that challenge was a part of the oneworld megado where they were airline partners. AAdvantage is one of the biggest, or maybe the biggest mileage factory out there, and with $4-6 billion turnover of its own, won't go under even if chap11 took them down. If you would have had UA top tier 1k they'd have still matched you to EXP. right now you should still try to get the silver though not totally likely. call them and tell them you are planning to switch your business from UA and you heard of the latest status match offer.