Does American Now Count as US Airways Metal for Elite Trial Status?

Related Articles

No, AmEx Shouldn’t (and Won’t) Limit the Entries of Platinum Card Holders into the Centurion Lounge

November 5, 2019

How to Handle Sudden Flight Cancellations

June 30, 2017

Switching Co-Terminals No Longer Allowed on US Airways

May 5, 2015

In short, the answer is no, confirmed by US Airways.

@jeanne23 Jeanne, for trial purposes American flights are not valid.

— US Airways (@USAirways) January 30, 2014

 

So if you are going for trial preferred, make sure you are booking flights that are actually on US Airways.

What is trial preferred?  You can pay $200 for silver and earn yourself status by flying 7,500 (silver), 15,000 (gold), 22,500 (platinum) or 30,000 (chairmain) over three months.  You must ONLY fly on US Airways planes.

For more on my own adventures with US Airways trial preferred, check out this series.  You can purchase a higher level status for the trial, but I don’t recommend it.  You can earn any level using the trial, so there’s no real reason to spend extra money unless you must be platinum now.

There’s also sometimes a good reason to go for Trial Status even if you don’t intend on flying enough to earn it during the trial period.

Other things to know about status on US Airways:

• The miles you fly using your US Airways Dividend Miles Number will NOT be added to the miles flown with the American Airlines AAdvantage program.  Pick one program when flying US Airways and American and stick with it.
• You cannot currently use your US Airways status to get upgrades on American Airlines (or vice versa).
• There’s a 50% bonus for AAdvantage customers flying US Airways and a 50% bonus for Dividend Miles customers flying American Airlines.
• And as a bonus, a great guide to booking on US Airways when you earned on American.