Originally Posted by
ehcwang
Great, thanks for the help. I thought it may be enough to squeeze in at Gold status, once factoring in the 1-2 int'l flights per year. My non-airline spending is low six figures, but I always funneled that through to earn UR and MR respectively. I wonder if there is a case where it may be better to go for status, but with my flying frequency perhaps I'm going overboard with my research. Maybe I'm better off adding a carrier card to my rotation.
For a bunch of spend categories, you would get more bang for your buck with certain Amex and Chase cards, than with, say, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Mastercard, which earn two miles per $ on AA purchases, and on restaurant and gas station purchases, but just one mile per $ on everything else. But if you're willing to move ~ $15K in spend to the Barclays and/or Citi AAdvantage card, then you could probably attain the 30,000 Loyalty Points needed to attain AAdvantage Gold status; just be mindful that the qualifying period runs from March 1 to February 28 each year. So if you plan to pursue this, you might want to wait until mid-February before applying for an AAdvantage credit card, unless you think that you can amass 30,000 LPs by February 28, 2023.
I would also check out the AAdvantage Dining program, as well as AAdvantage e-shopping. If you dine at participating restaurants or shop at participating online merchants anyway, you can earn Loyalty Points. You can even use an Amex or (Chase) Visa if you prefer; Mastercards are only required for the "Simply Miles" promotions.
Good luck!