At times I wonder what it might be like to be a loyal American Airlines flyer to see your airline of choice giving away the status you flew countless miles and spent a good chunk of money to acquire.
Last year American gave Sharon Platinum Pro status for a few months and while we didn’t fly with them enough to keep the status, I did take advantage of it to confirm seats for us in Main Cabin Extra, which made it seem that flying American could be tolerable.
Well, American is at it again. This time, I am the one with the targeted offer and American wants me to see what being a Platinum member is like.
I can’t help but think that giving away status is the only thing they have left going for them to get people to fly on their airline.
Here’s the offer I received in the mail:
- Platinum status through December 13, 2019
- Twenty 500-mile upgrades for registering – no questions asked
- Keep Platinum through 2021 with 12,500 EQM and $1,500 EQD by 12/13/19
- Platinum Pro status with 20,000 EQM and $2,400 EQD by 12/13/19
American has plenty of problems and even the mailer from American has a typo on it and says I need to fly by September 25, 2019, to qualify. FWIW, I received the mailer this week. It’s only when I went to the registration website that I saw the qualification date for flying with them or the partners isn’t until December 13, 2019.
500-Mile Upgrades
Normally I wouldn’t even consider this offer but the twenty 500-mile upgrades, no questions asked, piqued my attention. The problem is, I have no idea what they are and how to use them.
Now, I know how to use “The Google” and I found an article from Monkey Miles explaining how to use these certificates. There are a couple of flights we could take on American next year and I’ll have to fly them eventually to use up the vouchers we received when taking a proactive bump to a later flight earlier this year. All I can hope is by then that American has put their labor problems behind them so I’d only have to worry about the usual delays.
Final Thoughts
My question is, how useful are these upgrades? I’m not worried about wasting the opportunity of taking a status bump with American as I don’t think I’d ever need to apply for one in the future. However, are the 20 upgrade certificates worth anything? Should I apply for the status bump to get them just to find out that five years from now that none of the flights where I have tried to use them have cleared?
Such are the questions that keep those of us in the game up at night. I’m glad I only have a few days to agonize over the decision.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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