For historical reasons, all of my miles are on AS right now, and I have MVP (AA Gold rough equivalent) status with them. However, the vast majority of my flying these days is with AA, since my destinations have changed. With my AS MVP, I get access to MCE seats, free bags, etc., so it's not too bad. However, next year I'd like to switch to Aadvantage. The conundrum I face is that the moment I switch to my newly-minted (not yet even created) AAdvantage number, I effectively lose my status and have to re-earn it from scratch.

I've heard that AA doesn't do status matches. I have read about Challenges, and I may go that route, but it's not ideal for me. While I will undoubtedly fly enough next year to earn at least Gold if not Platinum, my travel is erratic and often scheduled on very short notice. Some months I might have three or four trips, and then I might go two months with none, but I don't necessarily know that very far in advance. So it's hard for me to know for sure that I'd have enough flights within a given time period. And on the occasions when the travel isn't short notice, I often get booked on fares that earn 0.5 EQP, making the challenge that much harder to complete.

Are there any strategies for softening the blow of losing status when switching programs, or do I just have to suck it up and/or figure out a way to make a Challenge work? I feel like this is a real disincentive to actually switch to Aadvantage.