American Airlines has teamed up with Hilton to provide select individuals either American Airlines Platinum status or Hilton Hhonors Gold or Diamond status. From what I have gathered from my friends who were targeted and a few Facebook posts, it appears as those with Hilton’s Diamond status were targeted for the American Airlines Platinum status challenge and those with AA Executive Platinum (EXP) status were targeted for Hilton’s Diamond (HHD) Status. How AA and Hilton selected which EXPs and HHDs were targeted is beyond my scope of knowledge, but my guess is they did some type of database comparison.
You can try to sign up for the American Airlines Platinum offer by following this link, but I will warn you that my partner who has no status with either HHonors or AA was informed that he did not qualify for this promotion, so this may or may not work for you.
American Platinum status will be given to individuals for a trail run through January 31, 2015 and can be extended through Feb 29, 2016 by flying just 9,000 miles between October 27, 2014 and January 31, 2015. Platinum Elite status provides individuals with priority boarding, security screening, check-in, and luggage, 2 free checked bags, unlimited upgrades within North American on US Airways, unlimited upgrades within North American & Hawaii using 500 mile e-certs on American, and 100% bonus miles on all AA/US flights, along with a slew of other minor benefits.
For those targeted for HHonors Diamond status, your status will be extended through next year and you can earn an additional 25,000 AA Advantage points my completing just 3 stays at Hilton’s properties before December 31, 2014! (sorry readers, no general link to attempt to get this awesome sign up bonus) HHD elites receive upgrades to preferred rooms when available, complimentary continental breakfast, complimentary high-speed internet access, 50% bonus on all HHonors Base Points, and reservations guarantee.
I am pretty disappointed in American for giving away Platinum Status for a year for just 9,000 miles and will make upgrading even more difficult for mid-tier elites as there will be even more elites system wide due to this promotion. Yet either way, if you find yourself flying AA or staying at Hilton hotels, this should be a promotion you at least attempt to register for and scan your spam folders for too!
Let me know if you have any luck or if you were targeted. It would be interesting to see just who AA decided to target with this promotion!
