Hyatt and American Airlines have brought back a popular fast track status challenge. Registration is required, and ends on November 30, 2022.
For now, the beneficiaries are American frequent flyers (or Loyalty Point collectors). AAdvantage members with Gold status or higher can sign up for a 90 day trial of Explorist status. They can then extend or upgrade their status by completing the following (during those 90 days):
- Stay 10 Tier-Qualifying Nights to maintain Explorist status through February 2024
- Stay 20 Tier-Qualifying Nights to earn Globalist status through February 2024 (Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members only)
You can check your eligibility and register by clicking here.
Good Deal?
This challenge requires you to complete one third of the normal status requirements in one quarter of the year. You will need a fair amount of flexibility and/or a long holiday or business trip to squeeze in 20 nights to a 3-month window.
It is also worth noting that:
- Credit card elite night credits do not qualify
- Many of the best Hyatt perks are tied to annual Milestones – in other words, being Globalist is great, but you still wouldn’t receive the suite upgrade certificates or free night awards without staying the full 60 nights in a calendar year
Bottom Line
Unfortunately you must already have a rather high level of AAdvantage elite status in order to be eligible for the Globalist fast track. This will limit your ability to pursue a “merry-go-round” travel hack – where you use your AA status to earn Hyatt status, only to turn around and use that Hyatt status to fast track AA status next year.
Nonetheless this opportunity is good news for those AA elites who are interested in a short cut to elite status with Hyatt. We will have to see if Hyatt elites are offered the chance of an AA fast track challenge later in 2022 (as was done in prior years)…
