You are half correct. We are going San-ord-dub-paris on aerlingus (aa partner)-paris-dfw-san. This is an awards trip paid for by the company with real money, not FF miles.

Now I am confused. Is this all it takes to be gold status? A RT trip to Europe?

It's called a challenge for a reason. :-D

It's a way of comping status for the first timers without actually comping it for free. AA requires 10K miles or 5K points in 90 days to complete the challenge. You won't be able to do this on a yearly basis. Gold does require at the minimum 16.77K miles (depending on the fare paid) or at most, 25K miles, in a year to qualify the regular way. You can also qualify on segments. If you do complete the required miles/points during the challenge it will give you Gold until 02/07 but you will need to fly at least ~15K more miles this year if you want to keep the status until 02/08.

Thanks all for your help and information. I really appreciate it.

AA, my above post might have been confusing. The only aerlingus portion is dub-paris. The rest is AA. I'll call tomorrow and see what they say. Thanks again.

Everything you ever wanted to know about AA Gold and Plat challenges:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=342145

AAFrequent Flyer,
Do you know how Iberia flights post min EQP? I've received conflicting info from FT forum, including 125 EQP, 300 EQP, 500 EQP... If the minimum EQP is only 125, I'll have to book a MR by June 29 to make the PLT challenge.

Here is a real interesting article entitled HOW TO GET THE BEST SEAT IN COACH that has some excellent ideas for you from Conde Nast:

http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/...rticleId=10265

Be sure to read page 2 - she talks about using your Gold Status or a friends, joining the carrier's lounge club for the day (this gives you access to the club's powerful ticket agents...) I though it was real good stuff.

Skibum, thanks for the web site. Very cool and informative. We have a power port, which is cool, but since we aren't sitting side by side, might be hard to sit and watch a movie together. Oh well, let's see what we can do with a phone call. Thanks again.

While I generally think Wendy Perrin does a good job, I have to say that I think she's off base with respect to the airline clubs and their ability to "move mountains". As a long time member of UA's Red Carpet Club, and a 1K elite on UA, I have often found that the Gate Agents working the flight have a GREAT deal more ability to influence seating than anyone in the RCC...
Just MHO, your mileage may vary...Best wishes, Dave

<b>Dave</b>,

with AA it's just the opposite. In case of trouble the first thing I do is call the EXP desk, but if it's not something that needs immediate attention, the Admirals Club agents have been a great deal more helpful to me than gate agents (in most cases, but not all). As you said, YMMV!

I have been given great seats in Y (in the old days, before free upgrades) by AC agents just few minutes after the GA told me they were not available. The look on the face of the GA - priceless!

That said, I believe it's the combination of having EXP status, few years of AC membership and continuous record of giving AA most of my business. I don't think this would be true if one were to buy a day pass to AC and then expect miracles.

I agree about AA, which is generally all we fly. I've never been upgraded at the gate, but have several times in the Admiral's Club. One time our Eagle flight from Naples to Miami was delayed and we arrived in Miami just as our flight to London was departing. The gate agents were nice and took care of booking us on the next flight which was only an hour or so away, but when we went to the Admiral's Club, the attendant took one look at our new tickets and said, &quot;let me redo this, there are empty seats in First Class&quot;.

And I can't tell you how grateful I was for the Admiral's Club when we got to Laguardia in the snow for a flight home and saw the massive crowds in the airport, just as they were cancelling all flights out. We managed to get to the Admiral's Club and they immediately got us on a flight out of JFK -- and bumped us to first class as well, while all the others were still struggling to simply find flights via the gate agents.

I know that the airlines like to keep some seats unassigned. It has something to do with weight distribution~~really~~. Usually if the seats are blocked they are not released until the flight is open for check in which would be in Chicago.

I used to work for Amex Vacations and this used to be the rule.
I know when we flew to Nairobi last summer AA out of Chicago were juggling seats.

<b>nadoosh</b>,

the only seats that AA blocks for airport control are the bulkhead/bassinet seats for parents with babies and few aisle seats in the front rows of economy cabin for handicapped passengers. It has nothing to do with weight distribution.

ok, well I guess the check in agent didn't tell me the truth.

We tried ahead of time to book seats with no luck. At ORD they said it was because of weight....good to know the real reason.

Weight control is possible. Depending on the weather, cargo, fuel accesibility, etc. the airline(s) will bump passengers even if the plane is not full. It usually happens with smaller props and jets, but I have seen it done with bigger ones as well.