Including whether the card is going to reset an 18-month clock if options 1 or 3 are taken. Option 2 is the only one of the three guaranteed to not reset an 18-month clock on any card that has one.

Note: Cancelling an AA personal Plat or AA Gold card (option 1) that was converted to World Elite won't likely reset an 18-month clock if you cancel it now. There's no guarantee that it won't reset an 18-month clock if you wait to do it when the AF hits (in case the W->WE loophole has really really really disappeared by then).

Btw, is option 3 even available for a business card?

Do we have any datapoints on people closing a WE card and still being able to get another W card with the bonus within 18 months?

I can confirm that my 12/15 card was approved and received the 60K using a family member's invitation code.

I was recently approved using another one,but have not yet received the letter, so I cannot confirm success on the bonus yet. I will be sure to update

Update- I received the letter today and can confirm that it contains the 60K bonus

Only about a zillion--but the vast majority are from before Feb. 2016. Since early(ish) February, there have been several reports of denied bonuses under circumstances that would have been fine previously.

As noted in the wiki, we're in a period of grave uncertainty. Targeted offers seem unaffected (that is, if your prior W card has converted to WE, you can get the bonus on a targeted offer notwithstanding the 18-month restriction), at least for the moment. But no clear overall pattern has emerged.

I read through this thread pretty regularly, and honestly don't recall seeing any DPs on people cancelling their WE cards and then applying for a new W card (even before the concerns over the loophole closing). I can say the same about the Reddit thread, too.

OK so maybe there aren't a zillion, but I assure you, the data points are there.

I cancelled two of my WEs (out of 4 at the time) and received number 5 with bonus (albeit with targeted mailed offer for a family member)

I have cancelled a WE for me and a WE for my wife, and both applied for our 6th W and got them both and received the bonuses on both (received bonus in February)

Well, you probably didn't read it right. First of all, the focus was more on when to cancel WE cards, not if, and a common approach (certainly my approach) was to cancel the second-oldest WE card right after being approved for the next W card. That way, if/when the loophole ends, the last "close" is within days of the last "open" (which is important, in case both reset an 18-month clock). I went through this cycle several times (and mentioned that). So obviously the cancelling of the WE didn't hurt back then.

And many people described doing something similar. But again, the focus was more on the "when", not the "if". And the "datapoints" were more likely to be "I've been doing this pattern a while and keeping getting bonuses", rather than "I applied for a W after cancelling a WE and got a bonus". So if you were only looking for the "if", or only for "W after canceling a WE" single-occurrence datapoint, perhaps that's why you missed it?

Many people cancel only after they have 2 cards and have been approved for the third, because they may be doing overlapping spend on 2 cards, or may be waiting for a while after lowering credit limits before they cancel (to increase the chances of approval for the next card, it's more important to lower credit limits than it is to cancel).

Anyway, you could search this thread for the word "cancel" and look over the search results pre Feb 2016, and you'd be likely to find datapoints.

Though other datapoints might be in the form:

date card 1 opened
date card 1 converted to WE
date card 2 opened
date card 1 closed/cancelled
date card 2 converted to WE
date card 3 opened
[etc]

Those are a little harder to find via search perhaps, but easier to spot visually while scrollling through lots of posts (though not every datapoint in that format mentioned card closing dates, some did).

Correct. You've got to make an intelligent decision, depending on which cards you have, when your clocks reset, etc.

I don't think option 3 is available for business cards, if only because Citi doesn't seem to offer any other business cards - the only one on their website is the AA business card. Then again, I'm not sure anybody's ever kept one long enough to hit the AF on it - since there's no 18-month clock, and most people seem to have to close the previous card before they can get a new one, there's no compelling reason to keep one open for a full year.

I received the approval letter today, and there's no mention of the bonus, so I guess I'm one of the unlucky ones.

Is there any benefit (or harm) in cancelling all open WE's before applying for another personal W? I recall references to some recent applications, that required no identical existing accounts (subject to a wide range of interpretation).

Which link did you use?

AA Plat link 15, no bonus
 

I applied for my first AA Plat card in November, got the WE upgrade in mid-January. Just applied for my second AA plat using link 15, and got sent to pending. Called the number and the rep said that I wasn't qualified for the bonus. Oh well.

The rep may or may not be right. You got to wait for the wording in welcome letter to make that conclusion