Originally Posted by
smillerlsu
When there are loyal customers who significantly exceeded what became the new requirements, and when the company could easily grandfather in the requirement RATHER THAN tick off a segment of their loyal customer base who view the "opportunity" to pay for something more as a slap... yes, that is poor attention to customer satisfaction (and a missed opportunity for American). Especially when they risk losing revenue from this base that would easily have recouped the cost of the comp... it's a snafu. But then, a large portion of what I do every day IS customer care...
As you know, a new elite level exists for the first time in 2017. It didn't exist in 2016 and nothing anyone did in the way of 2016 purchases would qualify anyone for it in 2017, and no communication I've seen implied you would be able to have it by being "grandfathered" from last year's activity. It was very clearly stated that once you achieve the requirements in 2017 then in 2017 you'd receive it. They are being VERY NICE to allow people who were near the 75k threshold in 2016 to press the fast forward button IF THEY WANT TO by paying a fee, and have it instantly. Seems like a nice gesture. Is it worth it? That's for each person to decide. Be offended? Give me a break.
The only thing that could piss anyone off is feeling entitled to getting it for free before they've earned it, which when you look at it like this, is a bit much of the DYKWIA and entitlement attitude. Get over it. There's no free lunch, and people whining about what AA "could have done" is a bit much. As someone else already noted, for a large chunk of 2017, the only other PPro competitors you're going to have are others who paid for the boost, whereas next year there will be all kinds of folks who earned it for 2018 from normal 2017 activity.
Oh, and welcome to FT. Looks like you're new, although you write as a though you're a veteran of the site.