I actually sortof changed something due to this, but netted out to same place.
I had a flight YYZ>CLKT>BOS>LHR, with a bunch of AA domestic 1sts as a mini-TP furn for an afternoon, to get across the line for this status year. Then they gave me two years' status, and AA had rejigged the flight times so I rang AA and said "those times don't work, just put me on the YYZ>LHR direct"... improvement there.
The irony, though is that I've just been sent on an unexpected biztrip, to Singapore, and flying with QR in biz means I'll now be well over the line anyway.
So in one sense I'm back in the same place. In another, I've had the annual status anxiety go away entirely. And the wonderful thing is that although I was flying on the disaster weekend, my actual inconvenience on those flights was zero.