111 Points to AA Platinum…but “Boost to Plat.” for $699!

by Adam

I’m currently only 111 points from qualifying for AAdvantage platinum status next year, yet I received this email from American today offering me the chance to Boost to Platinum for $699…no thank you! Probably an automated email to anyone within a certain range, though funny nonetheless.

American Elite Status Qualifcation

Boost to Platinum Status American AAdvantage

I’m pretty disappointed in myself that I’m in this predicament. My last flight on AA was to Vegas (at a great price), but it was delayed almost 6 hours and I received a call in advance. I was given the option of waiting out the delay, connecting in LAX and arriving 4 hours late, or getting a refund and rebooking. My plans were flexible so I canceled and took the refund…and now I’m 111 points short of Platinum with no other trips on AA planned this year (besides our annual Caribbean winter vacation, though that’s on miles).

Being only 100 points short, I’d love to take the chance, though I’d hate to lose out on Platinum status in the largest loyalty program. As such, I have a $59 flight from JFK-DCA on hold (prize for anyone who can find me something cheaper from the NYC area before Dec 19th). It was the same with Delta for Gold last year (48,287 of the 50K required), and they gave me the bump…. (see Delta Confirms Comp Gold Status Soft Landing…but what about my bonus miles?).  What do you think, risk it for the blog?

For those of you who received the same email and are wondering if you receive a refund if you hit the bumped status on your own or when they combine the two programs…you don’t!

AA Status Bump FAQs

…and if you haven’t yet taken a look at how they are going to combine your balances, see below:

American US Airways Program Combination Terms

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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5 comments

Joey November 17, 2014 - 7:58 am

Why didn’t you negotiate with AA to give you that 111 points in addition to the refund when they called you?

Reply
Adam November 17, 2014 - 2:52 pm

@joey – you know me too well. I tried…no luck!

Reply
DaninMCI November 17, 2014 - 8:46 am

I don’t think your going to do better than Tuesday or Wednesday one ways to DCA for $59. Looks like that the consistent price through the end of the year each way.

Reply
Dave November 17, 2014 - 9:09 am

Why not just call and ask for a bump? Say you’re done flying for the year and will book a RT for the sake of qualifying, but you’d rather not waste your time. AS did this for me, and I was ~200 mi short of MVPG.

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American Airlines Mileage Run - Point Me to the Plane December 10, 2014 - 5:50 pm

[…] simply had a lot of very good luck. I had blogged a few weeks ago (see – 111 Points to AA Platinum…but “Boost to Plat.” for $699!) about being less than 200 EQPs short of hitting Platinum and weighed my options. I decided to […]

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