“Grace” (exception) if close to but missing Status EQM, EQS or EQD.
 

I'm sure the answer here is probably a resounding, loud, "NO" but I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with whether or not AAdvantage would ever essentially gift a small amount of EQM (esp. with prepaid upcoming travel..) to close a small gap to the next tier.

I'm less than 200 miles from Plat and I'd love to get MCE booked prior to my next trip mid Dec.

(I tried searching for this, but couldn't find anything, likely because I couldn't quite think of how to word it)

How loud would you like your 'No' to be? :)

It does sometimes happen at the end of the year when someone is a few miles short of a tier but even that is rare since they obviously prefer to charge people for that gap.

Getting it during the year isn't going to happen, fly the miles, get the status and enjoy it after you qualify.

even if someone said yes , that it does from time to time, would you be happy to gamble on it vs just taking a 200 mile flight

Sounds to me as if OP already has the qualifying flight booked (bolding mine below) - they are just looking to see if they can get bumped up before the flight, so they can get an MCE seat before 24 hours. Doesn't sound like they are trying to get Plat status gifted - just wanting it in advance.

Exactly.

The most I might suggest trying is to call up and ask if you can be put in MCE as a favor since you will qualify on that flight/

Worst they can say is no...

While it may not be unheard of, I am not clear, and forgive me, what benefit this has for AA. You do not qualify in any terms as a "major" or "large" customer or influencer. You're a regular good customer. From a relations point of view, maybe, but to start topping off status as one approaches the threashold could be a bottomless pit for profits, and that impacts ticket costs at the end.


As I sit here with 99,437 miles, I too wonder if they might let me take the rest of the year off and just ship me my SWUs now.

Agree-- no harm in asking.

How much is the MCE fee for the flight in question. Rather than asking AA for something you don't need and which you are extraordinarily unlikely to get, why not ask if the agent might assign an MCE seat early?

That is a more doable thing than awarding unearned status.

Funny this question just came up on here as I just emailed AA the other day. I'm 184 miles from EXP and asked nicely if I could get the 184 bump to EXP so I can enjoy the outbound next week phx-dtw as an EXP.

"Dear Ian,

It's our pleasure to assist our valued AAdvantage Platinum® members.
Thanks for contacting us here at AAdvantage® Customer Service.

At this time we are not making any elite exceptions for the 2017
membership year, we do encourage you to continue flying to earn the
status. If you still fall short of the Executive Platinum
qualifications, we'd be happy to discuss any options we have available
closer to the end of the year.

We are eager to serve you at the elite level you desire. Keep up the
great work!

Regards"

Very helpful - this is the answer I was unfortunately expecting, but glad to know the current official response.

I do like the idea of asking for an MCE seat; I may give that a shot. If I do I'll post here with results.

Is it a busy route? I'm sort of in a similar boat. I really want to know if an later trip this year I want to book will be upgradeable with SWUs that I'll get when I complete my upcoming Thanksgiving trip, but I can't figure out how to figure that out on expert flyer nor do I have any SWU's as a plat yet. :( So I don't know if I should pull the trigger now for a coach seat and hope the transatlantic flight will be upgradeable via SWUs I hope to earn in a couple weeks...

Use the 'Awards & Upgrades' tool and search for C inventory.

Odds are it will show C0 as there isn't a lot of C inventory opened up early these days, but you can still wait-list for the upgrade.