TravelLawyer

ijgordon

OP would probably be back in the hospital after flying that.

wimvlb

Thanks for the suggestion , but not going to do that .... I just thought my loyalty would have been rewarded ... as you can imagine there have been literally over a hundred flight delays where I never asked for compensation and a lot of times where I booked an AA flight even though it was more expensive ... Not gonna have to worry about that again .

spongenotbob

scubadu

Nowhere in my response did I say it couldn't be done, I said it's a tall order.

Read between the lines. In looking at the initial post and their follow on comments, coming off a hard year of medical challenges, does their tone imply they are looking to do the type of mileage run you laid out over the Christmas holidays? If that was the desire they probably would have started a thread like, "I"m 50K EQMS short of EXP, how can I get there?"

Regards

Gig103

What, did you have the nerve to think the Advantage program was about "loyalty" or something?
​​​​​​
Sarcasm aside, that is pretty lame. Unsurprising knowing about Doug "LCC" Parker's history in AZ, but lame.

JDiver

Once they decided to monetize retaining status or buying up even for minuscule deficiencies, there was no turning back. I’ve seen members’ posts describing illnesses, surgeries, some deployed to combat overseas, etc. denied status retention exemptions. (Just my speculation, but if the CEO and his management have no loyalty to the airline, loyalty may not be highly valued.)

If you’re up for it, I recommend one final attempt: a well prepared but not overly lengthy snail mail to Doug Parker’s office stating the facts (including the qualifying EQD, shoulder and EXP Liaison denial - it will be in your record) and why it’s in the interest of AA to grant you this exception.

Good luck.

If not, you have options. Eat pride and knowingly go for the challenge offer because AA is your most practical choice due to location and available routes, or go to Delta as others have advised. You could even try for a DL match now and use that as leverage if you choose to call AA for a challenge.

I’ve been flying AA since the 1940s. Loyalty used to be valued. As a subteen I even received a letter, dictated and signed by AA CEO C. R. Smith, because I sent an in flight post card to him. (Yep, they’d give you postcards or stationery and envelopes, frank and post your letters written on board in those days.) That certainly had an effect on me over the years, but the AA and CEO of today are not the AA and CEO of the 1950s.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

See what kind of challenge they provide. I did one a few years ago for EXP and it was very reasonable and doable.

Stripe

Hilton recently instituted a benefit to extend your Diamond status for another year if circumstances kept you from requalifying the normal way. That would nice for AA to do but they keep trying every which way to keep the EXP numbers down to where they can reasonably deliver some decent benefits, and not making exceptions like this is part of that effort.

I sympathize with the OP, up to a point. In the past AA probably would have made an exception. Now they offer the buy-up option for cases like this, which I assume he would be eligible for. Now it's just a matter of money. In a normal year he would likely have spent the money with AA anyway. This way he spends it and retains the status without having to fly.

xliioper

AS has an official "Elite Leave" policy for new parents, but it seems pretty clear that's the limit of it.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ts/elite-leave

While I'm sympathetic to OP, it's also nice to have consistency. Airlines used to have "soft landing" policies where people would only drop by at most one level each year. This would probably keep most people happy and it removes the "what should the threshold be for long-term loyalty?" question that results from having to make case-by-case decisions. But it's pretty clear with the buy-up programs that soft landings are not going to return.

longtimereader firstimeposter

But why should AA give you Executive Platinum gratis? Judging by your numbers - 3M lifetime over 19 years of EXP it sounds like you were squeaking by most years since pre-2011 everything was counted towards MM status. It wasn't like you missed EXP by <10,000 miles, you earned half of what it takes.

They have awarded your loyalty with Lifetime Platinum status. Granted it's been devalued but you still get early boarding, access to MCE and upgrades.

ijgordon

Often1

Or forget it and fly the carrier providing the best combination of the factors important to you, e.g. price, schedule, hard, and soft product. Perhaps other factors as well. If you want to fly F/J on a given flight, find the ticket for the price in your range. If you need to check a bag when in Y, pay on those occasions. But, don't stress over a self-created problem, e.g. having to maintain status.

Requests such as OP's serve to convince carriers that their marketing strategy of retaining "loyalty" is working. Maybe the strategy is.

pmblinn

I seem to be in the minority, but I don't agree with the notion of granting exemptions based on some kind of perceived, accrued loyalty. It's a slippery slope from the company's perspective. (Especially when the OP admits they are only at 50% of the EQM threshold!). OP can get back on the AA horse in 2019 and try to qualify for status in 2020, or take their loyalty--with a fresh start--elsewhere.

shadesofgrey1x

If they granted an exception they would have to do so for everyone and then set what the terms would be. If its ok at 19 year of loyalty, then how about 15?? 10?? how severe does the illness need to be etc etc. They probably also considered, he will still be at the very least platinum and quite a few of the perks are never going away. It not like he will be dropped to no status.

If he wants to persist yes call again and use social media. It cant hurt as long as he sticks to the facts and is poilite.