nk15

I hope they will extend in the last minute, so I can credit my Dec re-qualification flights to BA and switch over to BAEC.

Catbert10

IMO, the bigger question is if AA keeps the existing LP thresholds, which are a net increase over Pre-COVID thresholds, now that UA is keeping 2023 qualifying thresholds at their lower COVID levels.

LlamaJesus

Agree with this. Easier for them to justify lowering them, but I'd imagine they'll be nervous to since they don't really know exactly what will happen. So wouldn't surprise me if they don't make any movement on it until a few months into 2022, when they have a better sense of how many LP people are actually earning. (Obviously they can make some pretty good projections based on historic spend data, etc., but they really can't know for sure how consumer behavior will change.)

Herb687

Why wouldn't they? It's much easier to leave the thresholds in place and just run promos when they need to drum up additional business/mileage sales to credit card partners.

In fact, given how many FTers seem to want to do silly things and waste money in a quest for status, it seems like a great idea for AA to have very high thresholds but frequent promotions to make people feel good about wasting more money in their quest to feel more special.



Confused. What exactly are you complaining about/asking for?

dw

No reason they won’t be assessing progress as 2022 goes on and provide boosts like they did this year to meet their internal targets.

cova

I doubt they will. It is all about spending big on their credit cards.

They have likely analyzed their CC spend. Could be they determined that many that fly are not charging their ticket to an AA CC. They also had a chance to see that some increased their AA CC spend with the one year credit to Million Miler. w I bet there was a big increase. And AA wants that spend permanently to give you status.

I could see if it was a business traveler on a Corp. CC - but AA knows that too.
The bloggers push buying tickets on AmEx Plat to get the 5x points, versus the Barclay Silver which only give 3X - but those are to AA, AmEx is not.

I think AA wants you to be all in on their CC's and leave AmEx and others. Hence no more extensions.
LP will determine upgrade order within Elite level.
AA even has threshold bonuses up to $750K spend.

I think the believe that some that have a business will start charging more to AA CCs.
Someone who spends $750K on the CC will be way above a normal business traveler as EXP for upgrades.

There is no reason at all to extend with this new program. Shift all your CC spend to AA.

dvs7310

Not going to suddenly shift my spending. Just bought 3 tickets on AA today via Chase Ultimate Rewards portal for 5x points. WAY better than the 2x I'd get using my Citi AA card. Assuming quarantines end soon, it'll be no issue to get the 200k points from flying, not significantly than earning 100k EQMs before depending on one's travel patterns.

Antarius

A lot of EXPs that I know with high spend don't have this option. They have to use the Corp card that integrates with their ERP system.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. I do agree that there's no reason for AA to do anything now. If things look dicey in 2022 early, they can course correct.

imapilotaz

What AA should do is soft land EXP to PP, and keep PP, Platinum and Gold at current level for another year.

That would ensure that EXP's that got hit still retain their primary benefits (free upgrades) if they were in theory your best customers from losing massively, but thin out the heard a bit for those that did travel quite a bit.

I hit the EQD, Credit Card and in January I'll naturally requalify for this year (thanks Covid for pushing my Int'l J from Dec to Jan... nice that I can double dip tho).

But AA needs to be very careful with putting people into "free agency". The airline is by far the worst airline out there in the US for virtually everything (save ULCCs which business travelers rarely take). I took advantage of a United status match and will requalify 1K soon. And I have to say, UA is WAY better airline than AA. Better aircraft. Better seats. Better entertainment. Better App/IT. Better/Nicer employees. I'm in a captive hub for AA, but I'm actively debating switching to UA next year because they are such a better experience. The idea of having to connect on everything flight sounds terrible, but I'm sick of 3+ hour delays on AA, terrible employees and frankly way too many terrible customers who are itching for a fight.

SFO_FT

No significant reason for AA to NOT extend status for another year, given that these extensions don’t come with eVIPs for EXP.

AsiaTravel2019

Come on AA, extend status for next year. Or a soft landing

dw

This may not be a popular opinion here, but perhaps AA has decided that people who didn’t requalify under this year’s reduced requirements (plus the boosts + the extended qualification year which will run the 16 months from November 2020 through February 2022), may simply never be back in the same capacity as they were pre-pandemic

enviroian

Why should they when they threw qualifying bones all year long? No way. I earned it w/o any handouts and would like it to be remain that way.

cova

100K EQM are not part of the LP program.
If you are currently EXP then you need to spend $18,182 on AA tickets (pre tax). This is the minimum spend.
if you have no current status on AA you need to spend $40,000. Although it is really less since you will earn Gold, then Plat, then Plat Pro at earlier thresholds - so that reduces the spend as you continue to spend on AA tickets.

AA knows you are charging your AA tickets to Chase CC - so your choice - but you then need to do $18.1K spend. Maybe that is not an issue.
But another person that charges to AA card and spends $18.1K on tickets will trump you for upgrades.

In fact, a person spending $750,000 on the AA card will likely trump all but CK.

cova

Agree - stop the extensions - either fly or spend big or drop status. For the past two years, after dropping to Platpro in 2019 and continuing to earn (even though I was eligible for extension for all the bonuses) - I am sure that I was missing some upgrades due to lower spend EXP that had extensions.

For those on Corp CCs - if your company is a big spender - AA gives away many CK and EXP statuses to Corp flyers. If you are not getting at least EXP for free from AA through your company - then you really aren't that important.