I'm an AA Plat member. On Dec. 1, I got in trouble on a Chicago connection due to a severe snowstorm there and my 2nd leg was cancelled and re-booked for the next day. Didn't want that, so AA re-booked me that night on UA and then gave me original routing credit for miles on AA anyway. It was a weather problem so AA wasn't responsible, but they came through for me and I am grateful and will remember that when a low-cost carrier beats an AA fare by a few dollars. But they probably wouldn't have done it if I weren't an "elite" AA member.