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I was surprised (and delighted!) last night to get an email from American AAdvantage (the loyalty programme for American Airlines) offering me free ‘Platinum Pro’ status from now until 15th May 2019. Even better was the news that two of my family members had received similar offers, suggesting this promotion might be quite widely targeted.

Why would I want elite status with American anyway?

AAdvantage Platinum and Platinum Pro status levels are both equivalent to oneworld Sapphire – which means that for most practical purposes here in the UK, it’s basically the same as having British Airways Executive Club Silver status.

With AAdvantage Platinum or Platinum Pro, you can take advantage of the following benefits when flying Economy with British Airways or any other oneworld airline:

• Access to priority Business Class check-in
• Priority boarding
• Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating when offered by the airline operating the flight
• Priority standby and waitlisting (where offered)
• Access to more than 650 airport lounges (with one guest) when travelling internationally, including premium Business Class and frequent flyer lounges, regardless of the class of service flown that day. For details about the oneworld lounge access policy, click here.
• Extra baggage allowance
• Priority baggage handling

There are also additional benefits (upgrades etc) if you happen to be flying with American Airlines.

How do I check whether I’ve been targeted?

You should have received an email by now I imagine, but it’s always worth checking your AAdvantage account anyway. This was the link in my email, which should take you to the right page – just sign in to your account, scroll down a little bit and you should see the offer on the left of the page.

If targeted, you need to register by 25th January 2019. I registered last night and my status was upgraded by this morning:

Bottom line

This is an incredibly generous offer from AA – and it might actually persuade me to fly a bit more with oneworld airlines over the next few months.

I’m not entirely sure what the rationale behind the targeting is though. My dad was also targeted for Platinum Pro, while my mum was targeted for standard Platinum (which is still oneworld Sapphire, confusingly). Both parents have almost exactly the same earning and redemption pattern on their AA accounts and neither of them have been on more than 1-2 AA flights in the last few years. Regardless, I’m certainly not complaining!

Did you receive a similar offer from American AAdvantage?