Rasheed, you pointed out a big pet peeve of mine. How AA will make secret offers to some travelers for status upgrades.
A good friend of mine who also travels frequently was emailed after she missed making EXP again with a note informing her that because she had flown ~88K miles that they were going to go ahead make her EXP again. That same year, I was sitting at ~92K miles the last week in December and decided not to make a mileage run. I received no such email or offer.
I'm guessing that this had to do with $ spent. She will frequently book last minute flights. I sometimes have flights booked 90+ days in advance for my work travel. Oh well. It's their game; they can set the rules however they want.