American Airlines AAdvantage offers a challenge program. This does not require possessing status with a competing frequent flyer program, but does require you to pay a fee and travel a certain amount within a specified time period. - To obtain Gold status one must: pay a $140 fee and accumulate 5,000 Elite Status Points in 3 months - To obtain Platinum status one must: pay a $240 fee and accumulate 10,000 Elite Status Points in 3 months - There is no challenge for Executive Platinum status To participate in a challenge, call AAdvantage customer service at 1-800-882-8880, specify the start date (may be the 1st or 16th of a month), and pay the applicable fee. Note that Elite Status Points are different from miles traveled. For certain discounted fares, only .5 points are earned per mile travelled. Conversely for first class travel, 1.5 points are earned per mile travelled. The details are listed here: https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/eliteStatus/qualification-requirements.jsp AAdvantage will not grant you the applicable status while the challenge is in process (e.g. before the criteria is met). These challenges may be repeated as many times as needed, but the applicable fee must be paid with each attempt.