After 14 Years, I’m Losing American Executive Platinum Status

After having American AAdvantage’s (published) top-tier Executive Platinum status for 14 years, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my run will end a few weeks from now. As a matter of fact, I’ll drop all the way down to AAdvantage Gold… and I feel totally fine about it. I’m just going to start taking a different strategy, so let me explain.

I’ll drop from AAdvantage Executive Platinum to Gold

Nowadays, American uses the Loyalty Points system for status qualification. This means you can earn status through a variety of means, including credit card spending. Status doesn’t follow the calendar year, but rather the status year runs from the beginning of March through the end of February of the following year.

That means the current status year ends at the end of February, which is just a few weeks from now. So, where do I stand? I’m at just over 61,000 Loyalty Points. That’s short of the Platinum level (75,000 Loyalty Points), less than half of what’s required for Platinum Pro (125,000 Loyalty Points), and less than one-third of what’s required for Executive Platinum (200,000 Loyalty Points).

I don’t have any more plans to fly American on a revenue ticket before the end of the month, so this is likely where I’ll end my elite status year with the airline.

Just for some context on the Loyalty Points I earned, I haven’t spent a dime on an American co-branded credit card this status qualification year. I’ve also been redeeming a lot of AAdvantage miles for domestic travel, and those flights don’t count toward status.

I also don’t go out of my way to fly American. Living in Miami, it is typically the most convenient airline, but I don’t fly American much on long haul flights, and I also fly the airline that offers the best all around value (in terms of schedule, price, and product). As y’all know, I also redeem a lot of miles for travel on a variety of airlines.