Enrolled in GLD Challenge, suddenly became GLD
Apr 9, 2006, 10:24 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 13
Enrolled in GLD Challenge, suddenly became GLD
Hi,
Long time reader first time poster.
I enrolled in a GLD challenge with AA. I had about 4k miles in my account at the time, and enrolled RIGHT after I returned home from a weeklong JFK-SAN r/t. The aadvantage folks told me I would be able to get retro credit for the trip home, but not the outbound. This was because the trip home hadn't posted yet-- whereas my outbound had. So, about 1500 Q-points for that one segment towards my challenge.
I just got back from a LGA-MIA r/t (the return was MIA-BOS-LGA due to timing-- we were getting off a cruise ship.)
Now here is the interesting part and the start of my question. The cruise ship had a program to check and valet our luggage directly to airport from the boat, and print out our boarding passes and check us in while we were still at sea. ( $10/person. Questioned the value there until we got to MIA and I saw the lines going out to the sidewalk for Aagents, and the cattle call for baggage tags at self-service-- I will gladly pay $10 anytime to bypass that!) My girlfriend and I took advantage of this, but when looking at my boarding passes, I first noticed that even though we were seated together, we were in different boarding groups (myself in Group 1 of course) then saw RUBY, and then near my name and FF#, GLD.
I have an amex gold, but no other FF programs, did not earn enough Q points on a mere 2 legs (SAN-JFK and LGA-MIA), did not make any requests, nothing, and yet when I got back home and logged into AA.com, I saw that I was now indeed gold.
I'm a little scared of contacting AA and asking how I became GLD, lest it be an error and taken away. But I'm extremely curious what happened, and if the fact that I was enrolled in a GLD challenge had anything to do with it.
Any thoughts or speculations are welcome. Please save griping about how everyone and their cousin has status these days for another thread. Thanks!
Long time reader first time poster.
I enrolled in a GLD challenge with AA. I had about 4k miles in my account at the time, and enrolled RIGHT after I returned home from a weeklong JFK-SAN r/t. The aadvantage folks told me I would be able to get retro credit for the trip home, but not the outbound. This was because the trip home hadn't posted yet-- whereas my outbound had. So, about 1500 Q-points for that one segment towards my challenge.
I just got back from a LGA-MIA r/t (the return was MIA-BOS-LGA due to timing-- we were getting off a cruise ship.)
Now here is the interesting part and the start of my question. The cruise ship had a program to check and valet our luggage directly to airport from the boat, and print out our boarding passes and check us in while we were still at sea. ( $10/person. Questioned the value there until we got to MIA and I saw the lines going out to the sidewalk for Aagents, and the cattle call for baggage tags at self-service-- I will gladly pay $10 anytime to bypass that!) My girlfriend and I took advantage of this, but when looking at my boarding passes, I first noticed that even though we were seated together, we were in different boarding groups (myself in Group 1 of course) then saw RUBY, and then near my name and FF#, GLD.
I have an amex gold, but no other FF programs, did not earn enough Q points on a mere 2 legs (SAN-JFK and LGA-MIA), did not make any requests, nothing, and yet when I got back home and logged into AA.com, I saw that I was now indeed gold.
I'm a little scared of contacting AA and asking how I became GLD, lest it be an error and taken away. But I'm extremely curious what happened, and if the fact that I was enrolled in a GLD challenge had anything to do with it.
Any thoughts or speculations are welcome. Please save griping about how everyone and their cousin has status these days for another thread. Thanks!
Apr 9, 2006, 10:36 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: SW Comp Pass, Lft Gold AA, Lft DIA HHONORS, National Exec Elite
Posts: 232
Several questions.
1) Did you set your challenge to start on the 1st or the 15th of the month?
2) What dates and fare class was your JFK-SAN flight in?
3) And it sounds like your LGA-MIA was after that but before the Cruise? What class was it in?
If you were earning full points for each flight, which is possible on an economy ticket then you, would be at 4640 points for those 3 segments. Were all 3 flights direct flights? or did you have any hops through hubs? If any of these segments were on a full fare economy (Y,B) or First airfare then that would have put you over the edge easily.
So we need more details to determine if you were the benificiary of some black magic, or more likely one of the flights credited for more then you thought, or the agent misrepresented that your outbound JFK-SAN wouldn't count (It's dependent on the flight date in relation to the designated start date; not the date you called to enroll).
1) Did you set your challenge to start on the 1st or the 15th of the month?
2) What dates and fare class was your JFK-SAN flight in?
3) And it sounds like your LGA-MIA was after that but before the Cruise? What class was it in?
If you were earning full points for each flight, which is possible on an economy ticket then you, would be at 4640 points for those 3 segments. Were all 3 flights direct flights? or did you have any hops through hubs? If any of these segments were on a full fare economy (Y,B) or First airfare then that would have put you over the edge easily.
So we need more details to determine if you were the benificiary of some black magic, or more likely one of the flights credited for more then you thought, or the agent misrepresented that your outbound JFK-SAN wouldn't count (It's dependent on the flight date in relation to the designated start date; not the date you called to enroll).
Last edited by MacGuruTX; Apr 9, 2006 at 10:44 am
Apr 9, 2006, 11:03 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 13
Alll good questions. Answers somewhat complicated.
1. I enrolled via email on 3/13 and asked for retro credit for my March 8 JFK-SAN flight. (Ie- set the start date to 3/1). I knew I was asking alot, and the aagent responded via email: "Simply
earn 5,000 points between March 12 and May 31, 2006, and we will upgrade
your membership to AAdvantage Gold status through February 28, 2007."
2. The fare clases were all .5 Q-points. O for JFK-SAN (3/8), N for SAN-JFK (3/12), and Q for all the MIA-LGA segments.
3. Correct on the order of things. LGA-MIA, MIA-BOS-LGA were all in Q. No extra jumps-- I flew exactly as I wrote it out.
4. I had to go check my receipts for the fare classes-- on AA, all these are listed in my activity as Y class. Is that just because they're coach? I certainly did not book any of these in Y, as you can see above.
Thanks for your help!
1. I enrolled via email on 3/13 and asked for retro credit for my March 8 JFK-SAN flight. (Ie- set the start date to 3/1). I knew I was asking alot, and the aagent responded via email: "Simply
earn 5,000 points between March 12 and May 31, 2006, and we will upgrade
your membership to AAdvantage Gold status through February 28, 2007."
2. The fare clases were all .5 Q-points. O for JFK-SAN (3/8), N for SAN-JFK (3/12), and Q for all the MIA-LGA segments.
3. Correct on the order of things. LGA-MIA, MIA-BOS-LGA were all in Q. No extra jumps-- I flew exactly as I wrote it out.
4. I had to go check my receipts for the fare classes-- on AA, all these are listed in my activity as Y class. Is that just because they're coach? I certainly did not book any of these in Y, as you can see above.
Thanks for your help!
Originally Posted by MacGuruTX
Several questions.
1) Did you set your challenge to start on the 1st or the 15th of the month?
2) What dates and fare class was your JFK-SAN flight in?
3) And it sounds like your LGA-MIA was after that but before the Cruise? What class was it in?
If you were earning full points for each flight, which is possible on an economy ticket then you, would be at 4640 points for those 3 segments. Were all 3 flights direct flights? or did you have any hops through hubs? If any of these segments were on a full fare economy (Y,B) or First airfare then that would have put you over the edge easily.
So we need more details to determine if you were the benificiary of some black magic, or more likely one of the flights credited for more then you thought, or the agent misrepresented that your outbound JFK-SAN wouldn't count (It's dependent on the flight date in relation to the designated start date; not the date you called to enroll).
1) Did you set your challenge to start on the 1st or the 15th of the month?
2) What dates and fare class was your JFK-SAN flight in?
3) And it sounds like your LGA-MIA was after that but before the Cruise? What class was it in?
If you were earning full points for each flight, which is possible on an economy ticket then you, would be at 4640 points for those 3 segments. Were all 3 flights direct flights? or did you have any hops through hubs? If any of these segments were on a full fare economy (Y,B) or First airfare then that would have put you over the edge easily.
So we need more details to determine if you were the benificiary of some black magic, or more likely one of the flights credited for more then you thought, or the agent misrepresented that your outbound JFK-SAN wouldn't count (It's dependent on the flight date in relation to the designated start date; not the date you called to enroll).
Apr 9, 2006, 11:33 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: SW Comp Pass, Lft Gold AA, Lft DIA HHONORS, National Exec Elite
Posts: 232
Although the email says the 12th, you can't start a challenge on the 12th as you are probably aware. So in order to include the 12th, the Challenge actually started retroactively on 3/1.
Did you have any flight activity between the 1st and the 7th?
The AA View your miles always shows Y for economy bookings, I assume this is a bug and quite annoying for reconciling points.
So you should have earned; assuming .5 per flight segment
1) JFK-SAN 1223
2) SAN-JFK 1223
3) LGA-MIA 548 (or 549 depending on how they round)
4) MIA-BOS 629
5) BOS-LGA 500
For a grand total of 4123 q points, So....
1) we are either missing 877 points between the 1st-7th
2) Were you rebooked due to any delays? I've seen where an agent will book you into another flight in an open fare class, and you then get points credit for that fare class, versus what you actually paid.
3) an Accident on AA's part, which seems highly unlikey, but not impossible
Did you have any flight activity between the 1st and the 7th?
The AA View your miles always shows Y for economy bookings, I assume this is a bug and quite annoying for reconciling points.
So you should have earned; assuming .5 per flight segment
1) JFK-SAN 1223
2) SAN-JFK 1223
3) LGA-MIA 548 (or 549 depending on how they round)
4) MIA-BOS 629
5) BOS-LGA 500
For a grand total of 4123 q points, So....
1) we are either missing 877 points between the 1st-7th
2) Were you rebooked due to any delays? I've seen where an agent will book you into another flight in an open fare class, and you then get points credit for that fare class, versus what you actually paid.
3) an Accident on AA's part, which seems highly unlikey, but not impossible
Apr 9, 2006, 12:05 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 13
Hey, thanks for running the numbers on that! It does appear I'm closer than I thought, but for a few things:
1. Can you really start a challenge retroactively AND get credit for flights already posted? The AAgent specifically said 3/12, but I guess he could've been mistaken.
2. No other flight or even mileage activity at all between these.
3. Most importantly: For the return trip (MIA-BOS-LGA) I was ALREADY ticketed as GOLD and those Q-pts have not posted to my account yet. In fact, looking at my account, I have received a "AA Economy Class Bonus" of 250 miles for my 4/3 LGA-BOS flight. Does that mean that is the flight that put me over the top? I think not, because again, I was already ticketed as GLD. If it's challenge related, I can't imagine how, as I only have 2995 Q-points. I am almost positive that there was no status on those boarding passes.
It's really tempting to write in, but until I get some more info about what might've happened, I won't. On the other hand, I should receive a regular letter with a GLD card, right? Maybe that will explain how exactly I got this status?
PS- It really is the little things with status. It was extremely nice to board with 1st class, get to my seat, and pull out a magazine for 20 mins while everyone else in coach carried on with the usual sighs, eye rolls and groans-- lately every plane I'm on has had a horrendously long boarding, or maybe my patience for such things is just wearing thin.
1. Can you really start a challenge retroactively AND get credit for flights already posted? The AAgent specifically said 3/12, but I guess he could've been mistaken.
2. No other flight or even mileage activity at all between these.
3. Most importantly: For the return trip (MIA-BOS-LGA) I was ALREADY ticketed as GOLD and those Q-pts have not posted to my account yet. In fact, looking at my account, I have received a "AA Economy Class Bonus" of 250 miles for my 4/3 LGA-BOS flight. Does that mean that is the flight that put me over the top? I think not, because again, I was already ticketed as GLD. If it's challenge related, I can't imagine how, as I only have 2995 Q-points. I am almost positive that there was no status on those boarding passes.
It's really tempting to write in, but until I get some more info about what might've happened, I won't. On the other hand, I should receive a regular letter with a GLD card, right? Maybe that will explain how exactly I got this status?
PS- It really is the little things with status. It was extremely nice to board with 1st class, get to my seat, and pull out a magazine for 20 mins while everyone else in coach carried on with the usual sighs, eye rolls and groans-- lately every plane I'm on has had a horrendously long boarding, or maybe my patience for such things is just wearing thin.
Originally Posted by MacGuruTX
Although the email says the 12th, you can't start a challenge on the 12th as you are probably aware. So in order to include the 12th, the Challenge actually started retroactively on 3/1.
Did you have any flight activity between the 1st and the 7th?
The AA View your miles always shows Y for economy bookings, I assume this is a bug and quite annoying for reconciling points.
So you should have earned; assuming .5 per flight segment
1) JFK-SAN 1223
2) SAN-JFK 1223
3) LGA-MIA 548 (or 549 depending on how they round)
4) MIA-BOS 629
5) BOS-LGA 500
For a grand total of 4123 q points, So....
1) we are either missing 877 points between the 1st-7th
2) Were you rebooked due to any delays? I've seen where an agent will book you into another flight in an open fare class, and you then get points credit for that fare class, versus what you actually paid.
3) an Accident on AA's part, which seems highly unlikey, but not impossible
Did you have any flight activity between the 1st and the 7th?
The AA View your miles always shows Y for economy bookings, I assume this is a bug and quite annoying for reconciling points.
So you should have earned; assuming .5 per flight segment
1) JFK-SAN 1223
2) SAN-JFK 1223
3) LGA-MIA 548 (or 549 depending on how they round)
4) MIA-BOS 629
5) BOS-LGA 500
For a grand total of 4123 q points, So....
1) we are either missing 877 points between the 1st-7th
2) Were you rebooked due to any delays? I've seen where an agent will book you into another flight in an open fare class, and you then get points credit for that fare class, versus what you actually paid.
3) an Accident on AA's part, which seems highly unlikey, but not impossible
Apr 9, 2006, 12:14 pm
#6
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Belfast
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 328
Don't know if this has anything to do with OP's question, but I had noticed that AA has been "very generous" with points this year. All my travel is done with the cheapest fares(Q, O, N, L or S), upgraded free domestically or with e-vips internationally. The one trip that I was booked into W was to Dublin, but even that should be 1:1. Yet somehow I have ~25K miles and 33K points 
Apr 9, 2006, 12:17 pm
#7
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: SEA
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 307
Originally Posted by pavo
looking at my account, I have received a "AA Economy Class Bonus" of 250 miles for my 4/3 LGA-BOS flight. Does that mean that is the flight that put me over the top?
Apr 9, 2006, 12:21 pm
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 13
Got it. That helps explain that, because as I said, I did not have any status on that flight. Also, the 4/3 flight was LGA-MIA, not LGA-BOS. Whoops.
Originally Posted by logicalrealist
I'm as confused as you by the big picture and wish something like this had happened when I enrolled for the Gold challenge :-), but I can help you out with this -- that looks like the online booking bonus (the 500 mile total shows up as 250 for each direction).
Apr 9, 2006, 12:21 pm
#9
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Canada
Programs: AA EXP-2MM, AC
Posts: 314
Assuming that all of the flights you have mentioned have been posted, and there have been no others, how many qualifying points does it show on View My Miles today? You mention 2995, but it was not clear it it was your tally or theirs.
Although qualifying miles does not count for the challenge, knowing what it shows may also help understand how they have tallied your flights.
Although qualifying miles does not count for the challenge, knowing what it shows may also help understand how they have tallied your flights.
Apr 9, 2006, 12:51 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 13
Well, the flights from 4/8 (yesterday) have NOT posted. Again, remember, I already had GLD on those two segments. Today I have 2995 YTD EQP, 5989 YTD EQM. Their tally.
I'm starting to think there was indeed something else going on that got me GLD status. But I have NO indication of what it could possibly be.
I'm starting to think there was indeed something else going on that got me GLD status. But I have NO indication of what it could possibly be.
Originally Posted by yul2005
Assuming that all of the flights you have mentioned have been posted, and there have been no others, how many qualifying points does it show on View My Miles today? You mention 2995, but it was not clear it it was your tally or theirs.
Although qualifying miles does not count for the challenge, knowing what it shows may also help understand how they have tallied your flights.
Although qualifying miles does not count for the challenge, knowing what it shows may also help understand how they have tallied your flights.
Apr 9, 2006, 1:05 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Canada
Programs: AA EXP-2MM, AC
Posts: 314
So it is clearly not a case of AA being generous with points.
It will be interesting to see which flights get credit for the 25% Gold bonus (for a normal challenge, it should include the flight that takes you over the target).
Keep us informed...
It will be interesting to see which flights get credit for the 25% Gold bonus (for a normal challenge, it should include the flight that takes you over the target).
Keep us informed...
Apr 9, 2006, 1:13 pm
#12
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: SW Comp Pass, Lft Gold AA, Lft DIA HHONORS, National Exec Elite
Posts: 232
The 250 bonus is just for booking flights. This used to be the 500 mile online. But now they do it a little different.
I'm not sure I agree (not that I have any authority ) with the premise that the flight can't have posted yet. If I was writing the computer code, then It would just be take the Start Date (which can only be 1 or 15), then add up the qpoints from that date, everytime a flight posts until the sum = 5000.
But of course it could have been done several other ways; and not like its easy for us to expirement with it.
I would also be curious what your Feb Statement showed for Points. What your March Statement showed for points, and what your Current earnings shows. So far I've been able to figure out how my points were actually earned by using our AA spreadsheet and looking for the difference and then finding the flight or occasionally flights that add up to that difference if I change the fare class from .5 to 1.
I'm not sure I agree (not that I have any authority
) with the premise that the flight can't have posted yet. If I was writing the computer code, then It would just be take the Start Date (which can only be 1 or 15), then add up the qpoints from that date, everytime a flight posts until the sum = 5000. But of course it could have been done several other ways; and not like its easy for us to expirement with it.
I would also be curious what your Feb Statement showed for Points. What your March Statement showed for points, and what your Current earnings shows. So far I've been able to figure out how my points were actually earned by using our AA spreadsheet and looking for the difference and then finding the flight or occasionally flights that add up to that difference if I change the fare class from .5 to 1.
Apr 9, 2006, 1:14 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Las Vegas
Programs: SW Comp Pass, Lft Gold AA, Lft DIA HHONORS, National Exec Elite
Posts: 232
Originally Posted by yul2005
It will be interesting to see which flights get credit for the 25% Gold bonus (for a normal challenge, it should include the flight that takes you over the target).
Apr 9, 2006, 1:16 pm
#14
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Would be curious to see if anyone else reports same. There's always a small chance (very, very small and highly speculative on my part) that they made some kind of change to the way they do things concomitant with the other recent change to the challenge system. I guess though we'll see a whole lot less "just signed up for challenge" posts now since it will, in all likelihood need to be someone new here.
Apr 9, 2006, 1:34 pm
#15
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Welcome, and it appears, congratulations! Here's (for all that's worth! 
) my theory:
We have had reports recently of a few new FTers being granted Gold and signed up for a Platinum challenge when they called. It may be it was easier for the AAgent to snap a courtesy Gold your way than retro your flights in, and zap! there you are.
Check the miles and points postings after it all comes together as yul2005 suggests- and your current status on aa.com. If the 25% Gold bonus miles posted for ALL flights since the call, that's what happened. Others, you still get some useful clues...
But... such a GOOD thing. WHY call AA and possibly run into someone who could reverse it? Enjoy! As yul2005 says, please keep us up to date with the latest information about this small mystery.
) my theory:We have had reports recently of a few new FTers being granted Gold and signed up for a Platinum challenge when they called. It may be it was easier for the AAgent to snap a courtesy Gold your way than retro your flights in, and zap! there you are.
Check the miles and points postings after it all comes together as yul2005 suggests- and your current status on aa.com. If the 25% Gold bonus miles posted for ALL flights since the call, that's what happened. Others, you still get some useful clues...
But... such a GOOD thing. WHY call AA and possibly run into someone who could reverse it? Enjoy! As yul2005 says, please keep us up to date with the latest information about this small mystery.
Originally Posted by pavo
(pavo the remix, that is) Wassup with this?