Originally Posted by EQDsSUCK

I respectfully disagree on your first point. If instead of paying $1200 for a year of MCE and bags, I can pay $1500 for a trip to see Jordan and Thailand then I'd rather spend my money on a trip across the world than seats and bags.

And, while on one hand it does seem early to worry about 2018 status, on the other hand, miles I start earning in 8 weeks (in 2017) will start me on the road to getting for 2018, so I only have 8 weeks to decide how I want to start earning status in 2017 for 2018. As I said, I already have Plat status for 2017.

Thank you for the information on AS and AB. I appreciate it! That's good to know.

Great point that the answer on best way to get status depends on my travel patterns.

My travel pattern is normally domestic flights on AA to Dallas and elsewhere. I will not likely spend $3000 in 2017 on domestic flights to attain Gold (which I want to avoid MCE and bag fees as well as have priority check in/boarding and to avoid some standby and award processing fees). So, if I can obtain Gold/Ruby some other way in 2017 (to have status in 2018) then I want to try to do so. As I said, the AB and AS status match seem to be the best way to maintain benefits when I fly AA, although as you deftly pointed out those options could follow the dodo bird.

I can always pay for MCE and bags, but that's no fun. I'd rather find some fun, creative way to get status.