Travel

Here is every thing I did to get American Airlines Platinum standing

December 26, 2022

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My journey with elite airline standing has developed rapidly throughout my time as a journey reporter at TPG.

When I first joined TPG in June 2021, reaching even entry-level elite airline standing appeared like an unattainable hurdle for somebody like myself; I didn’t have a cobranded airline bank card, and I traveled inconsistently — particularly in comparison with my colleagues, a few of whom journey weekly.

Therefore, I knew I would not earn standing by way of bank card spending or journey alone. Instead, I must strategically earn standing and search for extra, extra artistic methods to contribute. I started to think about my standing strategy as varied revenue streams that present a number of methods to earn Loyalty Points — the factors are American Airlines’ standing forex and are primarily based on distance, spending and fare class flown.

For me, it got here all the way down to flying constant home flights, with a number of long-haul flights sprinkled in; I additionally prioritized staying at Hyatt properties when touring and intermittently purchasing on-line by means of the AA purchasing portal each time attainable.

Here’s how I earned mid-tier American Airlines AAdvantage standing and how one can apply the beneath ways to your individual American Airlines standing objectives.

Earn factors on flights

I went from by no means holding airline standing to turning into an American Airlines AAdvantage Gold member in about eight months.

Since turning into an AAdvantage member on July 15, 2021, I’ve flown on 17 American Airlines flights and earned Loyalty Points from all however two of them, which I used award miles to e book. As a pleasant reminder, solely paid flights rely towards standing. Of these 17 flights, 11 had been home flights (largely short-haul regional flights throughout the East Coast and Midwest, minus a one-way flight from Washington, D.C., to Phoenix).

These home flights mixed added 12,746 Loyalty Points to my account.

In December 2021, I attended a TPG retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona, the place I gained 30,000 Loyalty Points in a raffle. When these factors appeared in my account on March 1, 2022, I immediately had entry-level Gold standing by means of Feb. 28, 2023. With this 30,000-point AAdvantage adjustment, I had simply lower than 45,000 Loyalty Points complete, due to the approximate 15,000 Loyalty Points I had earned within the previous seven months of AAdvantage membership.

Needless to say, that is uncommon and would not have occurred exterior of my TPG employment. Still, it turned me into an American loyalist, and I started prioritizing flights on American and Oneworld associate airways when attainable. It additionally meant I now earned a 40% mileage bonus as a Gold member, equal to 7 miles per greenback spent on flights — which is 2 miles greater than a non-status flyer.

This additionally started my quest to succeed in Platinum for 2023.

Beyond the aforementioned home flights, I took two worldwide round-trip flights to Paris and Singapore this 12 months. However, solely my journey to Singapore contributed to my Loyalty Points earnings (despite the fact that it wasn’t an American flight).

When I traveled to Paris this spring, I flew French Bee from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Paris-Orly Airport (ORY); I used award miles to fly from ORY to O’Hare International Airport (ORD), so I did not get any factors from both journey.

As I appeared forward to the top of the 12 months, I knew my finest wager to succeed in Platinum for 2023 was by reserving a long-haul flight in a premium cabin; you earn bonus miles that qualify towards your Loyalty Points steadiness once you fly premium economic system, enterprise class or firstclass.

To do that, I took a slightly oblique flight route from ORD to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). The route was a round-trip flight on Finnair in October throughout 4 segments: ORD-Helsinki Airport (HEL), HEL-SIN, SIN-HEL and HEL-ORD. In complete, I flew greater than 20,00 miles over 5 days to earn 28,554 American Loyalty Points by means of Finnair, a Oneworld member.

Read extra: Why I booked a Finnair flight to assist me attain American Airlines elite standing

Together, these two long-haul premium flights comprised practically 39,000 Loyalty Points which, on their very own, can be sufficient to beat the edge of 30,000 Loyalty Points for American Gold standing.

Even so, I used to be nonetheless quick 6,371 factors to succeed in Platinum as of November 2022. I deliberate on reaching it by way of three journeys:

ORD to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in December 2022: Base fare of $422.20 for a complete of two,955 Loyalty Points and award miles.
ORD to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in January 2023: Base fare of $229.77 for a complete of 1,608 Loyalty Points and award miles.
ORD to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in January 2023: Base fare of $255.81 for a complete of 1,790 Loyalty Points and award miles.

Use American’s purchasing portal

Although I used to be specializing in incomes Loyalty Points primarily by way of flights, I earned Platinum sooner than anticipated, due to my Black Friday on-line purchasing by way of the AAdvantage purchasing portal.

This is maybe the best solution to earn Loyalty Points, because you’re searching for purchases you had been already going to make. American’s eShopping portal rewards customers with base miles that rely as Loyalty Points for purchases made at taking part retailers.

As of December 2022, miles earned from on-line purchasing with AAdvantage eShopping rely towards Loyalty Points at a 1:1 ratio. The variety of miles you earn is determined by the precise retailer and value level. For instance, I earned nearly 4,000 Loyalty Points by means of purchases made at Hunter Boots, Alo Yoga, Lululemon and Gap, primarily based on their earnings choices and transaction totals.

Those Loyalty Points, together with my round-trip flight final week from ORD to LGA, had been sufficient to succeed in Platinum this month forward of schedule.

Become loyal to 1 airline and alliance

As you learn, I turned an American Airlines loyalist by default. Even earlier than turning into a standing holder, although, I organically opted to fly American over different carriers primarily based on route availability out of my then-home airports, DCA and Dulles International Airport (IAD).

Although I primarily fly from Chicago today, American has a big sufficient presence at ORD to make the longer commuter to O’Hare within the northwest suburbs versus the town’s Midway International Airport (MDW) value it.

Once you resolve on an airline, make sure to make the most of alliance perks; American standing opens the door to the 13 Oneworld member airways that join passengers to 900-plus locations in additional than 170 international locations. Popular Oneworld airways embody Alaska Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways.

By flying on these different carriers as an AAdvantage Sapphire member, I get reciprocal advantages on associate flights, together with precedence check-in and boarding, plus lounge entry when touring internationally. I can even entry American’s signature Flagship lounges when departing on or connecting to a same-day, qualifying worldwide flight in any class, together with at ORD.

Take benefit of the Hyatt-American partnership

As of final 12 months, AAdvantage members can earn World of Hyatt factors for qualifying American flights, and all World of Hyatt elite members can earn World of Hyatt factors on qualifying American flights. More particularly, this partnership permits:

These factors are bonus earnings, along with the World of Hyatt factors you’d already earn on stays and the American miles you’d already earn on flights. This partnership helped expedite my solution to turning into a World of Hyatt Discoverist, the primary tier of Hyatt standing.

As a Discoverist, I earn 5 World of Hyatt factors per greenback spent on eligible stays at Hyatt.