American Airlines has again offered me a generous status match via Word of Hyatt and I am quite tempted to take advantage of the “Instant Status Pass” program. Yet I do not see how I can possibly earn enough points within four months to keep it.
American Airlines “Instant Status Pass” Via Hyatt: I’m Offered Platinum Pro Status
The following email arrived yesterday:
I enjoyed two years of “complimentary” Executive Platinum status with American Airlines thanks to World of Hyatt in 2019. I lost it this year (dropping to Gold) and I blame Hong Kong for it…had such strict pandemic restrictions not been in place, I would have taken a booked flight last autumn and re-qualified for status another year.
Here again, I am very tempted. Four months of Platinum Pro status would mean four months of oneworld emerald status. I could use this time to squeeze in a trip to Australia, which would allow me to sample all those glorious Qantas lounges. I could also hit the Finnair Platinum Wing in Helsinki once again.
Realistically, though, I’m not going to be spending thousands of dollars on tickets nor am I currently a Citi bank customer, so earning the 40,000 Loyalty Points would be difficult (absent another charity opportunity of a lifetime…).
I may naturally gravitate toward United Airlines because of my long-term affinity for the company, MillionMiler status, and because of its hub in Los Angeles and international-focused worldwide route map, but I find oneworld emerald status to be the single most valuable alliance-level loyalty status because it allows access to first class lounges and oneworld carriers like British Airways, Cathay Pacific, JAL, Qantas, and American Airlines (for now anyway…) still offer a first class lounge product.
So yes, I’d say four months is better than none and as far as using my “one and only” status match, I will note that I did not request this and that my last status match on AA was only three years ago.
CONCLUSION
I’m tempted by my invitation from Hyatt to AA’s “Instant Status Pass” program, but wanted to run it by you first, dear readers. Is there any way I can leverage my Premier 1K status with Untied to get Executive Platinum instead? Is there any downside to not accepting a higher status with AA for four months?
image: American Airlines
I also got this email but didn’t want to squander the opportunity for a status match since I assumed it was once in a lifetime. Right now I’m just traveling for leisure, so the status match would just be for fun, but I figured I’d use a status match in the future if I travel for work. Do you know if accepting the AA status challenge through Hyatt would prevent me from getting such opportunities in the future when I need them more than I need them now?
I don’t…but remember I matched from Hyatt in 2019 (Exec Plat) so I figure it cannot be “once in a lifetime”…
Current terms on their status match exclude you from participating if you’ve done a match in the past 24 months. So as long as you’re comfortable not being eligible for 2 years, you shouldn’t worry. I have the offer as well but am not taking it. I have Emerald through Finnair and want to be able to match when that runs out.
I feel like the better status match challenge is with Alaska where you can use 1k to match to MVP 75k.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/membership-benefits/status-match
This gets you the same treatment on American flights as Platinum Pro and also comes with OW Emerald. Plus 20k miles of flying in 3 months isn’t that hard if planning a trip to Australia or elsewhere on a OW carrier
I fully intend to do the Alaska match at the opportune time, and will write about it soon.
That’s another reason why I’m not so concerned that if I do the status match again, I won’t be able to do another one for a few years.
Do OW partner miles count towards the 20k needed to maintain status? Unless I’m missing something, the Alaska match website is pretty clear that only miles flown on Alaska count towards the 20k.
Honestly with RocketMiles, if you were willing to forgo hotel points (i.e. planned stay at a non chain hotel, four seasons)? I’ve seen folks rack up 30k LP in one trip. There are also prepaid stays in Vegas where you don’t even have to show up. I think 40k points is pretty attainable.
Also if you aren’t planning to fly American over United really, then Platinum Pro gets you one world emerald and is probably all you need
Would you be able to use LAX Qantas Lounge?
Only on int’l itineraries (unlike emerald status with any other oneworld FFP)
I haven’t received it yet, and I wonder if it is because years and years ago I did a status challenge with AA. Being based in Boston and now being in a job with a lot less travel I’m not going to qualify for any airline status; however, like you I’d like to use Platinum Pro for four months and max out the benefit!
Having Platinum Pro, do you need to do anything special to sign up for Oneworld Emerald? I can’t figure out how to show this on British Airways.
It should show up automatically when you put in your AA number.
Why not take it? There is no downside at all. My wife did this same thing the other day. It was almost instant. Took 2 days once I accepted to show up in her account.
I’d say the only downside might be if I am shut out of future status matches. But I actually think the risk is small.
Just make sure if you do not to visit the Qantas LAX lounge in the morning only, the squid doesn’t show up until the afternoon! (12:30 pm precisely)
But a flat white at all times of day is worth stopping for! 😉
Not that I care for AA status as I won’t use it at all but I am now on my second year in a row as Hyatt Globalist and got nothing. I have AA Lifetime Gold from the old days I used to fly them.
Even if you have no plans to fly with a given airline, status with a major alliance can come in handy. For example, I wouldn’t have flown with Iberia this summer if I didn’t have the OWS perks that came with the Finnair miles I bought last year, so I would have ended up paying more to fly *A at less convenient times (a connection was required for either option, and I wasn’t keen on doing it without lounge access).
You had to have linked your AA and Hyatt numbers.
If you’re flying mostly internationally, and don’t have a need for domestic upgrades, I don’t really see a difference between Platinum Pro and EXP. If you do a bit of domestic flying, just try to route through AUS instead of DFW, and you’ll clear your upgrades as a Plat Pro.
FYI – thanks for updates. You may want to check your spell check as it wasn’t helping you out in this posting.
Thanks Amy. You’re right – there were several errors that I have (hopefully) corrected.
This isn’t a status match – it is a loyalty promotion in conjunction with a partner. I don’t see why it would have any impact at all on regular way status matches.
I was offered Platinum, and accepted.
Very tempting to take, but wouldn’t that be taking spend away from United that could be going to re-qualifying for 1K next year?
Also, it seems like what you value here is really the one world status, not necessarily AA. That doesn’t seem like enough to justify taking spend away from United. IMO, and yes I am a biased United fan, getting 1K again and a fresh allotment of PlusPoints is more valuable than the one world status.
United’s route network, specifically international, blows American’s out of the water, American is basically just trying to get you to a partner hub and then rely on them for international connections at this point, they’ve basically surrendered long haul flying to United in many ways.
Also, I know you mentioned wanting to go to Australia above, I don’t know if you’ve been looking at the LAX-MEL and LAX-SYD flights, but for the past month I’ve been watching closely and most everyone is getting their upgrades cleared, so definitely take a look at those if you’re heading to Australia!
Happy holidays Matthew!
Not sure where you are with credit cards, but I have the AA credit card, and with their new loyalty point scheme, it’s nearly impossible NOT to get EP with a little travel and everyday spending. Lounge access is a nice perk also.
I’m not a Citi customer right now. Hopefully in the future…
Does spend on the AA Aviator (Barclays) card quality?
AA hotel bookings can come with some really great base miles. The room will cost more than some of the other options for booking it, but you can pretty regularly get up to 5,000 base miles by the time you check out. This could be a very viable path to keeping your platinum Pro status with only about 8 somewhat expensive hotel stays. If you use the airline miles well, it won’t necessarily end up being so very expensive.
Isn’t playing LP game fun? :p
I signed up for this promotion and don’t see any negative effect. I wonder if this promotional status can be used to get a high-tier status match/challenge from another airline.
My accounts are linked year or more ago. Logging into Hyatt says I am eligible for a status match and enroll by 12/28 and gives a link to AA promotions page. But I do not have this status match promotion.
I called AA, the agent even got a supervisor and they say only option they have is for me to pay $150 of 15K AA miles to enroll this challenge.
Is there a generic link or any other suggestions?
No, the email takes you to your AA account, where you login and it shows up under my promos. Odd that it does not show for you. Maybe ask your Hyatt Globalist concierge?