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American Airlines Platinum Challenge
Miles has quite a bit of domestic travel over the next few months, and after he and I talked about it, we thought that this would be a great way to leverage that travel and position ourselves for a big year of travel next year. Sooooooooo after much consideration, Miles has decided to go for American Airlines Platinum status with a challenge! Anyone can actually do this.
Hint, hint, wink wink…this means you!
It costs $240 and you must accumulate 10000 EQP ( Elite Qualifying Points) within 90 days of your start date. If you succeed you will have Platinum status until the end of February 2017! Here’s the specifics that were emailed:
How do you earn EQP? Here is the earning chart for American Air flights.
You can check the earning rates of other OneWorld members here
You can see that EQM ( the base miles) and EQP can often be different based on the class of service you fly. American has actually done its fliers a favor by making it EQP and not EQM.
Personally, the biggest advantage of attaining AA platinum status is the 100% elite bonus; meaning, for every mile you fly, you accumulate 2. Let’s take a look at all the benefits of Platinum status.
Looking at these benefits, the 100% elite mileage bonus is still the most attractive, but 2 free checked bags is nothing to scoff at, and neither are the 500 mile upgrades. Let’s take a look at that a little closer:
What this all means…
If you are Platinum, you will get auto upgraded on flights less than 500 miles in distance. You will also earn a minimum of 500 miles on a flight, AND have the opportunity to upgrade flights 500 miles at time.
What are 500 mile upgrades?
For every 10,000 EQM you fly, you will earn 4 – 500 mile upgrade certificates. Meaning, you can upgrade a one way flight less than 2000 miles, one class of service. This works great for Miles and me, because we have roots in Indiana and Los Angeles is about 2000 air miles away. So, every 10000 EQM we fly, we can then upgrade a flight home to first class! Not too shabby!
You can also buy them
For Miles and me, it’s really all about the increased mileage earn rate. We are hoping to make Executive Platinum next year and knowing we will earn 100% along the way will make it even more fun!
The challenge starts September 3rd! We will keep you updated on our progress!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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