Hi All,

I don't travel for work but I do carry an AA credit card and travel moderately. I am less than 1100 points from Gold status but it ends at the end of the month. With the presidents day holiday I have the ability to take one more trip this weekend to meet it but I am a bit confused on exactly how to figure out what I need to purchase to get there. Is it 5$ per dollar just flat? So as long as I booked a trip that was at least $225.00 would that be sufficient to get me there? I just got back from NYC from this weekend so trying to find something quick simply to make status. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Live in DFW.

If you're counting on the AA Credit Card dollars spent going toward status...when do those usually hit your account? Mine don't hit until the 3rd of the month. But the window for this year ends on 2/28 so spending now won't help me.

Nope not counting on those. That's the problem otherwise I'd be set as I put about 5k on there for this last trip (paid for two hotel rooms and all the food and got reimbursed) so it will be a nice start to next years. I did just learn about AA Shopping so I think I got what I needed for getting motley fool subscription for 80.00 for the year. They're giving a bonus 6200 miles for that purchase so that should get me over on the loyalty points according to some things I read. We will find out in a few days otherwise Ill be on a plane this weekend lol.

Go to AA.com and price a trip. Only the base fare and carrier fees count (click price and tax information on trip summary). The carrier fees are more often on international trips.

In the example 1 below only the $286.52 counts. in example 2 $2700 + $320 count.

Adult (per passenger) $286.52 USD

SEGMENT TAX (UNITED STATES) $9.60 USD

US SECURITY FEE (UNITED STATES) $11.20 USD

TRANSPORTATION TAX (UNITED STATES) $21.49 USD

PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGE (UNITED STATES) $9.00 USD

Total
$337.81 USD per person

Adult (per passenger) $2,700.00 USD

CARRIER-IMPOSED FEES $320.00 USD

US FEDERAL INSPECTION FEE (UNITED STATES) $7.00 USD

US SECURITY FEE (UNITED STATES) $5.60 USD

US APHIS USER FEE (UNITED STATES) $3.83 USD

US CUSTOMS USER FEE (UNITED STATES) $6.52 USD

TRANSPORTATION TAX (UNITED STATES) $42.20 USD

PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGE (UNITED STATES) $4.50 USD

AIR PASSENGER DUTY (APD) (UNITED KINGDOM) $101.80 USD

PASSENGER SERVICE CHARGE (UNITED KINGDOM) $67.70 USD

Total $3,259.15 USD per person

Easiest way I've found when I'm close to a status level is book a hotel room through AA website. Since I have to get a hotel anyway, those points toward loyalty points are an easy justification for the slight upcharge for the hotel room. You could even drive to a city for a weekend trip but book the hotel through AA and you'll have your miles. Some deals are really good, earlier this year, I got 45000 miles for staying at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas for 4 nights and I was there for work anyway, and billing the client. That trip alone pushed me from Gold to platinum plus if I remember correctly.