irishguy28

The "price" of Platinum is 300XP. For every new year of Platinum, 300XP MUST be subtracted from your account.

If you have, as per your example, 200XP in your account, you haven't "earned" Platinum and therefore drop to Gold. In the old scheme, you would have lost the entirety of your Level Miles balance - as mileage rollovers were only awarded when you maintained, or increased, level. In the new scheme, XP rollovers apply regardless of whether you are going up or down in status - so long as you exceed the relevant ("one below") threshold. So in your example, the Platinum with 200XP would become a Gold with (200-180 for Gold =) 20XP.

However, your example masks the fact that, for someone who had, say, been Platinum and earned only 175 XP - so just 5XP short of the Gold target - they actually only earned Silver, but instead BENEFIT from getting "soft landed" down to Gold. As a result of the soft-landing, they lose the entire XP balance (which is "fair" - they are still being given status that they didn't deserve based on their flying that year). Remember, the XP rollover only applies to those who exceed the relevant threshold. If you actually "soft land" down a level - as opposed to having actually earned it outright, as in your numerical example - you lose everything.

In my numerical example (Platinum/175XP) there may be people who would prefer to be given "Silver" and a rollover of (175-100 = 75XP) but that's not what happens; the softlanding mechanism intervenes, giving you Gold and 0XP. (But having Silver would mean you would need to earn 180 + 300 XP in a row to get back to Platinum, so soft-landing to Gold is better than starting with a rollover and lower status)

You also raised the possibilty of dropping from Platinum to Gold, and starting the new membership year with your 200XP balance intact. THIS IS A COMPLETE IMPOSSIBILITY! It is simply impossible, under any circumstances other than having a balance of 0, to start a new membership year with the exact same XP balance with which you finished the previous membership year.

• If you soft land, you start with 0XP. (Therefore, if you don't think you can maintain your status at all in any year, you have no incentive, as regards status, of recording more than one XP-earning flight in that membership year.)
• If you drop a level [meaning, as in your example, that you didn't hit your Platinum target of 300XP] but had exceeded that lower threshold anyway [which, in your example, was the case as 200XP exceeds the 180XP needed for Gold], you don't get a softlanding but earn the "one-below" status outright, and start the new year with a positive balance [In your example, of (200-180 = 20XP)]
• If you maintain your level, or increase your level, you start the new year with the balance over and above that threshold (so, if you get up to/stay at silver, you have 100XP deducted; if you get up to/stay at Gold, you have 180XP deducted; if you get up to/stay at Platinum, you have 300XP deducted) - which may mean starting with 0XP if you only just hit the target exactly.