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I already have most of my travels mapped out for 2017 and, as I’ve explained in the past, I’ll be crediting my trips to American Airlines’ AAdvantage program for one more year before almost certainly becoming a free agent in 2018.
While I’m more than used to having to hit 100,000 Elite Qualifying Miles every year to retain Executive Platinum status there’s a new element to earning status this year that has seen me change how I book my flights – Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD).
American Airlines announced a revenue element (EQD) to its rewards program back in June 2016 (alongside a swathe of other changes that saw the AAdvantage program gutted) but the new requirement only kicked in for the 2017 qualifying year and I have been doing everything possible to minimise the effect this has on my wallet.
For me, the crucial element to minimising the effect of this new requirement has been this:
While flights booked through American Airlines earn EQD based on the cost of the fare (less taxes), flights booked through other oneworld carriers (and credited to AAdvantage) earn EQD based on the distance traveled.
Discounted Business Class fares booked through British Airways will earn EQD at a rate of 25% of the distance flown while the fantastically cheap Qatar Airways Business Class fares (often highlighted here) will earn EQD at a rate equal to 20% of the distance flown…and these are all much better earning rates than you’ll get booking through American Airlines.
What this all means is that, in my effort to maximise my EQD earnings for the minimum out of pocket cost, I have been booking my 2017 flights through anyone other than American (where possible) and, to date, I have flown just two segments booked through American Airlines (One of which was the 777-300ER Business class flight I reviewed a few weeks back).
That was all fine until one day when I was checking my travel plans and making sure that I was on track to hit my status targets for 2017 – I suddenly remembered a rule that American Airlines had, only recently (2015-16), been enforcing quite strictly:
AAdvantage members must fly a minimum of four (paid) AA marketed flights (including those operated by other carriers) or segments during the calendar year to earn status benefits
Suddenly I was worried.
Since I first earned AAdvantage status I’ve never come close to not booking at least 4 segments through American Airlines so the rule was never really at the forefront of my mind….but now it could be a huge stumbling block.
I’ve only booked 2 segments through American this year and, thanks to a very successful campaign to avoid American Airlines as much as possible, I’ve managed to make sure that I have no more flights booked or planned on or with the airline for the rest of 2017.
Had I not been spending most of my time in Europe right now this wouldn’t have been that much of an issue – a quick, cheap, roundtrip between LA and Vegas would solve the problem just fine – but 2 more segments booked through American would now mean a transatlantic flight as a minimum. That would be expensive.
I went online to check AA.com and found that I couldn’t find any reference to the 4 segment rule – which was strange as I knew it used to be there – so I took to Twitter to see what I could find out:
Now American has made a LOT of things worse over the past 18 months but one thing I’ve found is that you will get a response from the Twitter team…and a timely one.
Half an hour later I got the answer I was really, really hoping for:
And subsequently I found an archived webpage which included the following line:
With the addition of EQDs, we’ll remove the rule that 4 segments must be traveled on American or American Eagle during the qualifying year to receive elite status.”
Phew!
To be honest there have been so many changes to the AAdvantage program over the past 18 months I’m not in the slightest bit surprised that information about one of them passed me by (or went out of my head as quickly as it went in) but at least it all turned out ok.
A transatlantic flight booked through American would have cost at least $450 but, more importantly, would have cost me two days spent traveling in Economy Class (I could really do without that) so I’m very glad American changed this rule.
