When I came back to AA from WN a couple of years ago, my original plan was to make BA Silver, but I had an opportunity to easily hit the PLT challenge instead so I went that route. Then I had a ridiculous uptick in my travel so I was able to hit EXP last year and this year with a little bit of strategic segment (2014) and mileage (2015) driven leisure trips, only one pure "run" each year.

The free upgrades are definitely nice, and definitely cause me to generate more travel as much of what I take is discretionary both for work (what I propose to clients, how I travel to see my staff or make them come see me) and for leisure (parents a few miles away, no obligatory family weddings to attend out of town or the like).

2016 was going to be the last possible year I'd requalify for EXP based on work travel, as we're already planning the promotion of some of my staff to take on some of the more repetitive travel. Hopefully they'll do whatever they do by March 1, so I can plan out the second half of the year to transition as needed, including getting comped DL Plat if needed.

I care very little about the RDM part of the equation - I can't even spend what I earn right now each year, and I have a backlog of deteriorating assets that should still get me through 2017-2020 with only paying the confiscatory fuel surcharges and APDs. All I really care about is reserving at ticketing a comfortable 34" or better aisle seat for flights under 5 hours, and a 38"+/19"+ window seat for flights over 5 hours.

And the folks at Citibank probably won't admit that they'll miss my $3500 of spending each month once I cancel the AA card.