For a frequent traveler February 28/29 is the worst day of the year. It’s the last day of the previous year’s frequent flyer status. So if you have Gold for 2014 it will carry over to February 28th of 2015. At that point whatever final status you earned in 2014 will be your new status for 2015 and through February 29th 2016. American Airlines and US Airways are merging and part of this integration will be the frequent flyer programs. Sometime in the 2nd quarter of this year they’ll merge the American Advantage Program and the US Airways Dividend programs. What this means is that they’ll take your total miles/segments of the combined airlines provide your status accordingly.
For me that meant I would keep my hard earned Executive Platinum status 100k miles or 100 segments flown in 2014, but the kicker was I only flew 35k with AA and the balance was 90k was on US. For that brief time in 2014 when they were still part of Star Alliance and I could credit my United Miles to US and did so on three trips to Dubai. That way I could ensure my Exec Plat for 2015. Thusly as of 2/23/15 D-Day as I would call it I was expecting to drop all the way down to Gold on AA till they merged the program. Now in the grand scheme of things this is not that big of a deal for up to three months I’d not have top tier status, but I could at least credit to US where I was Platinum one level down from their top plan. I just fly American more and knew I’d miss out on the FREE upgrades (I usually track about 90% on this), and stellar customer service I get on the phone with the Platinum desk. And when I mean stellar I really mean stellar. They are just amazing!!! I really just didn’t want to sit in the back of the bus, nor pay for upgrades as I would as a Gold when flying AA or US.
Well on 3/1 I logged in and low and behold I was still Exec Plat, and just figured it was some glitch, but four days later I accidentally looked at my upgrade coupons page and saw the standard allotment given to Exec Plat’s for free upgrades on international travel. Again I’m thinking IT glitch. I really didn’t want to think about it, and hope I would be AOK. But when I opened the mail today and saw this I knew I was in the clear. Whoo Hooo.
Sure it’s just cheap plastic and I never use it, but it’s what it represents that’s so so good
I really have no idea what happened, I’ve read reports that people have been extended Exec Plat due to previous travel patterns, but I’ve only been one since 2012, so I don’t know what stroke of luck I had. There’s a whole thread about it on Flyertalk. Some speculate that they were able to look at your merged accounts, if you’ve already linked them. Frankly I have no idea and I don’t care what Voodoo magic was done I’m just happy to keep my status, keep my free upgrades and not have to line up with the masses in General Boarding.
where is rahul 
The Sherpa at UPGRD had the same thing happen to him, and based on the comments, it looks like this has happened to others. The common these seems to be FFs who would have qualified for Exec Plat based on US Airways accrued mileage and/or a combination of AA and US. My suspicion is that since the changeover is going to occur in a couple of months, anyway, AA doesn’t want to deal with potential IT glitches and the inevitable whining when folks who should go Exec Plat don’t because of system issues. In any event, in the words of the Steve Miller Band, take the money and run.
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