Questions and Answers

Lucky – have you noticed that AA has said that, going forward, the order of complimentary domestic upgrades will be determined by money spent (EQDs) in addition to status level? My wife and I are both ExecPlats; she makes 12-15 yearly trips west to east coast, and getting the upgrades is key to her chasing the miles to remain execplat. If EQDs enter into the rankings, she will be too low to get upgrades most of the time. It barely works well for her now.

You have analyzed the new AA policies, but I haven’t seen anything on this.

If you check back on Lucky’s [URL=’http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/06/06/2017-aadvantage-program-changes/’]original post[/URL] about the changes coming to AAdvantage, he talks about this:
[I][/I]
[SIZE=6][B][I]American is changing how upgrade priority works[/I][/B][/SIZE]
[I]American has been unique in how they prioritize upgrades. Upgrades clear first by status, and then by the time added to the waitlist. In other words, if you’re an Executive Platinum member who books your ticket way in advance, you’re almost guaranteed to clear. However, the downside is that if you’re a last minute planner, you’ll often be paying the highest fare and also have the worst odds at upgrades.

As of “later in 2017,” American will be prioritizing upgrades based on a 12-month rolling elite qualifying dollar total, sorted by elite status. In other words, an Executive Platinum member who has spent $20,000 on American in the past year but booked a week out will be prioritized ahead of an Executive Platinum member who has spent $10,000 in the past year but booked 11 months out.[/I]

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 17814, member: 29″]If you check back on Lucky’s [URL=’http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/06/06/2017-aadvantage-program-changes/’]original post[/URL] about the changes coming to AAdvantage, he talks about this:

[SIZE=6][B][I]American is changing how upgrade priority works[/I][/B][/SIZE]
[I]American has been unique in how they prioritize upgrades. Upgrades clear first by status, and then by the time added to the waitlist. In other words, if you’re an Executive Platinum member who books your ticket way in advance, you’re almost guaranteed to clear. However, the downside is that if you’re a last minute planner, you’ll often be paying the highest fare and also have the worst odds at upgrades.

As of “later in 2017,” American will be prioritizing upgrades based on a 12-month rolling elite qualifying dollar total, sorted by elite status. In other words, an Executive Platinum member who has spent $20,000 on American in the past year but booked a week out will be prioritized ahead of an Executive Platinum member who has spent $10,000 in the past year but booked 11 months out.[/I][/QUOTE]

Thank you David, you are quite right that Lucky did post about that. I missed it. This policy change may help those who buy last minute tickets, and it probably won’t hurt me for my handful of domestic cross country trips, as I spend at least 50K yearly on AA business travel. However, my wife will likely have no reason to continue as Execplat, since I don’t believe the complimentary upgrades will be coming her way for the 12-15 CA to east coast trips she makes annually.