Originally Posted by MelesMeles

As I understand them, Flex EQMs sit on your card and can be redeemed at any time (not necessarily in the year you earned them) to bump up your Elite status.

For example, you earn 5k Flex EQMs in the same year that you earn 50k regular EQMs. There's no benefit in redeeming the Flex EQMs that year, since you're already GoldElite, so you hold onto them until next year, when you're at 48k EQMs, and then redeem 2k Flex EQMs to bump you up to 50k overall on the year to maintain your Gold status.

Disclaimer: I'm out of coffee, so all calculations subject to a margin of error of +/- 300%.