Just got email that I made CK - after having lost it last year due to partners company not renewing a corporate contract. Very surprised as my spend was probably ~$40K this year on AA and most my flights were paid Y LGA-RDU. I took about 40 flights LGA-RDU in cheapest Y fare. One paid F JFK-LAX-SYD. 3 paid J JFK-LHR. One paid J JFK-GIG. Four paid Y 4 JFK-LAX and used systemwides on all those tickets. I did do 2 LAX-LHR in paid F on BA and 4 paid F JFK-NRT on JAL and credited to AA. All my Y travel in domestic was upgraded for free so kind of surprised the formula would have tapped me.
All of my paid premium travel was a discounted fare.