Originally Posted by Frequentflyout

This year, I have been traveling a great deal for business all across the country - I am a loyal American customer who went all in on aadvantage this year. I got the executive elite card with American so I can get lounge access, and I have been able to rack up loyalty points fast, having now achieved platinum pro. I want to make clear I’ve had really good experiences traveling to the east coast, south and Midwest with American - transiting either through Chicago or Dallas.

however, I have encountered a challenge in getting to executive platinum because I have been unable to find logical routes to certain west coast destinations, especially in the state of Colorado, where I do a lot of business recently. For whatever reason, the quickest route currently to go to Aspen or Vail/eagle is 7+ hours, transiting through Dallas. This route makes no sense, as you go further east, have a layover, and go back west. I ended up booking flights with United and Delta - both of whom have convenient nonstops to Aspen (2 hours of travel time). As a loyal Aadvantage member - I am kicking myself because we are close to the end of the year, and I am not earning valuable loyalty points (at least 5-10k loyalty points) that would help me in continuing to be a loyal American customer, and in advancing my elite status (and enjoying the great benefits).

The frustrating thing to me as a customer is inconsistency - I also am traveling to Durango, Colorado for work later this year. Luckily, American offers a far more logical route to Durango - transiting through Phoenix. This is very much competitive in price and time of travel to the comparable United route through Denver - that is what I am disappointed I didn’t see for Aspen/Vail routes. I also wanted to point out that in my experience, American has fewer nonstops into Denver, some of which are on tiny Bombardier jets (not ideal for tall folks like myself!)

i know there are complexities involved here and this may be a niche problem - just wanted to say this didn’t make sense to me, and I am bummed I have to fly with other airlines i don’t have status with for (some) of these routes!