Originally Posted by VegasGambler

I am a long-time AS Elite member (longer if you count VX as well). For all that time I was based in SFO, which was great for flying VX and also great for flying AS.

Anyway, I recently moved to the PHX area. I'm currently 75k but had 0 EQM last year. I'm also going on 3 years of EXP on AA despite almost never flying them (free status from a Hyatt promo, followed by 2 status extensions).

Anyway, my plan was to just fly AA, burn off my AS miles on international partner flights, and be done with AS. Nothing against the airline; they just don't serve PHX particularly well, and AA does.

But now with it being possible to keep AA status without actually crediting flights to AA, and this AS promo to retain my status if I fly 20k miles and 2 segments, I'm wondering if I should credit enough flights to AS to maintain status, and make up the shortfall on AA by earning enough loyalty points on credit card spend and shopping portals. Mileage Plan really is great; I've gotten great value from it in the past and would like to get more, and I love the huge number of partners.

The problem is the requirement for the 12 (or more likely 24, since I won't stop at 75k) AS segments. For the promo, the 20k base miles are no problem (I can do that in one round trip on SQ) but I'm having trouble finding 2 AS segments I actually want to fly. And if 2 are hard to find, how am I ever going to find 24 (or even 12)? Every single flight I look at (for somewhere I actually want to go) is 2x the price of AA (or occasionally UA or DL)

For example, the cheapest PHX-SFO flight on AS in the next 2 months is $69, but they have a $30 buy-up to main cabin. So the cost is $99 (I won't fly basic economy -- I at least want an economy plus seat). AA has a $40 main cabin fare. Obviously I'm not going to pay 2.5x to fly AS instead of AA. Considering that there is some real competition on that route (UA flies it too, as does Southwest) it seems like AS isn't even trying.

Do I just need to give up on AS now that I'm in PHX? Or am I missing something here?