How to keep Platinum status?

[lugano101]

Hey everyone, I will soon have my Platinum status taken away as last year I flew only 10K...not enough to even make gold
However when I did fly I enjoyed the comfort of the AC, OPups and the benefit of premium check-in at LHR and MAN which can cut my wait by a good hour!
However, I do have more travel planned across the OW alliance this year and don't want to give up the perks of being a PLT....AA inform me there is no 'soft-landing' and that I will go directly back down to regular AAdvantage status is there anyway of trading miles to keep PLT or pay for it?
Cheers

[TooMuchTravel73]

In years past AA would let you pay (once) to retain status. Contact them to see if that program is still valid for this year.

[swag]

Whatever the rep said, the soft landing has been an unpublished benefot for many years now. No way to be certain that it hasn't changed, but I'd be surprised if they didn't give you a year of GLD. Of course, that won't get you lounge access...

[lugano101]

when you say 'unpublished' does it happen very often? what should i expect? I dont mind even the denial of getting into a lounge, but I can't face having to wait 1-2 hours at check-in at LHR or MAN nor face having crappy seats right at the back of plane and having to fight for overhead bin space after boarding in group 6 ooof

[britenbsas]

You can pay $649 to keep your status for another year (assuming you didn't purchase your platinum status last year).

Here's the link to aa.com:

http://www.aa.com/aa/pubcontent/en_US/urls/elite.jsp

and to the FT thread discussing it:

2009 AAdvantage status year repurchase/buyback (consolidated)

The soft landing policy is mentioned on a very out of date page on AA's Ireland site. As an unpublished benefit, it's not something you can guarantee 100% but it is widely reported here and seems fairly consistent. Here's a recent thread discussing it:

soft landing - EXP to PLT downgrade?

[JY1024]

Originally Posted by TooMuchTravel73

In years past AA would let you pay (once) to retain status. Contact them to see if that program is still valid for this year.

For your information - here's the consolidated thread on Status "Buybacks": 2009 AAdvantage status year repurchase/buyback (consolidated)