After having American AAdvantage’s (published) top-tier Executive Platinum status for 14 years, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my run will end a few weeks from now. As a matter of fact, I’ll drop all the way down to AAdvantage Gold… and I feel totally fine about it. I’m just going to start…
Continue reading: After 14 Years, I’m Losing American Executive Platinum Status
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Why not get OWS or OWE with a foreign carrier? If you just want lounge access, at least you get both DOM and INTL. I’m ORD based, almost at OWS on Iberia for Flagship Lounge access.
@ Ari Hakkarainen -- Yeah, so it's something I've been seriously considering for a long time. The issue is, which program? British Airways is gutting its loyalty program, so isn't worth pursuing. What other program actually has a decent path to oneworld Emerald?
I'd obviously much rather earn oneworld Emerald with a foreign program for the perks you mention, but that's harder to do, especially with credit card spending.
Royal Jordanian. I believe the still have a status match.
46 segments to earn. 80 to maintain over 2 years. There used to be a minimum requirements of RJ flights but that's since been removed. Given your large number of AA flights I'm sure you get can there on segments only.
Have you looked into Royal Jordanian? It has a 2-year qualification period for Emerald and seems quite reasonable (does not offer priority boarding on BA but otherwise full Emerald benefits)
Ben, both smart and wise. My strategy as well. If you were to also have the Aviator Silver, you put your spending on it for another 15k LPs. The Executive's LPs do not require the spending to be on it. Thus, you only need 90k LPs from spending itself.
@ Mika -- So I definitely don't do 40 revenue segments per year on American, so I don't think I'd be able to earn that. Also, while not quite as important, status through Royal Jordanian doesn't get Main Cabin Extra, since it's not a joint venture partner. That would be a great strategy for some, but the threshold is a bit high for me.
Ben
Not specifically towards AA as I prefer UA, but as someone who struggled to get their top status for this year (1K - will never make GS) - my question is, and you touch on this, is it even worth getting "status" unless you either can get a perk that is important to you or top status? It just seems that the lower levels for all these programs and not far from meaningless?
Why not QR? Being based in the us, it’s pretty easy to earn plat (owe) as long as you fly 4 QR sectors and earn 120 qpoints a year on QR metal. AA flights credit pretty handsomely to QR (ie MIA-LGA in I-fare class credits 20 qpoints one way).
Great strategy! Like other said - the Barclays Aviator Silver is a worthwhile add to bump up loyalty points, and with a family of 3, the companion certificate is great for a domestic (lower-48) vacation.
My question to you - as a business owner with a lot of spend AND as someone who uses a lot of miles (either for your travel review, or flying a family of 3 around) - have you crunched the numbers for incremental non-bonused spend to move more to Aadvantage?
For example - Loyalty Point Awards - if you take the miles option every time - treat it as a bonus redemption. So the 50k extra LP or $50k spend, you get 25,000 miles. you effectively get 1.5 miles per dollar on the extra spend. If you are paying $50k of taxes to the IRS at 1.87% - you are buying miles at 1.25c a mile - before the business tax deduction of paying taxes.
Then the extra 25k extra LP to get EXP vs. Plat Pro + 175k LP Rewards. You get 11x points vs. 9x on purchased flights. You get better upgrade priority - which may work for flights where it's too short to bother to buy first for. You get group 1 boarding which is nicer. If you need 1.5 miles per dollar to make spending on the aaviator card work, you need 12,500 bonus points vs. the standard $1/point. The breakeven for that is $6,250 in equivalent spend on AA, which may make sense for many travellers to go for EXP vs Plat Pro
Regarding upgrades, I had some very unexpected ones. In 2023 me and my wife only had the Gold status. We booked basic economy tickets to Cancun connecting at MIA. We booked it in February 2024, and a month later we no longer had any status (mainly fly AA on award tickets). To our shock, we both got upgraded to first class on the way there and back as well (in the intra-US segment), while there were over a dozen people on the upgrade list. Very unexpected it was I have to say.
When we were both Platinum Pros 3 years ago, our upgrade never cleared. Go figure....
Both Finnair and Iberia are reasonable I think in their current states. For IB, two round trips on OW carriers to Europe in J and a few shorter legs get you OWS. No requirement to fly on IB, unlike BA.
I looked into earning JAL status a while ago and almost made the switch. IIRC, they require some flights on JAL metal to qualify which is hardly onerous. I also remember Mileage Bank has some really good sweet spot redemptions, which will probably be less competitive than the more freely accessible AAdvantage/Exec Club programs. I was mostly attracted to OneWorld Emerald on a foreign carrier for that sweet sweet domestic US lounge access.
Ooh, that is a good strategy. I hadn't thought of letting it lapse and then dumping all of the spend in a few months to get 2 years of qualification. I may consider trying that in a future year.
Agreed! I think I'll do the same. I was EP for about 16 months a few years ago and have been Plat Pro since i almost always buy the cash upgrade as they are usually between $100 to $200. Once it was $49. I don’t see any incremental value by going EP. As EP, I got maybe 2 upgrades and as Pro I got about 6 over two years. I'm dropping to Gold next month so curious if the cash upgrade offers will cost more... dies anyone know?
@Rob,
What is considered 4 sectors? Would DC to the Maldives be considered 4 sectors or 2 sectors? The routing would be
IAD-DOH
DOH -MLE
MLE -DOH
DOH-IAD
All on QR metal issued as one ticket.
The OP wrote: "In the past, I used to be blindly loyal to American, and the thought of not earning Executive Platinum wouldn’t have been something I’d even consider. I would’ve either done mileage runs at the end of the status year, or would’ve ensured I had enough credit card spending to requalify."
I find this really perplexing. It’s hard for me to understand why anyone would be blindly loyal to a company, especially when companies treat their customers as part of a transactional relationship. Personally, I’ve never reached the top tiers of any loyalty programs because I buy what I find valuable, regardless of the carrier. So, maybe I’m missing something.
This year, for the first time, I reached Gold with AA due to work travel and one personal trip. I haven’t noticed much difference from not having status at all. I purchase upgrades for my work trips when they’re offered at a reasonable price. What I have noticed, though, is that there are often 30 or 40 people on the upgrade list for just 5 available seats at best. It makes me wonder—did they get the same kind of upgrade offers at the same price that I did...
Is it worth Ben chasing American status at all ?
Day passes can be purchased to enter lounges Ben wishes to frequent or review. Most likely he has access to other lounges at major airports anyways.
The group 1 boarding on One World isn’t really that great .
Status match with one for 2025. Then in March 2026 do your $90k spending plane to regain AA Platinum pro.
Never the thought @Ben would actually drop down to gold. Good on you to illuminate a plan that works for you in 2025.
Because 15 years ago, it was a different reality. Because upgrades were a reality. Because, EXPs received greater award inventory than lower tiers. There *was* reciprocation for a customer's loyalty. So, a person stays with it. The changes occur slowly and, individually, don't cause alarm . . . like a lobster in a pot of water. But, you finally get to a point when you see it for what it now is. It happened to me with both airlines and hotels.
@ Lee -- This, 100%. For so long it was so rewarding, and perks were slowly degraded, year by year.
One important benefit of OWE is Main Cabin Extra seats on Basic Economy fares. Also you could have kept your OWE until April 2026 flying the round trip on BA with the Status match. It’s better than AA OWE with Flagship access on AA. Nevertheless I planning my OWE on flying QR. Good luck. You are correct on the upgrade game is over with many not realizing it waiting and watching upgrade lists.
As a note, the guys at Eye of the Flyer had the same experience with Delta. Author Rene had Diamond since inception. Holy Smokes. But, he found that the value and convenience just wasn't there any longer. And, there have been articles in the NYT and CNN and other news outlets that relate the same choices being made by long-tenured road warriors. I admire them all.
Amex Platinum 5X
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey 4X (assuming transfer partners expand)
Tier status provides what benefits that a premium cabin ticket does not? (If someone says a magic phone line for IRROPS, lounges have lounge angels.) Long-tenured road warriors will quickly note that the incremental value of tier status over a premium cabin ticket is little to none. @michael, if you're only achieving mid-level tier status, you might want to credit your flights to a non-US program so as to get US lounge access. Best of luck.
Rationalizing your blindness doesn't make it less hypocritical.
"But my loyalty has gone from being blind to being transactional"
"I’d have a hard time giving up oneworld Emerald status"
You still "would’ve ensured I had enough credit card spending to requalify." for Emerald.
That is still blind and not transactional.
The target may have shifted but "I’ll put things like tax payments on the card, until I earn the status." says it all.
But the irony here is really about losing EXP when a few years ago Ben had a shot at CK by (allegedly) planting some (fake) trees for multimillion miles.
@Ben, do a status match to Delta/UA and then do the status match back to AA for instant status challenge so that you don't lose oneworld Emerald status from scratch!
I know you have British Airways Gold, so actually it will work out for you also. Use the benefit of BA Gold to select seats and access lounge, then swap out your FFN from BA to AA to get LP credits.
It is 4 Qatar sectors *OR* 20 percent of Qpoints earned on Qatar. As opposed to "and." I'll guess that as Ben is looking to use points and opposed to cash, he might want to earn status via credit card spending.
Nope, unfortunately QR clarified its and not or. But the good thing for many of us is that once you hit 20% of 540 (or 600 if qualifying for plat the first time), you can earn the rest of your qpoints on non-qr metal. And yes IAD-DOH-MLE r/t counts as four.
Am EP (for many years) and getting increasingly frustrated with program, including upgrade situation (on my last reservation with 4 segments was not even close to top of list), million miler program (which is much worse than UA) and other changes (such as unlinking LP rewards vs tiers, where perk at 250k vs 200k when requalify).
Most recently, have been using CC more than flying to requalify - but also AAHotels, which sometimes offer meaningful bonus for EP. I believe you can also couple this with Citi Executive card bonus for additional 10x miles on category.
That being said, am tempted to use Ben's strategy for next year.
I'm an EP and I too am losing my status and frankly, that's fine. After being loyal to AA for what feels like an eternity, I'm opting to no longer make them my carrier of choice. While I don't think AA deserves the rap it gets, the airline just isn't an enjoyable, reliable ride any longer like it used to me. 75% of my flights have been delayed, often by 2 hours or more, in the past 18 months, on routes as diverse as LHR, DCA, JFK, LAX, and MIA. The transcontinental product on the A321T is delivered with a smile but the cabins are worn out and I just don't have it in me to wait it out for the XLR, which I predict won't be EIS until Q4-2025 at the earliest. American is not a bad airline. It's just not a great one and if I am going to forgo status, I would rather move to a carrier where buying into options actually delivers some benefit instead of possibly ending up in a broken seat.
I'm going to lose platinum pro status due to a surprisingly light travel schedule in 2024. My upgrades would frequently clear on short flights served by small regional jets but rarely on flights between major cities. I'll most likely be at gold for the next year. The buy-up offer I got for platinum status is not remotely tempting. The thing I'll miss most is being able to choose economy plus seats at booking instead of having to see if there are any open ones closer to check-in.
they decided to require no flights and spend only. This meant it was always going to happen. I know far to many diamond members who rarely fly.
Noone should be chasing airline status with their own money (even if it's a tax writeoff)
If you happen to walk into it with OPM whatever, but spending one's own money chasing status is for fools.
Right, same as Amex business platinum. I tend to find this as a reasonable way to book and haven't had issue with price differences - although lose out on American business program (extra LPs) and more cumbersome to make changes.
I wouldn't call putting tax payments on an AA credit card as being "loyal" in the traditional sense. Ben is after specific realizable benefits to which he assigns some intangible value. There is an opportunity cost to put tax payments on the AA card to achieve those benefits. To him, it's worth the expense. He's simply "buying" those benefits in a different way. Another person would be fine to simply pay cash for those benefits.
Royal Jordanian Platinum Hawk(OWE)
65,000 miles to attain,110,000 miles to maintain in 24 months. Qualification by segments is irrelevant for you, I guess. Tier validity 2 years. Gold Sparrow(OWS) card nomination. Two complimentary upgrade vocuhers on RJ flights in every 12 months.
Is there value to having alliance status (e.g., Oneworld Emerald) if one is likely to to purchase/redeem a premium long haul fare anyways?
Is status necessary to enjoy the BA, CX, QF, JL, etc lounges if one is already flying first or business?
No, Business Platinum 5x is through amex travel - different than personal platinum.
100%. I feel the same way. EXP and overall loyalty is out the door. Completely pointless to chase status these days.
AA has gone back and forth about whether the XLRs will be deployed first on TATL or transcon. If they are used in an overall strategy to backfill 773s going into retrofit, XLRs won't hit transcon until mid-2026Q2.
Just wondering if you (Ben) or anyone else in a similar position has considered the AS path to Emerald? Seems like you'd get a considerable percentage of the way there from redemptions?
I only fly long haul but use AA credit cards. The business and first class hard products have deteriorated. American never offered a luxurious experience but it’s getting to the point that it isn’t even an upscale experience in the premium cabin anymore. The new product delay yet other airlines still taking Boeing deliveries speaks volumes .
Exp is nothing anymore.
I have 370k points this year and I was 4th on the list today
Do you earn extra loyalty points for actually flying on American versus just charging stuff on their credit card?
@Lee is 100% on target. Things were so very different "before" whatever that means. But, it was. Upgrades happened. I am 260,000 miles this year (and a 20 year EXP member now in a row) on AA and gained some extra Systemwides again this year, but what the heck. Airline could care less how I am. Never a moment when someone says "Thank you for your LOYALTY" like they did with name recognition. I am now MIA CDG alot this year and am seriously switiching to SkyMiles with AirFrance. AA barely serves MIA CDG.
I was CK for a number of years. A person can have the patience of Job but eventually there comes the Popeye moment. Older types will understand what that means.
Question - are paid upgrades cheaper for the higher levels? Meaning, does an EP get a better offer that than Plat Pro? Is there tiered pricing for upgrades? If not, then EP really doesn't offer any AAdvantge (lol).
I know this is your job, but I would never pay $2,400 for oneworld emerald.
Math: 120,000 in spend on a cash back credit card gets you $2,400, so that's the amount you're paying.
But in addition to status he’d also get 120,000+ redeemable miles worth about 1.7 cents or more each
Ben, the program between Hyatt and AA was a mess. We didn't receive the miles for the dollars spent at Hyatt.
Both sides cast the blame on each other. Back and forth we went.
Finally we wrote to American executive management and did not receive a reply.
Many companies try to pair up. This program was ill-managed by both sides. It is no wonder it is dropped this year.
Former BA status charts are looking to Royal Jordanian for status. HfP has articles on the topic.
Had EP, but now Gold for life, chaee no more. AAdvantage miles have become useless for anything but the 48 contiguous US states. Flights to Hawaii or the Caribbean have extortionate pricing, and forget about Europe in J.
Most shocking was looking at a trip to Norway, I wrongly assumed I'd find award tickets through LHR either all or part on BA. but there wasn’t a single itinerary that showed any BA flights, even in economy!
It now appears Aadvantage has become almost exclusively an AA domestic program without any OW benefits. We have a million AAdvantage miles and hardly anyplace to use them.
Lee - thanks for the response, that was part of my point - unless you have top status - then barely worth it unless it occurs organically. My loyalty is based purely out of need - meaning the airports that I often travel in and out of are served mainly by 1 airline - hence, not much of a choice unless I go out of my way.... the few times I fly thru airport owned by a different airline, it is actually nicer and less chaotic to deal with an airline that does not own the hub (looking at you DL in ATL.....)
EXP isn't what it used to be. Upgrades out of MIA are very hard. Just monitor the cash upgrade offers, they almost always become very reasonable. Want first class, pay for first class.
Since the ACs have become more of a Wendys the level of help you get has deteriorated. However, if you know how to use the website correctly you can easily determine best rebooking options and simply go to a gate agent, front desk staff at the AC or telephone rep to get rerouted NOT ask them for options.
EXP you're just another face in the crowed albeit maybe more of an attractive face.
Ben, great strategy! Should you be at least a life time platinum member based on total points you have earned (over 5 million) with American?
This is exactly the situation I am in as well -- when American went from running an airline to running a credit card company, they lost me this past year. OW Emerald is indeed the only draw.
Sounds like a plan. Since you bought those 7 Million miles (for $30K) on AA's Simplemiles portal with that that 240x points stacked promo charity donation, I figured with all those miles, you won't be buying AA tickets and then how are you going to keep EXP.
You can simply pay your $100K+ quarterly tax payment due April 15 (in March) and get PlatPro when your statement posts.
Great plan though I will state I was shocked lol. I recall in past years you mentioned how you're thinking of giving up AA Exec Plat status only to find out later that you eventually kept it. Kudos to you though for making this decision and I think your plan makes sense!
This is my first year as AA exec plat (I'm more a skyteam flyer) thanks to the new Loyalty points change which made it easier for me to have any AA status. Overall I love the lounge access as oneworld emerald but I still don't really fly AA itself as I prefer to fly Delta. Thus, similar to you I just qualified for Platinum Pro and am ok with that moving forward.
You buy first class every single time, every single flight everywhere in the world, so what does it matter?
Ben. Are you not a 2 million miler on AA. That gives you Ruby One World status which trumps gold.
At what status level do you get Oneworld Emerald? Is it Platinum, or Platinum Pro?
I'm about 15K miles short of requalifying as EP and their offer to buy up was $2300!!! Are they OUT OF THEIR MINDS?
Emerald = Plat Pro and Exec Plat
Sapphire = Platinum - which gets you in OW business lounges (not OW F lounges)
OW F lounges are mostly only at Hubs.
Thanks for the article. I'm an Alaska 100k flyer and am moving from Seattle to Phoenix. I fly every week and have been using my AS number on all AA flights but that doesn't get me upgraded as often as I do on AS. And my AS miles don't often work for free travel on AA unless I want three stops. I now have the AA Executive World Elite MC and have been trying to decide if I should us my AA number now instead of AS. I've also got the status match form from AA, but having to qualify every quarter seems a bit much. Thoughts?
I've been sitting on the form (Status Review form) but they said I would qualify for Exec Platinum based on my AS status.
Watch out for those cards charging interest monthly even though you pay in full every month. I fired my MC Platinum select card for that reason.
I earned Executive Platinum in 2025 for the first time since before the pandemic and I'm horrified at how bad the experience is compared to before. No more AAngels, fewer systemwide upgrades (and the ones they give you are worthless). You get routed to the same phone queue as Joe Nobody. Cannot name a single worthwhile benefit. I say worthwhile because they throw all of benefits at us that business travelers never use, like free checked bags. If I were you, I wouldn't shoot for anything on AA.