Originally Posted by
thetravelabstract
I completely agree with you. For me AAdvantage is about minimizing the cost of flying. Having LT Plat would not reduce mileage costs for me because I fly on AA metal with award bookings.Maybe if I fly on oneworld partners like BA where there is not equivalent of Gold status, paying the extra $450 to reach for LT Plat would make sense.
I think there are people who fall into a number of different categories. There are those like you for whom Aadvantage is a cost minimizer and there are some like me for whom Aadvantage is specifically a premium travel cost minimizer (traveling up front as often as possible for as little as possible). I already pay for Admirals Club membership and I travel abroad a lot (so the no foreign transaction fee is nice) so the new card becomes tempting. Add to that the fact that my travel patterns this year will push me into EXP territory but may not next year and the extra EQMs could be worth the $450 fee alone so it really is each to their own.
Originally Posted by
thetravelabstract
I am interested in the demographics of the people who are trying to qualify for LT status before the changes are implemented.
Are you non-elites who only use Citi AA Cards and RDM Bonus miles to earn LT Status?
Are you GLD/PLT status and want to get to LT Status before it becomes a harder task?
Like I mentioned I'm probably going to be EXP next year but I have enjoyed nothing short of great success with upgrades whilst PLT. That fact alone is enough to make me push to earn as many million miler miles while I can to make it easier to earn LT PLT going forward. I'm under no illusion that I can maintain EXP for more than a couple of years and after that my travel may dwindle down to 35-40k per year so it would be great to be able to lock up LT PLT as soon as possible to make sure I can enjoy PLT benefits when my yearly travel would ordinarily leave me short.
FWIW I probably wouldn't make the same effort if my target was LT GLD as I don't think the benefits are nearly as good but, like I said before, each to their own.