EXP, PLT, GLD downgrades
Aug 17, 2007, 4:20 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: AA EXP, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,017
EXP, PLT, GLD downgrades
Say you're an EXP or PLT and you fail to qualify for even GLD the following year. Does AA step you down one level (EXP-->PLT, or PLT-->GLD) or is it a "go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200" sort of thing while they strip you back down to non-elite?
Aug 17, 2007, 4:26 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2002
Location: St Louis, MO
Programs: AA L.T. PLT
Posts: 3,283
Usually a one level drop... a "soft landing" as it were. But that was last year. This year could be different.
Aug 17, 2007, 4:26 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: LAX; AA EXP, MM; HH Gold
Posts: 31,789
Here's just one of many threads discussing the soft landing at AA:
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...t=soft+landing
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...t=soft+landing
Aug 17, 2007, 4:29 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA & UK -- AA EXP 3.5MM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis President's Club
Posts: 6,411
Yes, it's the so-called "soft-landing" approach. I don't know if every carrier does it, but DL certainly does. I had status with DL for almost 3 years after I quit flying them completely. AS does -not- do it. I stopped flying them and lost all status on January 1 of the new year.
Aug 17, 2007, 5:22 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP / LT PLT / 3MM, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 35,389
Yes, it's the so-called "soft-landing" approach. I don't know if every carrier does it, but DL certainly does. I had status with DL for almost 3 years after I quit flying them completely. AS does -not- do it. I stopped flying them and lost all status on January 1 of the new year.
Aug 17, 2007, 8:24 pm
#6
Join Date: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,473
Yes, it's the so-called "soft-landing" approach. I don't know if every carrier does it, but DL certainly does. I had status with DL for almost 3 years after I quit flying them completely. AS does -not- do it. I stopped flying them and lost all status on January 1 of the new year.
I didn't leave UA; UA left me as they've essentially pulled out of the NYC market--relegating it to a feed market + 2 PS routes.
Aug 17, 2007, 8:27 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Austin
Posts: 4,629
There are MANY reasons never to fly UA. Thanks for adding a couple more.
Aug 17, 2007, 9:27 pm
#8
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Texas
Programs: AA 1MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 444
I have a coworker who claims to have dropped straight from Platinum to nothing; and this was just two years ago.
Aug 17, 2007, 9:43 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP / LT PLT / 3MM, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 35,389
Aug 17, 2007, 9:49 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Massachusetts, USA; AA Plat, DL GM and Flying Colonel; Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 24,233
Um, you might have got lucky there. DL never had a soft landing policy that I know of. But they made exceptions in 3 specific years: the year of the ComAir strike (where you actually retained your status), 2003 (when draconian changes were made to the program), and 2007 (after emerging from bankruptcy).
Aug 17, 2007, 9:55 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: NYC
Programs: AA EXP / LT PLT / 3MM, Marriott LT Gold
Posts: 35,389
I had a "soft landing" from Delta for a couple of years around 2000, after moving my flying to AA. I got no direct benefit from it, as I didn't fly DL at all during that period, but it let me win the "most years of consecutive elite status with any one airline" award at the San Diego FT Do in July 2001. I had 10 or 11 with Delta, the most recent two at that point without flying them at all. (IIRC, the prize was a baseball cap advertising a movie.)
Aug 18, 2007, 2:11 am
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: AA EXP, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,017
Seeing as how I asked about AA and not all the other airlines I DON'T fly (this being the AA forum and all...thx to the rest of you anyway), I presume that pkerr, SDGuy, and FWAAA answered the question. Thanks you three. Much appreciated.
By the way, that's a fantastic policy. If you've hit EXP or PLT, you really deserve more than just that following years worth of benefits.
By the way, that's a fantastic policy. If you've hit EXP or PLT, you really deserve more than just that following years worth of benefits.
Aug 18, 2007, 7:16 am
#13
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
Programs: AA EXP BA Gold, TK Gold, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AS 100K, QR PLT, SAS Gold, IHG Spire, AMR
Posts: 5,898
Yes, it is a great policy, but why do you feel you DESERVE this? Do you believe that since you paid a movie theater to watch Rush Hour 3 that you are entitled to watch Spiderman 3 as well, since it is older and less 'hot'?
Aug 18, 2007, 7:38 am
#14
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: JFK/LGA
Programs: AA EXP/5 MM, BA Blue Bayou, HH LT Diamond
Posts: 5,827