I’m going to go against the trend here and say that if you travel a very significant percentage of your time, even if it’s on legs that don’t often have F, it could be worth pushing through to get it, even if it takes the odd well-planned MR. DH is CL + P1 and the soft benefits are noticeably better than WP (I score a companion CL these days but have been WP in my own right for many years, and I definitely noticed the difference between my pre-CL experience as WP and his as P1). The especially proactive approach when flights are cancelled at short notice (or where a delay impacts a connection) is a good example. There’s always someone waiting at the aerobridge for him with everything rebooked - and on whatever flight works best for him, not on whatever flight works best for Qantas. Time and convenience - that’s worth more than a bottle of champagne to us! YMMV

I won’t say there’s not an uptick with CL 😄, but the uptick was also noticeably there with “vanilla” P1 (which DH has held since it was first introduced - much longer than his CL). Definitely a personal thing, but for my money you only need one major disruption that forces an unplanned overnight stay somewhere and causes you to miss a meeting. Can and does happen when flying with tight connections in, say, typhoon season in Asia. It’s the major inconveniences, even when they’re few and far between, and the service recovery that you got, that you really remember. P1 delivers on this score. It also delivers on the discretionary release of J and F award seats on flagship routes (including in blackout periods). Personally I value those benefits over some of the other advantages in other programs.

But the 600SC shortfall, and the reasonable AA alternatives, might mean the chase is not worthwhile for the OP. 😄

Following the AA forum, most ExecPlat can’t think of a time when they’ve had extra availability for awards. For upgrades of course you’re closer to the front of the line