Watered down indeed.

Not too long ago a colleague of mine (regular earned PLT in 2018) and myself (LTPLT 3.2 M or so but only 40-45K flown out of necessity on them in 2018) were waiting to board a flight ORD-CLT. Same fare class, same fare paid, booked same time, etc. on our Corporate system. Even checked in at the same time.

He was #4 on upgrade list - did not clear.
I was #12 on upgrade list with predictable results.

17 people total on upgrade list.

I just chuckled to myself on this one as my expectations are so low with AA, but I did find it interesting that there was certainly no preference in my direction for that 3.2M LT earned with all other things being equal. Indeed, based on this little story there seemed to be a bias AGAINST LT PLT’s in their ‘system’.

BA/AS are the best places to credit for domestic/internationally as a result when I still need to fly AA now.