This can be done every two weeks, and you get between 150 and 300 miles for each survey. Believe it or not, one of these surveys put me over the top last year for a free trip when I was 150 miles short. Miles post to your account in two or three days, and they can add up over the course of the year.
Another angle, which doesn't apply to American, is to transfer miles between frequent flyer programs by going through Amtrak. Sign up online for an Amtrak card, even if you never take the train. You can transfer miles between Continental, Midwest, and United airlines. I just transferred 50,000 miles from Continental to United through Amtrak, because United is more conveniant for me flying out of Miami. No layover in Houston, reducing flight time from 18 hours to 8. My last three trips to Rio have been free, and I have four more "in the bank". Why spend money on airfare when you can spend it on garotas?

You pervert. Everytime I fly with you to Rio I have to make and 18 hr stopover in Caracas on the way to Rio.

There is nothing like being in Caracas on a stop over with BobbyT. You have in see him in action with the cleaning ladies.

You pervert BobbyT.

OH

(Message edited by otrohombre on January 24, 2004)

Yes, but you got your 20,000 miles, didn't you? Pervert? I consider that a compliment...

I did get 20K based on your astute advice.

Thanks.

OH

Reminder Notice

Frequent Flyer Chat
Hosted by Merlin and Wallstreet
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 @ 7pm Pacific (10pm Eastern)

Click here

Some people are asking me how you can get the other airlines to match status. Keep in mind that the airlines don't like doing this. You must show them that you have a consistent pattern of spending BIG BUCKS with one of their competitors. They won't match unless you're spending anywhere from $15,000 - $30,000+ with one of their competitors per year.

If they say no, ask to talk to a manager and ask her if you can fax her your credit card bills showing your spending pattern with their competitor. Last year I got all the major carriers to match my Platinum status with American. (United, Delta, Continental, Northwest, AmericaWest, etc.). It didn't matter anyway because I gave American all my business anyway. If you're doing a lot of high dollar flying odds are a manager will override the system and match status.

If you're only taking a few flights a year they won't. I also routinely spend alot of money/miles upgrading to Biz/First, extending trips, etc. Good luck.

AA Qualification using Miles vs. Points

On AA you can qualify as follows using either points OR miles.

25k=Gold
50k=Platinum
100k=Executive Platinum

A mile is always a mile and relates to the distance of the flight segment which may/may not distance flown e.g. MIA-GIG (Rio) is 4162 miles (actual) but JFK-GIG is 4786 miles even though you actually fly further by going thru GRU (Sao Paulo). This is not affected by fare class.

Points are affected by fare class, and are calculated using a multiplier of the flight segment distance. The multipliers are as follows

0.5 in deep discount coach
1.0 in discount coach
1.5 in full fare coach, business and first.

e.g. MIA-GIG earns 2081 points in deep discount coach but 6243 points in business class. Essentially it's a carrot to enable premium fliers to attain elite status quicker.

Other airlines e.g. Delta and Continental use the stick approach by penalising discount fliers.

I prefer the AA approach as everyone gets a piece of the cake rather than disenfranchising budget travellers.

I've been Platinum in the CO/NW alliance the last few years, but the lack of international upgrades (I'd get operational upgrades about a quarter or third of the time) made me switch to AA this year. I'll make ExPlat in June. This will get me 8 international upgrades this year and 8 more next year. In theory, you can make ExPlat every other year and still get 8 international upgrades every year.

One thing that was great about the CO/NW alliance was that it was only 35,000 miles to go to Brazil and 70,000 for business class. Seats were readily available to Brazil from the east coast for all but June and July; some flexibility was needed but not too much. Business class was much harder but not impossible for some months. Getting free flights to European destinations and Asia much tougher.

Another great thing about being Platinum at CO/NW was that you could make and then cancel reservations and rebank the miles at no cost. If there was the slightest chance of going to Brazil, I would make the reservation and cancel later, if I couldn't go.

Still another great thing was that you got 125% for each flight. One flight to GIG from the east coast netted me 25,000 miles -- 3 trips netted 75,000, which means take 3 trips and get 2 trips free. I was going to Rio for weekends on freebies every other month for awhile, and I paid for a ticket if the price fell to the $500s. If I paid $1800 for 3 trips, I'd get 5 trips averaging out to $360 a trip.

Still, I switched to AA this year, because in the course of getting ExPlat in the first five months of this uear, I will get 2 free world-wide trips and 2 free domestic trips because of the promos AA is running this year. And of course the biggest reason for switching is the 16 international upgrades for (8) this year and (8) next year. In addition, AA is now giving ExPlats free domestic upgrades -- matching CO and NW.

Just to add a final couple of thoughts...CO and NW changed their EQM schemes, making it more difficult. AA changed its EQM scheme also, but it allows for making status in a variety of ways for different types of travelers (much fairer), as has been mentioned somewhere above.

Plus, AA has a later departure time than CO from GIG, and it is the only United States airline to have a New York and/or Miami to GIG non-stop without that GRU stuff.

Domestic upgrades are much better on NW and CO. It kind of sucks, I'm still Gold (50k) on US Air and get unlimited domestic upgrades, but have decided to ditch US Air and just do American and United. I've already hit Platinum for this year and next on American, and will be 50k Exec on United within a couple of months. The only problem with American is the skimpy domestic upgrades (4 500-mile upgrades per 10,000 flown). United is the same, but I've grown sick of connecting flights. I used to make the compromise - add an hour or so each way and sit in first class and just connect on US Air, vs. sitting in coach for a direct flight on United. However, since first class has gone to shit and American and United have expanded legroom in coach, the first class seats aren't enough to have me put up with US Air anymore.

It always sounds weird to discuss switching primary airlines - folks who don't fly for business purposes all think its stupid! But, for those of us who travel every week, it really is an important decision. Lots of variables too.

soccer.//

Just to correct you, when you ae EXP on AA you get 8 Vips (one way systemwide upgrades) every year that you are EXP. When you qualify for the first time you get 8, and then 8 more when the program year renews (March 1) for a total of 16. SO the first time you qualify you get 16, and then 8 per year thereafter.

Also, AA gives free domestic US upgrades to EXP members.

And remember those "8 VIP upgrades" are ONE WAY so they are 8 round-trips. Still very very valuable.

I mite also add the 8 upgrades only work with paid tickets, not ffmiles tickets.

I have 8 upgrades since getting gold aa card, but useless since I only fly using mileage from credit card spending ( and I use Cathay too)


but overall, the aa ff programme is the best I have used.

Dood: Do you know of people who qualify for ExPlat every other year but get the 8 VIPs every year? Looks like a good loophole to me?

Dood: I have some other questions, if you don't mind. What's your (and/or others')batting average in using VIPs to upgrade to Rio and to other destinations? Do you have to play the waiting game? Thanks.

After an accumulation and use of 456,000+ A/A miles I'm thinking of switching airlines because my A/A balance is close to zero. I travel from San Diego to DC (Dulles) frequently on business and like to vacation in the Caribbean and Central America. I'm wondering if there is a better airline than A/A considering my travel needs.

Any ideas?

Soccer.. It is indeed a "loophole" that works. I've done it twice ;-)

My batting average going to rio upgraded with VIP's is 100%

About 70% of the time it clears at booking, and the other 30% it clears at the gate before boarding.

The most important thing however when it doesn't clear up until the day of the flight, is to get to the airport VERY early. 4 Hours before flight departure the waiting list is put under airport control (the old list is tossed), and they only way to get on that list is to be at the airport. With EXP status, and being first on the list, you are pretty much assured of getting the upgrade. I haven't flown international coach in over 5 years.

ldvee.. AA is your best bet for caribbean, central and south america.

ldvee,

I live near Dulles and United has the most flights, although their hub here is primarily transcontinental and European flights, with everything else being regional jets and puddle jumpers. However, no problem for you. They have two non-stops a day between San Diego and here.

However, they have little Caribbean/LACA coverage from here. They fly to San Juan, Mexico City, San Jose CR, Sao Paulo/Rio, Buenos Aires/Montevideo and that's about it.

They are teamed with USAir, which has built up a very impressive Caribbean/LACA route system - they are second to American in the Caribbean. But USAir is horrible for free trip bookings - I was Chairmans or Gold (100k or 50k) every year since 1996 and built up a shitpile of miles, but now, all I use the miles for is to book flights on United to Rio (80k for business). I think I've gotten a few freebies on US Air, but it was always tough, and that was with their highest status.

United is pretty liberal with FF awards, although, as I posted earlier, they are stingy with domestic upgrades.

Dood: Thanks for your advice on using VIPs. Is your batting average for Tokyo as good as GIG? Can an ExPlat rebank miles for a cancelled award ticket for free? Thanks.

Soccer: I am at 100% everywhere with the VIPs. Toyko, London, Paris..etc..

Dood: For that 100%, can you still buy the cheapest published price, or do you have to buy some class fare, which isn't the cheapest? Thanks

Soccer,

My upgrade percentages are also very high like Dood. I've only been shot down maybe 2 times in the past 2 years. And if you didn't notice I fly quite a bit. I almost always use miles or VIP's to upgrade up front. It's hard going to the back of the bus.

Yes, you can use them on any PAID fare. Like Dood mentioned, if you don't clear up before the day before the trip get to the airport VERY early. My last trip to France I flew via Zurich and they told me First was oversold. I got to the airport 2.5 hours earlier and got cleared (thank god) at check in. It's a relatively inexpensive way to fly upfront.

Just make sure you never tell American you bought them. Technically you aren't supposed to buy them. They have gotten quite expensive on Ebay. Usually you can buy two of them for $700 to $800. I've seen two go for $1,200 and $1,500 last month. It could have been because someone wanted to use them for the FLY04 promotion and the EUR04 promotion before March 31.

My last trip I paid I think $750 for my trip to Nice. Add on $750 more for the VIP03's and it was $1,500 for a $6,500 seat up front. Not bad. In fact, the guy sitting next to me was flying for work. He worked for Swiss Re. He said his ticket was $6,800. Ouch.

I still think most of the CH crowd wants to just get somewhere the cheapest way possible. Nothing wrong with that.

Also, remember you get 8 VIP03's once you quality (i.e. hit 100,000 miles). You get the other 8 automatically in February/March of the following year when American sends out the new enrollment packages.

Good luck.

P.S. Wording from the back of the VIP. They are electronic now but the conditions are the same. They are still transferable and people are still buying/selling them on Ebay.

Full terms and conditions (from the back side of the certificate) Certificate entitles passenger to a one-way upgrade to the next class of service only at no additional charge for travel on American Airlines or AmericanConnection to any American Airlines or AmericanConnection destination. These upgrade certificates are subject to capacity controls and is limited to a single one-way trip with a maximum of three segments. American Eagle segments do not count toward the three segments. Reservations are subject to seat availability at the time of upgrade. Reservations may be made, and tickets purchased from any authorized Travel Agency or American Airlines. This certificate is valid only on scheduled flights marketed as American Airlines or AmericanConnection, and operated by American Airlines. Not valid on codeshare flights. A ticket will be issued only to the AAdvantage member to whom this certificate was issued, or upon proper identification, to the individual designated as the passenger on the front of the certificate. A ticket issued against this certificate may not be reissued once travel has commenced. Open tickets may not be issued. Stopovers, joint and through fares are permitted if fare purchased allows. This certificate is void if altered, counterfeited, obtained or used improperly, or where prohibited by law. This certificate is not redeemable for cash and is void if sold for cash or other consideration. This certificate has no value except when redeemed in accordance with these terms and conditions and will not be replaced if lost or stolen. Once the boarding pass has been issued for the upgraded segment(s), the certificate will not be returned or replaced. If, after ticketing, your ticket must be re-issued, an administrative service charge could apply. Any tax liability is the responsibility of the user. This certificate may not be combined with any other coupon, discount, promotional offer, AAdvantage award, including Senior TrAAveler coupons. This certificate is not applicable to tour fares, off-tariff or non-published fares (such as tickets booked in I, O, S, or W Class, or transatlantic, transpacific, South America, Central America or Mexico tickets booked in Q class that do not originate in the United States), or other privately negotiated discount fares including, without limitation, group or block discounts, contract bulk, military or other government fares, or opaque fares, nor toward the purchase of Prepaid Tickets (PTA), Miscellaneous Change Orders (MCO) or Special Service Tickets (Form 406). However, this certificate is applicable to meeting services, privately negotiated corporate fares, Net SAAver fares, fares booked on AA.com, and senior discount fares. Travel must be completed by the expiration date shown on the reverse side of the certificate. AAdvantage mileage will accrue for the class of service on which your fare is based when you are ticketed, not for the class of service flown. Passengers may be requested to show identification at any time during travel. Any voluntary refund of a ticket issued against the certificate shall be equal to the amount actually paid less the fare applicable to transportation used. When a ticket is wholly or partially refunded, the certificate will not be replaced and further discounts will not apply. Use of this upgrade to any future American Airlines or AmericanConnection destination is subject to American Airlines approval.



(Message edited by godfather on April 01, 2004)

Just to clarify, any paid PUBLISHED fare..

Hotwire/priceline and other consolidator tickets cant't be upgraded and 99% won't even earn miles..

I’d like to add another great way to easily earn AAdvantage miles.

Go to Ebay.com and scroll to the bottom. Then click on Anything points. They have several offers, like buying flowers at FTD.com (Yuck), but a couple of things caught my eyes.

1. Get 1500 anything points for booking a hotel through Priceline. (must enter priceline.com through Ebay to get the points though and must have an Ebay id.)

Then the cool thing is that you can convert those 1500 anything points into 698 AAdvantage miles at points.com. Which brings us to the second point.

2. Signup for a free points.com account and get one free exchange. Signup for Points Plus for a year for $19.95 and get either 2100 anything points or 650 AA miles. I chose anything points because you can transfer them and get more miles. For example, a transfer of 2100 anything points equals 977 AAdvantage miles. 1500 anything points (which I got for booking a four star hotel in Hong Kong for $45 a night through priceline.com) equals 698 miles.

And THEN. I put the pricceline hotel on my AAvantage card and earned miles for the purchase.

AND FINALLY, points.com is offering a promotion right now where if you transfer more than 500 miles into your AAdvantage account you get DOUBLE miles plus a 25% bonus.

So the 977 and the 698 are actually 2198 and 1570 miles.

Yippee! You got all that?

You can also transfer a lot of other shit between programs. Asia Miles is a participant as well as US Air, Alaska and TONS of other programs to exchange points and awards from. Pretty cool overall.

Visit anythingpoints.ebay.com and points.com for more info.

Just got bad news via FlyerTalk. New ExPlats no longer will get the 8 VIPS for the qualifying year plus 8 VIPS for the next year in March. Now, you will get the ExPlat packet and 8 electronic VIPS the month you qualify for ExPlat. The VIPS will expire 1 year from the month you qualify. They've closed the loophole which allowed people 8 VIPS every year by qualifying for ExPlat every other year -- not to mention the 8 bonus VIPS for new ExPlats. This went into effect on May 3.

I'm a bit slow, but I've figured out first hand what attracts some of you guys to AA. A Rio trip gets about 22K ff miles (from my location) with the Plat/ExPlat 100% bonus. A one way upgrade is 25K with any fare, and couple that with a evip, you get a roundtrip business class ticket costing you the cheapest published airfare and 3k ff miles (25k-22k). Hypothetically, 8 business class trips to Brazil and 2 transcons later -- you requalify for ExPlat. Net cost is the cheapest fares plus 24k ff miles, but when you figure in the ff miles for the transcons, you cover the 24k ff miles for the 8 Brazil business class trips.

Go through that again for me. I'm interested, just a bit lost.

1. ExPlats get 8 evips (one-way international upgrades) per year.

2. Plats and ExPlats get a 100% mileage bonus.

3. You earn 22k (from my location) with a roundtrip, including the 100% bonus.

4. A one way upgrade using miles to Brazil or Argentina is 25k

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

6. Assuming you are an ExPlat and you have your annual allotment of 8 evips, you can upgrade one half of the cheapest airfare to business class with an evip and you can upgrade the other half using 25k. Now you have upgraded both halves of a roundtrip to business class. Since you are getting 22k for the roundtrip, your net loss is 1 evip, 3k (25k for the cost of the upgrade minus 22k earned for the trip) and the cost of the cheapest airfare.

7. Even if you are Plat (and don't get any evips), you can still upgrade one way to business class for the 25K. Since you are getting 22k for the roundtrip (100% bonus for Plats), your net loss is also 3k plus, of course, the cost of the cheapest airfare.

8. If an ExPlat couples a 25k upgrade and an evip for 8 buxiness class trips, he uses 8 evips and a total of 24k frequent flyer miles (200k used minus 176k earned). He will also get 88k elite qualifying miles, in order to make ExPlat for the following year.

9. By taking an additional 2 east to west coast trips, you can requalify for ExPlat (and get 8 evips for the next year). The miles earned on the 2 transcons (ExPlats will probably be upgraded to first class on domestic flights) will earn 24k (including bonus), which is enough to cover the 24k you lost in making the previously mentioned 8 upgraded roundtrips to Brazil.

10. The cost for all of this business class/first class travel is the total of the cheapest published airfares and 8 evips. It also costs 200k frequent flyer miles, but in the course of these trips, you will earn 200k frequent flyer miles to offset the 200k you used.