Just spoke with AA Gold Customer Service, and the Gold Challenge costs $80 to take. Has anyone else run into this?

My Gold status is expiring Feb 28, as my job did not require much travel last year. I called hoping to get AAdvantage to extend my membership past Feb 28, given mutiple years at Gold status and still being a loyal customer. I actually was thinking given the tough spot the airlines are in, they'd be more than willing to give existing Gold members a small perk like a membership extension to retain the business.

I was very surprised to hear my only option was a Gold challenge, and that it would now cost me $80 to play. Crazy. I guess AA is looking for dollars any way they can get them.

If anyone has other tips, I'd appreciate it!