Often1

Of course brand loyalty is important to AA and brand loyalty goes to the bottom line which is AA's fiduciary duty to its shareholders. But, that does not mean that every customer gets everything he wants.

The question here is whether OP's desire for a freebie is worth it in the long-term to AA given that CK is a scarce resource in terms of the effort AA can reasonably devote to the program.

Redheadpeter

I don't understand why anyone would think for a moment that in 'Corporate-Land' the word loyalty means anything other than the customer being loyal to the corporation. And why do they want that - mostly so they can fleece you. Don't switch your car insurance annually - you end up paying way over the odds after the relentless annual increases. Same for your energy supplier. Same for the guys who maintain my home security - when I .....ed about it for the 2nd year in a row they magically produced a 'same price for life' deal to stop me switching. Of course the airlines want you to keep coming back and paying oodles to fly in their premium cabins so they offer you a few bits and pieces that tickly your vanity. But does the flight take off at a more convenient time? Does it get there any quicker? Will it wait for you if you're late? If you stop spending the oodles will they still tickle your vanity? You have to understand the way the world is now. You would save a whole bunch of money by using the cheapest airline that goes where you want to go and flying in their premium cabins you will still get some tickling - but the money you save will allow you the tickling of your choice!"

cstercl

CK is apparently not all about spend and miles. CK worked from AA's perspective on me. I was extremely "too" loyal last year because of CK. Barely flew another airline if AA was an option. My CK was not renewed and I had 20% more spend and 200K more EQMs than year before when I received CK. AA sent me the year end note saying I was in the top 4% of CKs for miles flown for 2018. I will back off to my normal flying habits which is a mixture of airlines. No hard feelings against AA. It's their business and the great CK algorithm in the sky decided against me.

Antarius

while the exact CK formula is unknown, it strongly leans towards customer profitability, not spend or miles.

If your EQM jumped by 200k (presumably more than a 20% jump) and your spend only by 20%, your profitability as a customer dropped significantly.

JonNYC

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30655165-post124.html

mvoight

Did you tell them your circumstances?

swanscn

I think like others, if AA would just publish the qualifications and end the Secret Squirrel Society non-sense a lot of the bad feelings would go away. This then becomes a business only decision spend $xx,xxx and be invited in to CK,do not spend that next year you will not be invited back. Simple and straight forward and for those thinking a soft landing should be available make your case early but expect it to be denied. BTW, they have offered CK challenges as late as last year for Q4 business.

Science Goy

Not quite.
Did AA Just Diss Me? (Offered Challenge to retain EXP)

Dave Noble

I cannot see how it would make a difference. The OP seemed fully aware that his spend was far short of what would be needed, but wanted it renewed despite this

I don't see that a clearly published set of criteria would have helped

swanscn

I guess many others do not think like I do. I am in the SQ equivalent of CK and there what it takes to get invited and what it takes to maintain that status. I just think AA would do better by their customers if they established know requirements instead of what they do now. And knowing that would have eliminated some hard feelings. Also, it would have given the OP the chance to plead his case long before getting dropped and maybe (unlikely) they would have looked at his history and given him a 1 year grace period.
In reality I do not like the challenges that they offer for any tier of status. earn it the old fashion way sit in a seat (IMHO).
I will never be CK since I fly to Asia often and AA from where I live just does not have many options. So I will continue to be a EXP with a 50k or year spend that they know they will get since my flights in US and to Europe are out of PHL (or at least they have a 84% chance).

Often1

No, you are not the equivalent of CK for the very reason that CK qualifications are not published.

As CK is based on profitability not merely simple metrics such as spend, miles, or segments, all data which is proprietary, it is distinctly not the equivalent of a published status level. UA does this with GS and BA with PREM, by way of example.

richarddd

And, to be explicit, the proprietary nature of AA's profitability calculation is why criteria are not published and are rather unlikely to be published.

AAExPlat

I am a UA 1k and AA EXP. As a member of both programs at that level, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of both programs and their respective top-status (not including CK and GS). How much you like one airline vs the other will depend on a few things...mostly your flying and purchase patterns.

I am a weekly paid F flier between AUS-EWR for work (I fares on AA and P or Z fares on UA) with twice yearly trips to LHR for work (in PE or discount Y fares). My total spend will be around $34k to $35k annually, and I won't have a short to make CK or GS on either program. Over the last year, I have rigorously tested both airlines and here is what I decided after one year of head-to-head testing:

- I will fly UA ONLY into EWRin the early mornings, but never out of EWR in the afternoons or evenings. UA's reliability on later afternoon and evening flights was so poor (admittedly not always their fault) that it made flying with them exclusively impossible.

- I will fly AA ONLY out of EWR. Terminal A TSA Pre security is never nearly as bad as UA Terminal C. That extra wait and stress is not worth it. The UA UC lounge situation at EWR sucks right now, so having a relatively dependable AC with AA is a good thing for me. And AA has been exceptionally good at getting me home on time if I leave in the early evening.

- My international flying will likely stay with UA. UA and AA deal with upgrade space very differently, and RM also handles fares very differently depending on the airline. Based on my current experience, AA RM has effectively decided they will make upgrade space available only just before the check-in window, no matter how empty the flight is. The flight I am on soon had dozens of seats available during the slowest part of the travel year just a few days out. In the meantime, UA had PZ space available (PN space for GS even more generous) weeks in advance on the outbound and other options on the inbound. I would probably rather know I clear in advance than to bite my nails and hope for the best until right before T-24.

Both airlines are very similar in most respects, but I find the average UA domestic F seat less comfortable than even Oasis on AA. I also find AA service to be slightly better on average. And the schedule of both airlines works generally well for me. Both mileage programs are getting worse and worse, so there are differences, but whether one is better than another will depend on your travel patterns. For me personally, using AA miles on partners seems slightly easier than on UA (since UA devalued via their new routing rules), but one can still get lucky on UA, as well.

I would counsel to cool the jets (pun fully intended) and to rethink the complete dismissal of one airline over the other and instead think of how to use this event as an opportunity to focus more on the things that matter and potentially get the benefits of diversification...or, if CK really was all that and a bag of chips, to simply take anoother run at it this year.

jdanton

I really feel like Delta is a much better experience than I get on AA or UA (premium flyer--rarely buy Y fares). The lounges are nicer, the in-air service is much better--I've only flown them domestically, and the downsides are my home base is Philly, and I'm captive if I want nonstops, and their alliance isn't great, but it's a much different experience. (I'm writing this from 1F on a 321 with no power, and a broken wash basin in F.)

Delta's Award situation sucks, but I'm just specifically speaking about the service experience. It's night and day different from Air Dougie.

(edited to add comment about award miles)

PotomacApproach

I often wonder how some people achieve high status without much business sense. AA is a $40 billion/year business, whatever you give them individually is not even a rounding error. Yes, too much Russian bread line customer service, like Smisek's UA of a few years ago, and it will add up and hurt profits. Otherwise, even those of us who pay to sit in F need to get a life and stop worrying about letters and metallic colors. A smart high elite should be able to think like a shareholder.