My journey with elite airline standing has developed rapidly throughout my time as a journey reporter at TPG.

After I first joined TPG in June 2021, reaching even entry-level elite airline standing appeared like an unimaginable hurdle for somebody like myself; I didn’t have a cobranded airline bank card, and I traveled inconsistently — particularly in comparison with my colleagues, a few of whom journey weekly.

Subsequently, I knew I would not earn standing through bank card spending or journey alone. As a substitute, I must strategically earn standing and search for extra, extra inventive methods to contribute. I started to consider my standing strategy as numerous earnings streams that present a number of methods to earn Loyalty Factors — the factors are American Airways’ standing forex and are based mostly on distance, spending and fare class flown.

For me, it got here right down to flying constant home flights, with a number of long-haul flights sprinkled in; I additionally prioritized staying at Hyatt properties when touring and intermittently buying on-line via the AA buying portal every time potential.

This is how I earned mid-tier American Airways AAdvantage standing and how one can apply the under ways to your personal American Airways standing objectives.

Earn factors on flights

I went from by no means holding airline standing to changing into an American Airways AAdvantage Gold member in about eight months.

Since changing into an AAdvantage member on July 15, 2021, I’ve flown on 17 American Airways flights and earned Loyalty Factors from all however two of them, which I used award miles to e-book. As a pleasant reminder, solely paid flights depend towards standing. Of those 17 flights, 11 have been home flights (largely short-haul regional flights inside the East Coast and Midwest, minus a one-way flight from Washington, D.C., to Phoenix).

These home flights mixed added 12,746 Loyalty Factors to my account.

In December 2021, I attended a TPG retreat in Scottsdale, Arizona, the place I received 30,000 Loyalty Factors in a raffle. When these factors appeared in my account on March 1, 2022, I immediately had entry-level Gold standing via Feb. 28, 2023. With this 30,000-point AAdvantage adjustment, I had simply lower than 45,000 Loyalty Factors complete, due to the approximate 15,000 Loyalty Factors I had earned within the previous seven months of AAdvantage membership.

For sure, that is uncommon and would not have occurred outdoors of my TPG employment. Nonetheless, it turned me into an American loyalist, and I started prioritizing flights on American and Oneworld associate airways when potential. It additionally meant I now earned a 40% mileage bonus as a Gold member, equal to 7 miles per greenback spent on flights — which is 2 miles greater than a non-status flyer.

This additionally started my quest to succeed in Platinum for 2023.

Past the aforementioned home flights, I took two worldwide round-trip flights to Paris and Singapore this 12 months. Nevertheless, solely my journey to Singapore contributed to my Loyalty Factors earnings (despite the fact that it wasn’t an American flight).

After I traveled to Paris this spring, I flew French Bee from Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) to Paris-Orly Airport (ORY); I used award miles to fly from ORY to O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD), so I did not get any factors from both journey.

As I regarded forward to the top of the 12 months, I knew my finest guess to succeed in Platinum for 2023 was by reserving a long-haul flight in a premium cabin; you earn bonus miles that qualify towards your Loyalty Factors steadiness if you fly premium economic system, enterprise class or firstclass.

To do that, I took a moderately oblique flight route from ORD to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN). The route was a round-trip flight on Finnair in October throughout 4 segments: ORD-Helsinki Airport (HEL), HEL-SIN, SIN-HEL and HEL-ORD. In complete, I flew greater than 20,00 miles over 5 days to earn 28,554 American Loyalty Factors via Finnair, a Oneworld member.

Learn extra: Why I booked a Finnair flight to assist me attain American Airways elite standing

Collectively, these two long-haul premium flights comprised practically 39,000 Loyalty Factors which, on their very own, could be sufficient to beat the edge of 30,000 Loyalty Factors for American Gold standing.

Even so, I used to be nonetheless quick 6,371 factors to succeed in Platinum as of November 2022. I deliberate on reaching it through three journeys:

• ORD to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in December 2022: Base fare of $422.20 for a complete of two,955 Loyalty Factors and award miles.
• ORD to Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) in January 2023: Base fare of $229.77 for a complete of 1,608 Loyalty Factors and award miles.
• ORD to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport (DCA) in January 2023: Base fare of $255.81 for a complete of 1,790 Loyalty Factors and award miles.

Use American’s buying portal

Though I used to be specializing in incomes Loyalty Factors primarily through flights, I earned Platinum sooner than anticipated, due to my Black Friday on-line buying through the AAdvantage buying portal.

That is maybe the simplest technique to earn Loyalty Factors, because you’re purchasing for purchases you have been already going to make. American’s eShopping portal rewards customers with base miles that depend as Loyalty Factors for purchases made at taking part retailers.

As of December 2022, miles earned from on-line buying with AAdvantage eShopping depend towards Loyalty Factors at a 1:1 ratio. The variety of miles you earn is determined by the particular retailer and worth level. For instance, I earned virtually 4,000 Loyalty Factors via purchases made at Hunter Boots, Alo Yoga, Lululemon and Hole, based mostly on their earnings choices and transaction totals.

These Loyalty Factors, together with my round-trip flight final week from ORD to LGA, have been sufficient to succeed in Platinum this month forward of schedule.

Associated: Evaluating the Finnair premium economic system flight expertise on the A330 vs. the A350

Turn into loyal to 1 airline and alliance

As you learn, I turned an American Airways loyalist by default. Even earlier than changing into a standing holder, although, I organically opted to fly American over different carriers based mostly on route availability out of my then-home airports, DCA and Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD).

Though I primarily fly from Chicago as of late, American has a big sufficient presence at ORD to make the longer commuter to O’Hare within the northwest suburbs versus the town’s Halfway Worldwide Airport (MDW) price it.

When you resolve on an airline, be sure you benefit from alliance perks; American standing opens the door to the 13 Oneworld member airways that join passengers to 900-plus locations in additional than 170 nations. Fashionable Oneworld airways embrace Alaska Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airways and Qatar Airways.

By flying on these different carriers as an AAdvantage Sapphire member, I get reciprocal advantages on associate flights, together with precedence check-in and boarding, plus lounge entry when touring internationally. I can even entry American’s signature Flagship lounges when departing on or connecting to a same-day, qualifying worldwide flight in any class, together with at ORD.

Reap the benefits of the Hyatt-American partnership

As of final 12 months, AAdvantage members can earn World of Hyatt factors for qualifying American flights, and all World of Hyatt elite members can earn World of Hyatt factors on qualifying American flights. Extra particularly, this partnership permits:

These factors are bonus earnings, along with the World of Hyatt factors you’d already earn on stays and the American miles you’d already earn on flights. This partnership helped expedite my technique to changing into a World of Hyatt Discoverist, the primary tier of Hyatt standing.

As a Discoverist, I earn 5 World of Hyatt factors per greenback spent on eligible stays at Hyatt.

Backside line

Although I didn’t count on to safe AAdvantage Platinum for a number of extra months, I used to be pleasantly shocked to earn it forward of schedule.

Now it is on to my subsequent aim: acquiring Platinum Professional by March 2024.

Learn extra: I flew premium economic system for the first time: My coach mindset says it is not price the additional cash