Newbie Analysis for AAdvantage Elite Status Run in 2016

Points Enthusiast | January 13, 2016 | Travel Blog | No Comments

Why?

Just wanted to give it a try & see if its worth the trouble & investment w.r.t time & money.

References:

http://thepointsguy.com/2015/04/11-reasons-to-love-aadvantage-and-executive-platinum-status/

http://thepointsguy.com/2014/12/what-is-american-airlines-aadvantage-elite-status-worth/

My Criteria’s:

There isn't any business travel for 2016.

 Don't have any elite status with American.  American seemed logical because of it being one world partner & also no qualification dollars needed.

 Have a two year old at home, so can't be out travelling too long. Worst case is 1 night out.

 Prefer Red eye flight out of home & return back home by next day evening or night.

 Shorter number of trips to make this happen.

 Limit my expenses as much as possible. Hoping to leverage airline credits from Citi/Amex.

 Hopefully yearly vacation plan might help add more EQM's in the process.

 EXP is the goal here. But may restrict to Platinum status if situation & finance aren't flexible.

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Planned Budget - 3-4K
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West to East Coast flight could easily be 4.5K miles on an average.

Class of Service	EXP EQM’s Needed	No. of Trips Needed for EXP	Platinum EQM’s Needed	No. of Trips Needed for Platinum	Total RDM’s Earned
Discount Economy	100K	23	50K	12	100%
Full-Fare Economy	100K	15	50K	8	100%
Discount First/Business	100K	12	50K	6	150%

Typical fares in Jan/Feb/Mar 2016 when checked in Nov 2015.

SAN – NYC: Economy ~$300, Business $1000

SAN – MIA: Economy ~$270, Business $900

SAN – BOS: Economy ~$270, Business $1000

Route	Class of Service	Cost for EXP Status	Cost for Platinum Status	EQM’s Earned for EXP (approx)	RDM’s Earned for EXP (approx)
SAN – NYC	Discount Economy	$6000	$3000	102960 (5148/trip) SAN-CLT-EWR-DFW-SAN	159588 25% Gold bonus after 6 trips 100% platinum bonus after 10 trips
SAN – MIA	Discount Economy	$6210	$2160	104489 (4543/trip) SAN-MIA-PHX-SAN	163545 (25% bonus after 7 trips, 100% bonus after 11 trips)
SAN – BOS	Discount Economy	$4860	$2430	100962 (5609/trip) SAN-CLT-BOS-CLT-SAN	155649 (25% bonus after 6 trips, 100% bonus after 9 trips)

SAN – NYC	Discount Business	$10000	$6000	101560 (5078/trip/2 EQM) SAN-CLT-DCA-JFK-PHX-SAN	107908 (50% class of service bonus + regular elite level bonus)
SAN – MIA	Discount Business	$9900	$4950	104566 (4753/trip/2 EQM) SAN-MIA-ATL-PHX-SAN	96248 (50% class of service bonus + regular elite level bonus)
SAN – BOS	Discount Business	$10000	$5000	107920 (5396/trip) SAN-CLT-DCA-BOS-ORD-SAN	101175 (50% class of service bonus + regular elite level bonus)

Pro’s of Economy Approach	Con’s of Economy Approach
3-4 CPM (this may change because of price fluctuation)	Number of Trips needed
More RDM accrued.	Price point will fluctuate by 100-150$ because of the total number of trips
Close to 2 trips every month

Pro’s of Business Approach	Con’s of Business Approach
Reduced number of trips	10 CPM
1 trip every month	RDM not great as Economy approach
Comfort during travel	Cost

Planning to use Expertflyer tool & Google ITA matrix to find better routes to reduce the cost needed to achieve the EXP status. Probably will end up doing a mix of discounted business & economy class fares.

Will post an status update end of 2016. Cheers

Feature Photo by mighty.travels

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Tags:AAdvantage, Challenge, Elite Status, Newbie

About The Author

Points Enthusiast

Full Time RF Electronics Engineer with a passion for Travel & Sports. Currently live in San Diego,CA. Both my dear wife & our lovely toddler boy love outdoor activities. As a family we plan to have fun & explore the world through Points/Miles & loyalty programs. :)