Or at least better reward those more that spend a lot on their flying like BA? On BA you can fly J from the US to the subcontinent and achieve BA's highest status in two round trips. That same route flown getting AA miles instead will get you EXP after 3 1/2 flights. That makes no sense.

So far for the year I have spent ~$9K and I am not even gold yet . I realize I am doing it wrong, but my travel patterns (Domestic and a few days out) are as such. I read about EXP costing $5K doing MRs and that burns me up. I just don't see why AA needs to reward people that are getting status on the cheap. They are costing AA more per seat mile.

I don't think my measly $9K deserves EXP, but that should at least be gold by now. So revenue AAdvantage system or ^? How about $3K for gold, $10K for Platinum and $20K for EXP?