Questions and Answers

For a few years I have been chasing Gold status on American Airlines. I thought I was finally going to make it this year, but am falling short again. I recently learned about status challenge which can bump me into Gold for 2019 though. I have a trips scheduled to Vegas in January (4080 miles and $450) and to Peru in February (6216 miles and $582), which will put me over the threshold to reach Gold for the 90 day challenge. My cost is $120 without temporary status or $300 with temporary status. My question is which, if either, of these should I do?
I have a Barclay Aviator card so I already get free bags and level 5 boarding. I almost never fly less than 500 mile trips so those upgrades don’t mean much. I do bump my overall points collection from $5 to $7 per mile which is nice, but I still can’t decide if either challenge is worth the money. Also, I’m not sure how long I retain Gold if I do decide to go for it. Finally I get a so-called “$99 Companion Ticket” which usually still costs plenty more and am not sure if status removes any of those fees. Any advice since my head is in the clouds?!

In your situation it doesnt seem worth it to buy up to gold. The card already gets you free bags and priority boarding. You can combine the 500mile upgrades for longer flights, but thats about the only benefit you’d get if you were Gold.

If you know that you will be flying a lot more in 2019, thus increasing your redeemable mileage earning by 40 percent it could be worth the $120 buyup depending on what value you place on AA miles.