Originally Posted by
salut0
This is why spend requirements for status as so annoying because they’re so non-transparent (despite airline marketing guff about how much easier/clearer it is or that it’s in response to customer demand (yeah, right…). I hope the airlines which have, as yet, held out from implementing these don’t put them into place too.
I don't understand what you mean. I read the requirements of AA program and understood it pretty quickly. I have given up trying to understand DL or other programs.
I know with AA to reach gold level, all that's required is 40K points. If flying is the sole method and you have no status, you just need to spend $8k on tickets as you get 5 points for every $1 spent on tickets. This you can do by flying as few or as many times as you like irrespective of the distance travelled. As an example, I have two business trips next qualifying year that will be done on AA. I am also doing a splurge for my birthday. I have booked a ticket via AA for flights on one of its partners. These 3 trips will give me gold status with which I am content. I knew I just needed to spend < $4,100 for my personal travel to make gold status. The ticket I bought for my personal travel was $4,200. By May 2024, I will have gold status and do not need to fly again for the year. Now I could have divided that $4,100 spend requirements into many trips, but why do that when doing 1 trip would give me the same result? I went with the simplest option - the one trip and I don't have to bother with flying again for the year. This is rather simple to me.