I begin each year with a fairly straightforward goal. Every year my goal is to earn AAdvantage Executive Platinum Elite Status from American Airlines. The goal sounds simple enough, but it’s a bit harder than it sounds. Additionally, American recently made it a bit harder by increasing the Elite Qualifying Dollar requirement. So, to complete my goal for 2019 I have to earn $15,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) and either 100,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) or 120 Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS).
To reach those thresholds I’ll need to spend just over 100 hours in the air each year which doesn’t even begin to factor in layovers. In addition to the time requirement, I also have to spend a fairly significant amount of money to accomplish this goal.
If American had their way I would spend $15,000 or more to reach $15,000 EQD. However, I try to accomplish this by spending far less. In fact, my goal for 2019 is to spend less than $7,500. In other words, my goal is to earn $2 EQD per $1 I spend on airfare.
Because of my goal to qualify for elite status on a budget I have to be fairly selective in the flights that I book. I can’t book flights that yield low EQD, but I also can’t book flights that yield low EQM either. Essentially what I’m left with are 10+ hour flights in Premium Economy (or higher) for less than $1,000!
I’ve Accidentally Booked All Of The Flights I Need For 2019!
Well, as you can guess by the title of this post, I’ve managed to book a lot of flights already this year which meet the above qualifications. In fact, I had such luck finding these flights in 2019 that I have booked enough travel to qualify for Executive Platinum again this year.
It was never my goal to book this much travel this early in the year, but there were a few deals that have come out that were simply too good to pass up. As you might already know, the main reason I’ve book so many flights is thanks to a recent mistake fare from Cathay Pacific. More on that in a second. Instead, I’ll go way back to Black Friday when this whole situation began.
Cathay Pacific Premium Economy
This “problem” all began on Black Friday 2018. Cathay Pacific published some incredible Premium Economy Black Friday deals from San Fransisco to Hong Kong and beyond. Last year I booked one of these Black Friday deals for about $1,200. This year, the flights from SFO to HKG were going for just under $900! Naturally, because of the enticing fares I booked two of these trips to start my qualifying year. I figured I would use these two trips as a way to get a head start on my qualifying year.
The first trip I booked was a weekend milage run from San Francisco to Hong Kong over a long weekend. I booked this trip to get a great head start on my EQM and EQD for the year, but also because it gave me the opportunity to review both the A350-1000 and the A350-900 over the same weekend. This first trip only cost me $872 yet I will earn about $2,700 EQD and 21,000 EQM. This equates to a little less than a quarter of my annual qualifying activity.
The second trip I booked, using the same Black Friday sale, was another trip on Cathay Pacific in Premium Economy. For the second trip I booked a week-long trip to Hong Kong over the week of my Birthday with my girlfriend. The second trip is a comfortable mix of a vacation and a milage run all in one. I’ll again earn the same number of EQD and EQM from the first trip, however this time we will be flying exclusively on the 777 (as scheduled today).
From these two trips I will earn about $5,400 EQD and 42,000 EQM which isn’t bad for just $1,700 of spend.
Cathay Pacific First / Business Class
A few weeks after Black Friday Cathay Pacific published a rather unexpected (for them) New Years Eve sale. The New Years Eve “sale” offered First Class round trips from Vietnam back to the United States for about $1,400! Likewise, there were Business Class fares from Vietnam to the US for just $680!
When I noticed these incredible deals I jumped on both and booked one First Class trip and one Business Class trip. In total I spent $2,150 on airfare which is a lot, but it doesn’t come close to the EQD and EQM I’ll earn from these trips.
From the First Class fare I’ll earn a whopping $4,830 EQD and 25,000 EQM! In Business I’ll accrue slightly fewer EQD (just $4,026), but again will earn 25,000 EQM.
I’m particularly excited about this trip because it gives me the chance to finally try out Cathay Pacific’s incredible Business and First Class cabins. I can’t wait to finally review both of these incredible products and am excited I get to do so at a fraction of the normal price.
Total EQD And EQD Booked So Far And Cost
If you’re following along, from all of these Cathay Pacific flights I’ll earn about $14,000 EQD and approximately 80,000 EQM. I’m not including the regional Vietnam flights or my positioning flights into this yet, so once I add all of those flights in I will be over $15,000 EQD and 100,000 EQM! In other words, I’ve already booked my entire year of mileage accrual travel to qualify for Executive Platinum.
To do all of this my out-of-pocket cost for the year is just $4,750! That means for 2018 I will earn about $3 EQP per $1 of spend. That’s an incredible rate for which to earn EQD and I’m happy to have jumped on so many incredible fares so early in the year.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I’m thrilled that I already have my entire year of travel planned out. Last year I constantly felt behind with regards to elite qualifying so it’s a nice feeling to have all of that worry out-of-the-way. However, I’m not exactly thrilled by the way all of this played out.
If you paid attention you may notice that nearly ALL of my elite qualification this year will be on Cathay Pacific flights. While I love Cathay I’m not thrilled about the lack of variety this year. I would have rather flown several OneWorld carriers like I did last year.
The other issue that this creates is that I don’t have any “incentive” to book anything else. This is a bit sad because so far in 2019 we’ve seen a ton a great fares in business class on Qatar Airways! Looking back, I wish I would have only booked one of the Premium Economy trips. Instead, I would have preferred to spend a bit more and fly Qatar Airways to Asia in business instead of Cathay, again, in premium economy.
