American Airlines Offering Double Elite Qualifying Miles Now till Dec 31! Must register first!

American Airlines (AA) recently released a “we are deeply sorry” apology letter to its customers for their recent poor operations. In this apology letter, they also announced that to make up for their poor service–which they claim to have resolved–they are now offering double elite qualifying miles (EQMs) for all AAdvantage (that’s their rewards program, which is free to join) members who fly AA between now and December 31st.

This is a FANTASTIC way to get to the top-tier elite status for AA if you have some vacation time, and/or if you’re pretty close to hitting it because of the existing EQMs you have from this past year.

In order to receive the double EQMs, you must register for the promotion (click here) by logging into your AAdvantage account and then entering promo code AATHX.

Some rules:

• Valid for all purchased tickets (read: not award tickets) on American Airlines, American Eagle and the American Connection^® carrier marketed and operated flights from November 1, 2012, through December 31, 2012. Flights operated by our codeshare partners or oneworld alliance carriers are not eligible for this promotion.
• Tavel booked prior to the start date of this promotion is eligible.
• Offer is good on all segments flown- including one-way, round-trip, circle trip or trips including open jaws.
• Registration prior to midnight CT December 31, 2012 is required and all travel in the promo period will be credited retroactively.
• Bonus elite qualifying miles or points will count towards your 2013 membership year.
• This offer does not increment the member’s prize eligible mileage balance or Million Miler status.
• Double elite-qualifying miles and points will be calculated at 100% of the base miles or points earned, respectively.
• The initial posting of double elite qualifying miles and points will be posted to the account of the traveling AAdvantage member within 3-4 weeks after qualifying activity posts to your account. Thereafter, the postings will occur weekly. However, even if the elite qualifying miles post in 2013, it will still count towards 2012 qualification- so only worry about when you flight takes place. Any flight that departs December 31 will count towards 2012 qualification.
• Promotion does not apply to travel on mileage award tickets or fares that are ineligible for AAdvantage mileage accrual.
• The elite tier you qualify for in 2012 will give you status until February 2014. 25,000 elite qualifying miles = Gold, 50,000 = Platinum, 100,000 = Executive Platinum

Huge tip of the hat and thanks to Brian a.k.a. “The Points Guy” for the info and the details on this promotion. Brian also runs one of the most popular (and maybe the best) travel blogs out there, so if you haven’t checked out his site yet, you definitely should!