Extending status will encourage me to not fly the airline the rest of this year, since my status is assured anyway. Maybe it will make it possible to achieve status on my seconary airline. If other airlines don't follow AA in their status extension, I think lots of fliers will slack off in their AA flights this year, and why not ? It is an interesting concept to reward people for NOT flying the remainder of the year. I'm happy to take them up on it.