Site Search
Social

Advertisement

Amazing Deal: American Airlines Double Elite Qualifying Miles Promo Nov 1- Dec 31!

by on November 2, 2012 · 32 comments

in Amazing Deal Alerts, American, Elite Status

Color me shocked, but American Airlines just announced a double elite qualifying mile promotion for travel November 1, 2012 thru December 31, 2012. Additionally, you receive double AAdvantage (regular) miles for travel between November 16 and 26, 2012. To register for the promotion, click here, login and enter promo code AATHX. I have to say, this is a certainly a very nice way to say “sorry” for their recent operational woes. 
The rules are similar to when they a similar promotion last December/January (that allowed me to reach Executive Platinum by February of this year).

  • Valid for all purchased tickets (read: not award tickets) on American Airlines, American Eagle and the American Connection® carrier marketed and operated flights from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012. Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion.
  • Tavel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.
  • Offer is good on all segments flown- including one-way, round-trip, circle trip or trips including open jaws.
  • Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required and all travel in the promo period will be credited retroactively.
  • Bonus elite qualifying miles or points will count towards your 2013 membership year.
  • This offer does not increment the member’s prize eligible mileage balance or Million Miler status.
  • Double elite-qualifying miles and points will be calculated at 100% of the base miles or points earned, respectively.
  • The initial posting of double elite qualifying miles and points will be posted to the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 3-4 weeks after qualifying activity posts to your account. Thereafter, the postings will occur weekly. However, even if the elite qualifying miles post in 2013, it will still count towards 2012 qualification- so only worry about when you flight takes place. Any flight that departs December 31 will count towards 2012 qualification.
  • Promotion does not apply to travel on mileage award tickets or fares that are ineligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual.
  • The elite tier you qualify for in 2012 will give you status until February 2014. 25,000 elite qualifying miles = Gold, 50,000 = Platinum, 100,000 = Executive Platinum

The same basic rules apply for the double miles promotion for November 16-26- except those miles are regular miles that can be redeemed for award travel- you still get the double EQMs and the double miles, so its a huge earning opportunity for those traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday- you may want to reconsider booking the reasonable business class fares to Europe if they’re still available for your market. You can then also register for American’s bonus for premium flights to Europe until January 31, 2013 as well as the triple BusinessExtrAA points for premium flights to Europe.

This is a huge opportunity to achieve an elite level that you’ve never historically been able to hit. Personally, I think AA Gold and Platinum are lackluster, but Executive Platinum is pretty amazing. If this promo puts you anywhere within striking distance 100,000 Elite Qualifying Miles needed for Executive Platinum, I say go for it! The biggest perk is that you’ll get 8 EVIP systemwide upgrades that will be valid until February 2014. The beauty of these systemwide upgrades is that you can buy the cheapest coach fare and upgrade to business class- even on international flights. These are much more lucrative than Delta’s systemwides which require super-expensive Y,B,M fares or United’s that require W or higher (and of which you only get 6).

I just looked up fares for JFK-London over Thanksgiving and sadly I’m no longer seeing the $1,700 all-in business class roundtrips, so I’m not sure if I’ll really be maximizing this promotion unless something better comes along or another carrier matches. Airlines are known to be copy-cats, so I hope others hop into the fray- I could really use some double Delta Medallion Qualifying miles so I can maximize my rollover for 2013!

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author.s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

Previous post:

Next post:

  • Lance

    Damn… Already qualified for EXP Months ago… Now they probably will not do double eqm’s next year :( And this means more EXP’s next year fighting for upgrades ;)

  • Greg

    I already have flights booked (on Alaska Air because of all of AA’s troubles lately, I wanted to make sure that my flights actually went as planned) So I am not too excited personally, but to any of your readers who are not Executive Platinum, this is a big deal. I agree AA gold and platinum are pretty OK, but it is Executive Platinum where all the love goes to. Only problem I see with Executive Platinum these days is a huge reduction in their advanced system wide availability. Most routes I see have ZERO advance upgrade space US-Europe or US-South America for example in the the new year. This is the trend of the Executive Platinum program over the past year, is more and more members are waiting until just before departure to upgrade with the upgrade certificates.

    I agree the biggest difference is Executive Platinum, but the great benefits are getting harder and harder to use, and I predict 2013-2014 my 70% upgrade percent will drop to much less or there will be copay/fees fare restrictions involved. But I do agree that if it can be achieved with 50K or less of flights the next two months, it is a good promo for those that can use it.

  • James Yoder

    Awesome! I’m flying to China tomorrow, this will get me to Gold from nothing. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507547 Akbar Bhaidani

    As a clarification, the promotion just offers double MQM miles, but you don’t actually get double miles to use towards award redemption? Double miles are only awarded during Thanksgiving travel. Is that correct? Thanks!

  • thepointsguy

    Correct- only double award miles nov 16-26

  • @wanderingshane

    I disagree that Platinum is lackluster. When you compare it to other mid tier levels like UA Gold, it blows it out of the water with the 100% bonus miles. One might say “well, you don’t get free UDU” but as elites on UA know, it’s tough to get them unless you are 1K. On AA, I’m 18-18 using e500′s which is better than when I flew as a Plat on UA this year.

  • pb101

    Hi TPG, Could you use these bonus miles as part of a status challenge (e.g. fly only 5,000 miles to earn 10,000 points and get platinum)?

  • Ryan

    good question…I am in the same boat. I need 25K miles before 12/31 to complete my EXP challenge, so far I’m at about 12K.

  • janakj

    According to http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/elite-double-miles-thank-you.jsp – if you’re already an elite member, you get double “flight” miles over the entire window? I’m not sure why that page differs so much from what thepointsguy posted.

  • John777

    AA Elites get the double redeemable miles from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012.

  • Adamh103

    wondering the same thing. i’m ready to make the call if this counts towards a challenge

  • http://twitter.com/allanak Allan Klein

    Now if only Delta would do this, maybe I’d have my shot at diamond for 2013. PAY ATTENTION ATLANTA! :)

  • Pingback: Double Redeemable/Elite Miles on AA | Traveling To…

  • http://traveling.to/ Chris

    AA’s challenges are based on Elite Qualifying *Points*, not Miles. Double EQM promotions do not affect the earning rate of EQP, so it won’t speed up your completion of the challenge. (Although you might wind up being able to qualify on EQM directly, without the challenge, depending on just how much you’re flying.)

  • dale m

    Any chance this will risk the previous promo (AAEUR, which I am registered for), which is a 15K miles bump for some flights during the the same period to Europe (i.e., stackable) ??

  • TT

    Ok i’m a little confused because the double eqm offer I initially saw linked on flyertalk was targeted to elites only. This is open to all advantage members and not just existing elites correct?

  • Al

    So if I fly between Nov.16-Nov.26 as a Plat, will I receive triple miles or quadruple miles? Ordinarily I receive double miles.

  • NWA330

    I believe if you are already Gold, Platinum or Executive Platinum you get double miles for redemption for the entire promotion period. If you are a general member then you are correct there is only a limited time during the promotion where you would get double miles.

  • Schmenge

    Too little, too late. They should have done this for their loyal elites while we had to endure this mess over the last two months. In the past, they’ve realized their mess ups and automatically just awarded bonus miles for our troubles.

  • Pingback: American Airlines Offering Double Elite Qualifying Miles Now till Dec 31! Must register first!

  • Adamh103

    the email comm that i received explicitly states “double elite qualifying miles and points”

  • http://traveling.to/ Chris

    I hadn’t seen the DEQP part of the promotion quite yet. Normally though, these promotions haven’t stacked (although I don’t have any choice quotes from the T&C to say otherwise at the moment).

  • Adamh103

    yeah it’s weird, there’s a lot of ambiguity with this. the email says “double miles and points,” the T’s & C’s don’t explicitly exclude challenges, and there’s a lot of confusion on the math.

  • Pingback: Sunday Reader Question: Worth Doing a Mileage Run? | The Points Guy

  • Anonymous

    I have a BOS to LAX flight booked for Nov 26. However, I booked it before Nov 1. I just registered for the promotion discussed in this article, and it looks like from what you said above that my flight will still qualify for the promotion, but I wanted to confirm this. Please let me know. Thanks.

  • sn123

    Did anyone find out whether these points could count towards a challenge?

  • Pingback: American Airlines Double Elite Qualifying Miles Promo – Strategy Update | The Points Guy

  • http://twitter.com/robbyshields Robby Shields

    Yup. Just shared this article with 100 people at my company who fly American! They will love you.

  • Pingback: Double Elite Qualifying Miles on Frontier in December | The Points Guy

  • Nicholas

    Has anyone noticed that, under this promotion, double miles are posting but the elite qualifying miles are not doubled? (Perhaps this is something that will get calculated now, after the end of 2012…)

  • Pingback: Saturday Recap: Bonus AAdvantage Miles with Avis, W Hotels Store Discount, United Upgrade Enhancements, American Airlines Flight Discount | The Points Guy

  • Pingback: Sunday Reader Question: Credit Oneworld Miles With American or British Airways? | The Points Guy