Meeting spend
Meeting spend is exactly what I'm talking about. Since EQD (Elite Qualifying Dollars) are a function of base miles x a percentage (on partner airlines and percentage depends on booking class) then it's possible to earn more EQD's than one actually spends on the fare. This would seem advantageous to me considering I don't really want to spend $12k to get to executive platinum in 2017. So, my thinking is, if I can spend anything less (hopefully significantly less) than $12k and still get to executive platinum then I've come out ahead. Am I missing something and thinking about this all wrong?