Contents
The Offer
- American Airlines is doing it’s annual elite status sale where you can buy elite status if you didn’t reach the requirements. Status is being extended this year, so it’s really only if you want to upgrade your status.
Our Verdict
These offers are always insane to me (gold status for $1,500 – no thank you). This year seems particularly pointless with the status extension, but I assume American Airlines always gets some people to buy so it’s worth a try this year.
Hat tip to VFTW
My gold offer is $550. Still not buying.
I have a hard time picturing the Goldilocks type person who flies enough to actually want gold, hasn’t actually gotten gold on their own and somehow having the credit card and paying for perks when they fly is somehow >> than $550
I purchase the seat that I want to sit in and use a CC benefit for lounge access.
Zero interest for me.
If COVID has taught me anything, it’s been that chasing status is no longer important. Was an EXP for years and years and with the industry at a halt, it gave me pause enough to realize that, while sitting in front is nice, AA’s first class cabin is anything but first class. I’d rather spend the funds/points on a carrier with a better overall product.
Recovering EXP here, agree. Unless you constantly pay for full-fare/business/first tickets you’re not hitting EXP and even if you do your benefits have been shaved down and you’re still second tier to anyone who’s managed to spend just a little bit more than you, all for mostly mediocre AA product.
I’ll just take the cheapest flights that fit my schedule, and when I want luxury I’ll pay for it. Bending my schedule and spending around the airlines little games is exactly what they want and I’ve stopped being able to win this.
Sometimes you win when you don’t play the game.
The statuses you earn through flying are basically worthless so I wonder.
Eh, depends where you fly from. I had the first tier of earned status on both United and Delta a few times before, and I almost always got upgraded when flying out of my small regional airport at the time and man I made it worth it crushing some drinks.
On the flip side, I’ve also had that status flying out of Denver a dozen times, and never got upgraded.
Thanks to airline alliances, what you earn on one airline does carry over to others, to some degree. That can be important if you fly partner airlines somewhat often. For example, having DIamond status on Asiana means I get lounge access, free checked bag, priority check-in/boarding, and most importantly, access to the Premier line when I need help on United.
In the case of AA, they’ve never shown me a paid upgrade or retention offer that I’d be willing to jump on. Especially since a couple years ago, they tried to dangle the “buy back up to Gold” offer at me for the entire first half of 2019, then targeted me for the Platinum fast-track when I didn’t bite.