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American Airlines Is Letting You Buy Elite Status

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American Airlines Is Letting You Buy Elite Status

In the newest 50 Shades of US Airways ala Doug Parker, the new American Airlines is Letting You Buy Elite Status.

For the first time ever, you can now buy elite status from American Airlines.

2 Easy Ways to American Airlines Is Letting You Buy Elite Status

or a more apt title (2 easy ways to reach elite status on American Airlines)

1) Boost – If you’re close to reaching an elite status level, American will boost you to the next level.
2) Renew – If you have status but didn’t fly enough to maintain it, you can “renew” aka buy it.

Let’s take a more detailed look into each.

1.  Boost

Nothing new and exciting here.

American states this is the first time they’re boosting people to the next level. But there are lots of threads on Flyertalk about soft landings.

So a more accurate statement would be this is the first public announcement of boosting or soft landing up to the next status level.

You can boost to the next elite status level IF at the end of the year:

  • You’re within 5,000 elite qualifying miles or 5 segments of reaching Gold
  • You’re within 10,000 elite qualifying miles or 10 segments of reaching Platinum or Executive Platinum

But you also have to pay a fee to boost.

Boost Fees:

$399 – Gold status with 20,000 – 24,999 elite qualifying miles or points OR 25-29 segments

$899 – Platinum status with 40,000 – 44,999 elite qualifying miles or points OR 50-54 segments

$699 – Platinum status with 45,000 – 49,999 elite qualifying miles or points OR 55-59 segments

$1,799 – Executive Platinum status with 90,000 – 94,999 elite qualifying miles or points OR 90-94 segments

$1,199 –  Executive Platinum status with 95,000 – 99,999 elite qualifying miles or points OR 95-99 segments

 

2.  Renew

Here’s where it gets interesting.

If you aren’t within the boost range and your elite status will expire on February 28, 2014, you can buy status.  Or what American is calling “elite status renewal.”

Gold Status Renewal: $649

Platinum Status Renewal: $1,199

Executive Platinum Status Renewal: No buy up option.

You can purchase your boost or renewal options.

Buying Up

You can even buy up!

If you don’t have status with American and fall within 5,000 elite qualifying miles or points or segments (as outlined above), you can buy your way to Gold.

You can purchase an elite status level higher than your current status and your new status will be reflected within 5 days of purchase.

But if you purchase the same status level, your new status won’t go into effect until March 1, 2014.

If you purchase elite status is valid through February 28, 2015.

So, basically under the new leadership, American is saying we’re happy to sell status. And we’re giving you an incentive to spend more money to buy a higher level of status by making it effective within 5 days.

Challenges

If you’re doing a challenge, you need to complete your challenge before you can be for the eligible for boost or renewal options.

Interesting to note is that the boost and renew payments are being processed by eBay. Hmm…

Summary of the fine print:

    • Getting elite status through boost or renew is a one-time option and non-transferrable
    • You must have current elite status valid through February 28, 2014 OR be within the requirements to reach Gold status via boost
    • Challenge qualifiers must fulfill their challenge qualifications before being eligible
    • If you don’t pay the full amount, you may not get the elite status offer
    • Payment must be made between January 1, 2014 and May 31, 2014If purchasing a higher level of elite status, the elite status goes into effect within 5 business days of purchase

Holy smokes!!  What is going on over there in Dallas!

Needless to say I am not happy.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for American making money.  A profitable American Airlines is a good thing.

But instead of selling elite status, just have fare sales.  Like the current airfare specials of Los Angeles to Beijing for $666 round trip or San Diego to Maui for $420.

Fare sale fills the planes, get more people flying and not just the business traveler.  Which means more profit in the long run.

Selling status means that everybody and their brother will have elite status on American.

The boarding process is already a mess because of the stream of people who just start boarding regardless of what group they are in and the gate agents who aren’t enforcing the boarding policy.  So overhead space will be even harder to find.

Not to mention getting upgraded.

Okay, I have to mention it.

The upgrade policy has changed, although no one has officially said anything. But I noticed a distinct change over the last month.

Now with the ability to buy up and all the soft challenges, there will be more competition for upgrades.

My Executive Platinum status is good through the end of February 2015.  And I’ve already booked almost 100,000 elite qualifying points worth of flights for 2014 that will extend my status until the end of February 2016.

I think it might be time to think about ending the quest for elite status if it becomes so freely available.

Something I’m sure my husband will be excited to hear, but for this flying junkie, I’m not sure if that’s possible.

Are you going to boost or renew?

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The Quick Route to American Airlines Elite Status | Million Mile Secrets

Wednesday 10th of September 2014

[…] participated in the Boost program where you bought back your […]

Traveling Well For Less

Thursday 14th of November 2013

Hi Will,

The next couple of months will be interesting, seeing all the changes and what's in store. I predict US Airways' policies will dominate: so 4 tiers, less SWUs, less seats in First Class. Might be a bumpy ride until everything gets sorted out.

Will

Wednesday 13th of November 2013

I was soft landed by AA, interesting to see they've made this public policy now.

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