I recently got a call from Exec Plat customer service "To check on you and your family during this unprecedented virus time." That was pretty smart PR. I asked about the difference between rollover and actually qualified Exec Plats for 2021. They said that actually qualifying Exec Plats will get the system wide upgrades. The big deal, however, is the 12 month rolling average of ticket spending for upgrade priority. Those who actually qualify for Exec Plat for 2021 will have a much higher $$ than the rollover ones, so it should take care of the abundance of Exec Plats.

355F1 Thanks... typo corrected... Full LOL

My last flight of this year was on March 12 from Madrid, the day before they stopped travel from Europe. I have made Exec Plat every year since they added the level, most years by May or June at the latest. I don't see myself getting on a plane until late summer 2021 at the earliest, and that may be premature. 80% of my travel is to Asia Pacific, the rest split between South America and Europe. Not a single city I typically travel to is open, no industry trade shows, many of my customers working from home. As much as we hate to admit it, I don't see business travel returning to pre-Covid levels, as many have said here.

Question: I was rolled over from last year to Exp thru 2021. But i will also earn Exp this year based on reduced thresholds. Does that then roll me thru 2022?

If you earned EXP in 2019 (by flying 100k EQMs or 120 EQS and accruing $15k EQDs), that originally was supposed to expire January 31, 2021. AA rolled everyone's status over so that now expires January 31, 2022.

If you earned EXP in 2020 (by flying 60k EQMs or 60 EQS and accruing $9k EQDs), that will expire on January 31, 2022.

So, if you want status for all of 2022, you'll need to fly in 2021.

I suspect that the airlines will do something to help folks qualify next year, because travel demand doesn't look like it will recover particularly quickly, and is skewing towards low-dollar-value leisure travelers. Delta is rolling over everyone's MQMs from 2020 into 2021 (so that flights credited to DL now will help you earn status for all of 2022), but has been silent on whether they will roll over MQDs as well.

Flights are full because AA has cut back capacity but I have been on many flights now where I was the only CK, even flights ex DFW whereas in the past there were several CKs per flight. Also, some flights have had very small upgrade lists compared to what they used to be in the past.

Glad you were on the MIA CLT flight with 772; it's too short but still a great ride with flat beds.

I gather from conversations a certain number of EXPs are taking personal trips to at least beef up their 12 month rolling spend for upgrade purposes. An EXP that hasn't flown since March might be EXP until 1/31/2022 but might soon find themselves as the back of the upgrade que for EXPs.

Guessing it would be a minority even on FT that will translate in a statistically insignificant group overall.

And a really dumb move by anyone who does that. Beefing up your spend to improve your position on an upgrade list is the height of folly. If you're willing to spend money on unnecessary travel, why not just invest that money in upfaring Y travel next year to paid F? Seems a much better idea than spending more time than absolutely necessary on AA aircraft.

Agreed!! This EXP that hasn't flown since March doesn't give a rat's butt about where I will land on the upgrade list. If I ever do start flying again I will simply purchase business class, and not necessarily on AA. If you have ever flown Q-Suites you know where I am coming from.

I don't know all markets, but most of my domestic travel (essential healthcare) is still incredibly cheap...so my EQD's are still very low despite continued travel this year. I passed the reduced threshold for EQM/EQS in August, but still haven't hit the $9k to get the SWU's for this year. It seems obvious that there are less EXPs traveling, however with the reduced capacity and concentrated flights my upgrade success is about the same as always (definitely NOT guaranteed).

Could not agree more! SWUs just don't mean as much to me as they previously did after flying the QR.

And as far as domestic travel goes, domestic F is pretty cheap anyway so I'd likely just buy it. Further, if I am playing upgrade roulette for whatever reason, I can't imagine competition for F seats will be even close to strong for the foreseeable future.

Nothing worse than seeing your name first on the upgrade list and not making the cut! In all seriousness, I have to imagine there are a bunch of folks in the same boat, they have traveled internationally exclusively for the last two decades, and can't take a flight for business now if they wanted to. Heck, I have a friend that is in the right seat with AA on 777s and he too has not been on a plane since March, almost to the day, same as me.

How much is he getting paid to not fly? I have WN pilot and FA friends who were paid pretty nicely to stay home all summer!

I'm pretty sure he was on the program that AA had earlier that paid them 1/2 time but not sure if that is still in operation. He also took a month or two of vacation. I know a couple of senior captains that just retired at 65, so maybe they are thinning the herd a bit.