FoundersCard offering free AA Platinum Status Challenge for members

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an airplane flying over a runway

New AA perk this quarter from FoundersCard

I’ve written about FoundersCard extensively in the past. They are one of my favorite auxiliary programs for travel, business, and lifestyle benefits.

Many of the travel benefits they offer are the same ones given as perks for holding co-branded premium credit cards (free TripIt Pro [Barclaycard Arrival], Hertz #1 Club Gold membership [American Express Platinum Card], Hilton HHonors Gold status [Hilton credit cards], 10% off British Airways fares [Chase British Airways Visa Signature], free Shoprunner membership [American Express cards] – just to name a few).

And, they’re always switching things up each quarter. The one I watch like a freaking hawk is the American Airlines perk. And this quarter, they’ve really stepped it up.

Free AA Platinum Status Challenge

I’ve enrolled for this same status challenge myself and paid $240 to do so – in 2013. The challenge is only supposed to be offered once, but there are contrary reports floating around out there.

Indeed, when I tried to enroll again, the website kinda froze up. They direct you to sign up for Business Extra, but I already have one. When I tried to enroll directly on Business Extra using the promo code, it told me enrollment was for new members only.

a close-up of a form

No bueno

But the language on the FoundersCard website doesn’t mention anything about having to be a new member, so I’m definitely going to follow up on it and see if they can apply it to my account. Because it’s a pretty sweet deal. I might even mileage run to earn status back again, as I’d already resigned myself to losing it this year.

a screenshot of a phone

T&Cs (click to enlarge)

Here are the deets:

a screenshot of a phone

FoundersCard AA Challenge Info

  • It’s a normal status challenge, but you must enroll for a new Business Extra account (I still need to confirm this but wanted to write about the promo ASAP)
  • You must earn 10,000 EQPs (NOT EQMs!) from February 12th to April 12th – a 3 month period
  • Status is awarded when you hit the 10,000 EQP threshold and you keep the status until February 29, 2016 (leap year!)

All standard stuff, really, Here’s a link to the Flyer Guide AA Challenge Wiki page. What is good here is that you don’t have to pay $240 to take the challenge – you just press a button and enroll in a new Business Extra account – which links to your AAdvantage number.

The value angle

FoundersCard membership is $395 per year – and that rate is locked in for life when you sign up. If you are new to American Airlines or thinking of switching and want to get fast tracked to Platinum, you need to enroll in this offer by January 30th, 2015.

I routinely get more than $395 dollars’ worth of value of the card each year, if only by using the AT&T 15% off perk.

Here are the companies they’ve aligned with for travel benefits, as of January 2015:

a screenshot of a flight benefits

FoundersCard travel partners

If you were already thinking of doing an AA Challenge, and pay the $395 for FoundersCard, you’ve already brought the price of the membership down to $155. Beyond that, I think it’s incredibly easy to recoup that back from the multitude of other benefits offered. Not to mention the networking events they host in major cities throughout the year, which you can’t really put a value to.

Bottom line

FoundersCard continues to impress me with their lineup of perks, and I rarely hear about this card on any of the other blogs, so I tend to write about them quite a lot.

They are offering AA Platinum Status Challenges to their members, but you must enroll in the challenge by January 30th, 2015. Previously, they’ve only done a Status Challenge up to Gold, so this is a really nice new perk to see added.

If you’d like, I can refer you to the card. My promo code is FCHARLAN818 and here is the link to sign up for the card. I receive no commission for referring you.

Please read over my previous posts about FoundersCard at the top and see if it’s worth it to add this membership to your life. If you’re in a major city, a big traveler, a serial entrepreneur, or love shopping discounts (or all of the above), I recommend it highly.

Good job, FoundersCard. Starting 2015 off strong.

If anyone has questions or comments, please post them below!

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About Harlan

Just a dude living in Memphis, traveling, and working toward financial independence.

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