Enroll in a Free AAdvantage Platinum Challenge with FoundersCard

Last year, the membership-based FoundersCard launched a new, exclusive way for cardholders to get status with American Airlines. And this year, cardholders are also eligible for a status challenge to the AAdvantage Platinum level. To complete the challenge, members will need to earn 12,500 elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) during a three-month trial period beginning in August. Those who meet the requirements will retain Platinum status through January 31, 2018.

Here are the complete details:

• Enroll in the status challenge by 11:59pm CT (12:59am ET) on July 31, 2016
• You'll get AAdvantage Platinum status from August 22-November 22, 2016
• To keep the Platinum status through January 31, 2018, you must be enrolled in American's Business Extra Program and earn 12,500 EQMs during the three-month challenge period.

If you complete the challenge, you'll have about 17 months with Platinum status and its benefits. From there, you can decide if you want to requalify for the status the old-fashioned way.

This is a great opportunity for you to get status. However, keep in mind that you must be a FoundersCard member to enroll. This promotion compares favorably to other, public status challenges with American. You can currently enroll in a public AA Platinum status challenge with the same EQM-earning requirements, except it'll set you back $240. The benefit of this FoundersCard challenge is that there's no fee to sign up if you're already a member.

In conjunction with the status challenge offer, FoundersCard is offering TPG readers a discounted $395 annual membership fee and waiving the $95 membership initiation fee — use code FCPOINTSVIP at signup. Given the limited time to enroll in the status challenge (until July 31), and considering that TPG values AAdvantage Platinum status at $2,840, the membership cost is well worth it.

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Unfortunately, if you already have Platinum or Executive Platinum status with AA through February 28, 2017 or later, you're not eligible for this challenge. In addition, if you participated in a Platinum status challenge with FoundersCard in the past 12 months, you're not eligible to sign up again. Finally, if you choose to enroll in this challenge, you won't be able to enroll in another challenge through FoundersCard until after November 8, 2017.

Bottom Line

Although American just detailed the future of its AAdvantage program, including plans to move to a revenue-based earning system, there's still reason to sign up for this FoundersCard status challenge if you're at all interested in gaining AAdvantage Platinum status. If you're able to successfully complete the challenge, you should get more than enough value out of your status to offset the cost of membership, and that's without taking into consideration all of the other FoundersCard benefits.