Originally Posted by
Cledaybuck
Then AA needs to change their algorithm because they are hitting a lot of people with no status anywhere.
But AA doesn't know who has status everywhere. All they have is a list of people who have AA frequent flyer accounts - so they know they're at LEAST savvy enough of travelers to have an account - and who are NOT currently flying AA.
Whether a person with an AA frequent flyer account isn't flying AA because they don't fly, or isn't flying AA because they are loyal to another airline, they don't know.
So they just give the offer to everyone who ISN'T already flying AA.
If it turns out the person getting the offer just doesn't fly, then there's no reason to give them status through 2020 as they're not frequent travelers who deserve status.
But if the person DOES fly a lot for another airline, AA *ALSO* doesn't want to give them status through 2020 because they want that person to make the challenge AND then keep flying AA through 2019 to have status for 2020.
If they gave status through 2020 for just making the challenge, you might take the challenge, then fly whichever airline is cheapest through 2019, and only in 2020 then decide which airline you actually want to stay loyal to.