AAdvantage Gold and Platinum Challenges

Ah, the Challenge.  Perhaps the most fascinating undocumented feature of AAdvantage.  In a nutshell, it's the "back door to elite status".  Basically, you sign up for the Gold or Platinum Challenge under the premise that you can demonstrate a quantity of qualifying flight activity within a limited time period that justifies your request for fast-tracked elite status.

Ok, so that sounded really complicated, but I was speaking in very general terms.  It's really quite simple.  Before you read on, you might also want to read more about Gold and Platinum status.

There are several reasons for going for the challenge.  For example, consider a person whose (new?) job requires a lot of travel and this person will be flying AA a lot (for whatever reason--company policy, perhaps).  The AA challenges offer a fast track to elite status for that first year of flying.  Building up status from scratch isn't easy and so the challenges help the cause along.  Going for a Challenge may also be less troublesome than trying to get comp status.

Basically, the Challenge is your fast track to Gold or Platinum status with AAdvantage.  Once you get there, you'll have to requalify like everyone else.

• Eligibility, Part I - You can take the Gold Challenge only if you have no elite status with AAdv (i.e. not GLD, PLT, or EXP).  You can take the Plat Challenge only if you are not PLT or EXP.  In other words, you can't use the Challenges to re-qualify for elite status.  Contrary to what you may be told, you can go directly from no status to Plat Challenge; you don't have to do the Gold Challenge first.
• Eligibility, Part II - According to my latest info, you can do the challenges more than once though remember such rules are subject to change.
• Start date - You can choose to start your Challenge on the 1st or 16th date of any month.  The start date you choose determines how long your elite status will last.  Challenges started in the first half of the calendar year (01Jan - 01Jun) will give you elite status to the end of the current membership year only.  Challenges started in the latter half of the calendar year (16Jun - 16Dec) will earn you elite status for the remainder of the current membership year as well as for the following membership year.

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• Period - You have 90 days to complete the Challenge. (That's what I was told.)  I've heard some people being told that they have "3 months".
• The Challenge - You need to accrue 5,000 Q-points for the Gold Challenge or 10,000 Q-points for the Platinum Challenge.  This is the same qualifying points system used to determine elite status:
  • 0.50 points/mile flown for paid discount economy
  • 1.00 point/mile flown for paid full fare economy (Y)
  • 1.25 points/mile flown for paid business class
  • 1.50 points/mile flown for paid first class
  Remember, the key word is "paid".  Upgraded travel earns you points only based on originally paid fare.  Award travel of course earns you no Q-points.  Flights will earn a minimum of 500 Q-points, even in discount coach.  There is a more extensive discussion of the Q-points system on the elite status qualification page.
• Got points? - The Challenges are based on Q-points only.  There's no Q-miles based Challenge (discontinued mid-2000) and no segments-based challenge either.
• AA flights or AAny flights? - Flights on any carrier on fares on which you are eligible to earn miles which count towards elite status will earn you Q-points for your Challenge.  Qualification (or requalification) for elite status normally requires a minimum of four AA-operated segments in the qualifying year.  Challenges are not subject to this "mininum 4 AA segment" rule.
• Completion date - Earn the required number of Q-points within the alloted time period and you hit the jackpot.  Completion date has no bearing on the "expiry date" of your newfound elite status.
• The final flight - The flight which completes your challenge is given a bit of "special status".  It gives you elite status bonus miles (25% bonus if this is a Gold Challenge, 100% if you just finished Plat Challenge).  This flight also counts as Q-miles towards upgrades.
• Elite status benefits - Your status is upgraded immediately upon the challenge completing flight posting to your AAdvantage account.  You can begin using the new benefits (e.g. Platinum Hot Line) immediately.  Your elite status kit will come in the mail in a few weeks' time.
• Sign me up! - Call AAdvantage 1-800-882-8880 and ask for Customer Service.  Ask the customer service rep to sign you up for the Gold/Plat Challenge.  He/She should briefly explain the terms of the Challenge to you.  Please read the tips in the next section before jumping in.

• Read carefully! - Learn about AAdvantage, elite status, and the challenges.  Knowledge is power.  (Because the Gold and Platinum challenges are "undocumented" features of AAdvantage, they can change the rules in any way, at any time.
• Plan ahead - Make sure your flight activity in the three month period you choose for your challenge will lead to success.  Make sure those flights you need credited will indeed be eligible to earn Q-points.  All flights which earn you miles which count toward elite status are good.
• Make sure your flights post correctly - Ensure the flight activity is properly credited to your AAdvantage account.  It's best to get your AA FF number into the computer before your flights, so that they post correctly and you can avoid any potential problems with requesting retroactive credit, sending boarding passes in, etc.  Check specifically the "YTD Elite Qualifying Points" on your statement (on-line is most up-to-date).  There is no breakdown of how those points were earned (i.e. how did they get that total?), so make sure you can account for every flight.
• Double challenge, Part I - I've heard that you can enrol in both the Gold and Platinum Challenges at once.  I'm not quite sure of how this works though.
• Double challenge, Part II - You can enrol in the Plat Challenge right after you complete the Gold Challenge.  This might be a good idea if you know your flight activity in future calendar years will put you in good position to requalify for Plat (or even EXP).  If you start flying a lot in the first half of the year, do the Gold Challenge first.  This will get you Gold status for the remainder of the current membership year (until end of the following February).  Then start the Plat Challenge in the second half of the year.  You can then get Platinum status good for another year beyond that (until end of the next membership year, i.e. the end of February after next).  You now have all of next calendar year to requalify for Plat in the normal way.
• Ready to sign up? - Be sure you're ready for the phone call.  Know your facts.  It seems that different customer service reps will tell you different things.  Ask questions if you have any.  But what if the answer you receive contradicts what you've learned about the Challenges?  Better find out quick what is going on.  Have the rules changed?  Or is it that the phone rep doesn't know his/her facts?  You may have to play the call center merry-go-round game.  You know, the one where you keep calling back until you get a satisfactory answer.  I'm not saying they will break rules for you, but if the service rep says for example that you can't sign up for Plat Challenge without being Gold first (wrong! I did this), just call again.
• You will never receive any written confirmation that you are enrolled in the challenge.

A small request... - Please keep us updated by posting any new info (especially concerning changes in the challenge rules) on FlyerTalk or send me an e-mail!

Signing up - Call 1-800-882-8880 for AAdvantage and ask for customer service.  Tell the agent you would like to sign up for the Gold/Plat Challenge and specify the start date.  Ask the agent to spellout the conditions of the challenge to you.  Note carefully if there is anything different than what you've learned here!!!  Good luck!