JeffCarlin

Quick background: I've been EXP for about 15-20 years and have slightly under 4 million miles earned to date. Last summer, I ran into some health issues which stopped me from flying for the last half of 2018 and may prevent me from resuming the kind of flying I've experienced in the past. As we all know, I'm PLT for life (once you cross 1 million miles). I called the EXP desk to find out if there's anything that I can do to extend my EXP status beyond January of 2019. I only made about 75 segments and 60,000 miles and $10k spend in 2018.

So, AA offered me basically a mileage challenge for 2019. Fly X miles/money/segments and they'll give me EXP. It might be the meds I'm taking, but I really feel that AA just slapped me around. I'm trying not to sound privileged or bratty about this, but truthfully, how many EXP's are in my situation? Retirement (whether forced or not) and unable to reach EXP levels with a 3 million+ accrual. Would giving us lifetime EXP status really put AA in the poorhouse? Truth is, at this stage, none of us will fly very much, so it won't be a burden on resources. And, it might be nice for once to see an airline really thank a pax's loyalty for a lifetime of business.

Give me your thoughts. Am I being a spoiled child or do I make sense? Thanks.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

mendezka

We all feel for you. But realistically they are doing the right thing. Airlines are one of the last industries where status actually means something. They can't just keep passing EXP status to lifetime members or else the product gets devalued.

IADCAflyer

Holy cow, this is the third thread so far in the past couple weeks related to the "I couldn't fly AA for half a year because _______" theme.

Mwenenzi

Frequent flyer loyalty programs are about frequent flying. People have all sorts of reasons for not flying. The airlines ffp's have heard them all.

Another--->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...omer-life.html

rumboj

eponymous_coward

Probably more and more of them every year given that a) AA has acquired a number of airlines by merger and b) the FFP has only been a thing for less than 40 years, and it takes a while to get to a million, two million, etc. miles, so sure, there are probably plenty of 60-70 year olds who used to hit EXP regularly and don't any more, and there will be more next year.

Out of curiosity, how many of your lifetime miles came from credit card spend, before that got shut down?

So AA gave you lifetime Platinum, where you need fly zero miles on a paid ticket in a year, and then you can come back in another year and still possibly get upgrades, lounge access internationally, and other benefits, but that's inadequate thanks, you want SWUs and lifetime unlimited domestic upgrades when you fly.

AA didn't promise you lifetime EXP. Maybe you should have flown UA instead of AA if you wanted an airline that would promise lifetime status at the highest levels if you flew enough. They give out lifetime 1K (3 million) and Global Services (4 million). Of course you actually would have had to fly, there wasn't a shortcut by using the credit card.

JeffCarlin

dgparent

Sorry can't really feel sorry for you, like others have said if you wanted the highest lifetime status you should of considered a switch to UA a long time ago. I don't understand why someone who last flew regularly say 5 years ago and spends virtually nothing on AA now, should be upgraded over a PLT PRO who fly's somewhere between 90-119 segments a year now, and spends at least 9K a year on AA.

SeeBuyFly

I think AA is playing the long game---it made the rules many years ago specifically to diss the OP.

Often1

OP is upset that AA won't comp him lifetime EXP. That is not going to happen. At least not if EXP is to mean anything to others.

OP - Sit down and think about it. Someone who has earned PP is beat out for an UG by you who spent less and flew less and has no prospect of doing more in the future. By any metric, the PP is the "better" customer and rewarding someone else is not a smart thing for a for-profit business.

JDiver

You failed to make the EQD and EQ Miles or Segments, clearly published requirements, last year, regardless of the reason. A few years ago, AA would have allowed a “soft” fall into the ne t status tier. They don’t do that any longer.

Nothing personal, nothing unexpected, they’re sticklers to go by the book because the Board allows Doug Parker to run the airline like that. D0 über alles, Oasis and all that, because AA will never lose money again, says he.

They do offer “buyback or boost” link

or

a targeted challenge link.

I’d say you were fortunate to be offered a challenge to retain Executive Platinum status.

Lest you think I’m being overly harsh, 17 years of consecutive EP here (more as Platinum), flown AA since the mid-1940s, 5,651,406 million miles, failed to meet EP criteria last year for some hardship reasons. I too will not be able to fly at previous levels. Lifetime Platinum will be (originally) unexpected and more than okay, and free me to use other airlines when that may be more convenient or economical. Look at it as an opportunity, as AA stepped up to offer you a favor - even though you admit you won’t be flying to past activity levels.

No, I’m sorry, that’s actually irrelevant. Many of your miles for million miler status were bonus miles earned through status, class of service and probably some of the great bonus mile promos AA offered. Those counted through the end of 2011, and many of us know that.

redtop43

AA has their rules for lifetime status. If they wanted to give lifetime EXP for 4 million miles, they would do that. It's not like they had such a program (AFAIK) and eliminated it. If they give certain benefits for "slightly under 4 million miles" why should you expect something different?

They gave you a challenge. In the case of travelers who were regularly EXP and had something unusual happen in 2018, this seems very reasonable. If you regularly fly at EXP levels, you can meet an EXP challenge, especially since you can time the 90-day period. So you have a few months of having to slum with the Plats and PP's.

"Shouldn't AA have a lifetime EXP status?" is a valid question. "Shouldn't AA give me lifetime EXP status when they don't give it to anyone else?" (which is sort of what you're asking for) isn't.

JeffCarlin

JMN57

My answer to your question above.