AAdvantage Elite Fast Track: 35K EQMs for Executive Platinum Offer (Targeted)

An AAdvantage Fast Track to Elite Status offer is being targeted to some AAdvantage members. My husband received an offer, which I thought was odd, since he has zero EQMs (elite qualifying miles) and zero EQS (elite qualifying segments) year to date, which has been true for the past several years.

We love AAdvantage miles, and have earned as well as bought well over a million of them, but redeem them for awards in Etihad First Apartment on the A380, Qantas A380 First Class, JAL First Class, Cathay Pacific First Class, etc., and almost never for American (although we did fly American A321 First Class and American A321 Business Class earlier this year as part of our award travel to Tahiti for our anniversary stay at the Four Seasons Bora Bora, so perhaps that's what triggered it).

In any case, here are the Q3 offer details, which are similar to the Q2 offer AA ran earlier this year:

Register with your AAdvantage number before you travel and no later than September 7, 2016 using promotion code HVC3Q
Fly on American Airlines, American Eagle, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Qantas between the date you register and December 16, 2016
Earn the required Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) to receive status through January 31, 2018
Executive Platinum Status: Earn 35,000 EQMs (usually 100,000 EQMs required)
Platinum Status: Earn 12,500 EQMs (usually 50,000 EQMs required)
Gold Status: Earn 7000 EQMs (usually 25,000 EQMs required)
Enjoy AAdvantage elite status through January 31, 2018
Must be targeted for this offer by AAdvantage

FAQ

Can I Register For This Offer Even If I Haven't Received a Targeted Offer?

You can try (in case something got lost in the mail or you threw out the offer by mistake) by going to aa.com/fasttrack, going to the Register Now link and inputting your AAdvantage number and the promotion code HVC3Q. But if you haven't been targeted, you won't be able to register for the offer.

How Many EQMs Would I Earn for a Given Flight?

Unfortunately, I haven't seen a simple AA EQM calculator, but what you can do is look at the AAdvantae earnings section right before purchasing a ticket on American Airlines. Note that this only works if you're actually flying AA, it's not displayed for partner airlines. So as an example, this AA A321 Business Class ticket from JFK to LAX would earn 4950 EQMs. If you have a roundtrip AA transcontinental business class trip planned prior to December 16, 2016 and have been targeted for this promotion, you'd be able to earn AAdvantage Gold elite status with that one trip alone.

For partner airlines go to the following pages to see earnings rates. Generally speaking, Premium Economy, Business Class and First earn 1.5 EQMs per mile flown, while full fare economy earns 1 EQM per mile flown and discount economy earns just 0.5 EQM per mile flown.

How Do I Calculate Base Miles of My Ticket, to Estimate EQMs for Qualifying Partner Travel?

If you're wondering about the base miles for your ticket, I recommend using Great Circle Mapper to figure out the distance. So as an example, if you're flying Qantas Premium Economy, Business Class, or First Class as a paid ticket between LAX and SYD, the one way distance is 7488 miles, and you enjoy a 1.5 EQM bonus, for a total of about 11,200 EQM each way, or about 22,400 roundtrip. If you have that plus a roundtrip transcon from the East Coast to LAX planned, you're only about 3000 miles shy of qualifying for Executive Platinum, so a mileage run could be worth it, depending on anticipated future travel on AA.

What Are the Benefits of Each Status Level?

For many AAdvantage elites, Executive Platinum is what makes a true difference when it comes to upgrades; often Gold and even Platinum elites are crowded out and left without upgrades, particularly given how full many flights are these days.

Executive Platinum status also gives you oneworld Emerald status, which gets you into lounges such as the Qantas First Class Lounge in Sydney and Qantas First Class Lounge at LAX.

The other significant perk of Executive Platinum is that you receive 4 systemwide upgrades, with the ability to earn an additional 2 SWUS if you earn 150,000 EQMs (50K more than the 100K needed to qualify/requalify) and another 2 SWUS if you earn 200,000 EQMs in 2016, for a total of 8 SWUs.

Yet another Executive Platinum perk are complimentary same day flight changes; neither Platinum nor Gold elites are given this benefit, they have to pay for same day changes.

Here's a summary of the upgrade benefits by elite status:

AAdvantage Upgrades for Executive Platinum, Platinum and Gold Elites

Also keep in mind that you earn the following elite mileage bonuses:

Executive Platinum mileage bonus: 120%
Platinum mileage bonus: 60%
Gold mileage bonus: 40%

What Are the AAdvantage Elite Fast Track Terms?

After reaching the required EQM threshold: “your AAdvantage elite status membership benefits will take effect immediately and will be valid through January 31, 2018. Your new membership credentials will be mailed to you within four to six weeks after qualification. Qualification is based on AAdvantage EQMs earned on eligible, purchased, published fare tickets on American Airlines, American Eagle®, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines and Qantas between the date you register and December 16, 2016.”

Did you receive a similar AAdvantage Elite Fast Track offer, and do you plan to register?

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