Questions and Answers

I’ve got a few flights coming up this summer on American.

On August 15, flying from KOA-LAX.

At end of august, flying LAX-CLT-BDL-LAX

And I have another tentative trip scheduled for around 20th of October. Probably LAX-BDL-LAX

I figure that KOA-LAX is about 2500 miles. The LAX-CLT-BDL-LAX is about 5200 miles, and if the end of october ends up being a direct flight both ways, it’s about 5000 miles.

That seems to put me in the range of the 12500 miles required for a platinum status challenge, and well over the necessary miles for a gold challenge (7000).

As far as the EQDs, I’m not sure. KOA-LAX was about $340. The end-of august trip was about $440. I assume the october trip will also be around 440. That’s over the $1000 EQD requirement for gold, but about $800 short for platinum.

And as someone who just got his first airline status (silver with United, thanks to a match from Marriott Platinum), I’m not sure how to value Gold or Platinum on American. I fly about 5-7 times per year, and it seems like it would be worth it for upgrades to MCE, but I don’t know how hard it is to get those.

So it seems like it might be worth going or Gold, but not worth upping the spend to try to reach platinum, right? Are there any games to play to increase the EQD?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks-

Hi Terramar –

I think Gold is worthwhile, assuming you travel enough to get the benefits. I was Gold for a few years before moving up the ranks, and flew probably 1-2 per month during that time. If you are Gold, you can select MCE seats for free within 24 hours of your flight, and get 50% off just paying outright at booking. I don’t think I ever missed an opportunity to get MCE within 24 hours. With that said, you might end up in a middle seat with extra legroom, but it’s still extra legroom!

As far as Platinum goes, I don’t think it’s worth the extra $800. At that price, if you only travel 5 times per year, you’d save more money by just outright buying MCE seats.