Resident

Received this today. Never heard of this before. Thought others might want to know.
[mods please move to buy-up thread if appropriate]

Hello Resident,
AAdvantageAAdvantage® Number: XXXXXXX

Since you came close to reaching American Airlines AAdvantage® Gold status for the 2016 membership year, we'd like to offer you the opportunity to renew your status just by using your Citi® / AAdvantage® credit card.

You're automatically enrolled for this promotion – all you need to do is spend $6,000 ($2,000/month) on purchases with your Citi® / AAdvantage® credit card by August 6, 2016. If you have multiple Citi® / AAdvantage® credit cards, the total spend on all of your eligible cards between now and August 6, 2016 will count towards the spend requirement.

Once you reach your qualifying spend, you'll enjoy AAdvantage® Gold status – and exceptional benefits like upgrades, complimentary Preferred Seats and much more – through February 2017.

Thank you for being a loyal member of the AAdvantage® program. We look forward to seeing you on board soon.

lobo411

Interesting...which card do you have? The Citi AA Platinum?

pchong8

Did you have elite status with AA before?

inY

Got the same offer. Had Gold last year. Have the Citi AA Business Platinum.

JonNYC

A first for AAdv as far as my memory goes. Saw it written up as well yesterday on one of the blogs:
http://thepointsguy.com/2016/05/aa-o...pend-targeted/

rasheed

My only read on this is to prepare for the known RDM changes that will come later this year.

These customers might be on the loyalty edge and can easily go elsewhere if they feel spending on AA is not as valuable. With all of the sign-up bonuses, there are many casual flyers who have one (or more than one) AA card.

No existing elites like these situations, but AA Gold is 'sold' to some already, and it does show that there is no need to reduce the number of elites as it is a source of flyers who like to book on AA even with other airline choices.

Rasheed

WRCSolberg

I got the same email, spend $6000 by 8/31 and you get gold elite status until 2/17.

Funny thing, I had the same verbage stating I "came close to requalifying".

Nope, I wasn't anywhere near requalifying. Between this and the weekly buyback emails I was getting from AA, they're not shy about monetizing elite status qualification.

Resident

I have the Citi AAdv Platinum MC.

I was gold the prior 2 years and lost status after ending 2015 with only ~16k EQM. So, "close" is being used generously.

Resident

Also, the email posted on The Points Guy that JonNYC linked to has a different required spend, so perhaps it's based on how "close" you were to re-qualifying?

voodoogirl

I passed on paying extra to boost to Gold, even was offered a discount again last month. I didn't take the offer, but would be interested if all I had to do was use my card I already have.

ThreeJulietTango

Wouldn't it be much cheaper to make Gold the old fashioned way? With planning, $6,000 worth of travel could easily net Platinum status.

Oformula

It depends. If you normally spend ~$2,000 per month, getting gold with this offer costs exactly $0. Nothing cheaper than that. If you spend considerably less per month, and you're only spending to meet this offer, then it may not be worth it.

Rus925

I got a similar offer for Gold but for $3k total spend ($1k per month). I rarely use my Citi AAdvantage card, which is probably why they didn't push for $6k with me. I'll try to spend up the $3k asap to get the status sooner.

I wonder whether the status will really come 10-14 business days after I reach the $3k spend, as the email suggests, or 10-14 business days after the close of the statement in which I reach $3k spend. I called Citi, they weren't familiar with the offer, so they transferred me to AAdvantage, who also wasn't familiar with the offer but said that they only get spend updates from Citi at the end of the statement period, so it sounds like the latter.

thedoorchick

Interesting. Too bad our Citi AA card is in my name. I am lifetime GLD but my hubs has no status. Would love for him to find a way to GLD (of course, I know the obvious answer to how to accomplish this, but he doesn't travel that much for business and we almost always use miles for leisure travel).

Rus925

In my case, I had GLD last year, albeit again through a targeted promo, that expired this February. I think that's a prerequisite for getting this offer, so your husband is not missing out for lack of the Citi AA card if he didn't have status last year.