I’m Still Executive Platinum. Are You?
I’ve been traveling overseas the past week, so I hadn’t gotten around to checking my status level with American Airlines. I had written recently that I was pretty sure I’d wake up the first day of March and not be Executive Platinum for the first time in 6 or 7 years. While American Airlines is in the middle of their merger with US Airways, they’ve been tackling the integration in many small phases.
There were a handful of changes to be enacted on March 1st, including some tweaks to the domestic complimentary upgrade process. On the whole, I viewed the changes as positive for most elites at both airlines, and definitely positive for me. There was no massive devaluation or move to a revenue-based program, so there was much to be thankful/relieved about.
One thing that wasn’t scheduled to happen on March 1st was the merging of elite-qualifying miles from both airlines to one. This would be done with 2014 EQMs to determine 2015 status levels in the AAdvantage program (the Dividend Miles program will be going away this year). Because my EQMs were split across both airlines, I was going to be in a position where I’d have to wait for my Executive Platinum status to kick back in.
I’d fall to Platinum, which wasn’t the end of the world. It would mainly mean a lower upgrade priority and the need to pay for some upgrades domestically. I also wouldn’t have systemwide upgrades to use for international travel until the merging of accounts was complete. This was loosely scheduled for sometime in Q2 of 2015.
But, as I checked my account late last night, it appears my Executive Platinum status is still holding on.
The merging of accounts hasn’t happened based on my balance in my AAdvantage account, so things are very much still in flux. But, I’m pretty happy to have my upgrade privileges for the interim. Maybe it’ll go away shortly, but each day it doesn’t is a win for me.
There are reports of some US Airways Chairman members having EXP status as of March 1st as well, so some changes are definitely happening in the background.
What happened to your AAdvantage status on March 1st?
Same here. I completed the US Challenge for Chairmans Preferred and linked my accounts…not sure if they are proactively doing things or what, but I’m a happy camper. BTW, I also got a new set of 8 eVIPs. There is another blogger that also posted about this as well.
I had a similar thing happen to me. Some are speculating good will, others IT issues. I doubt the IT suspicion because in years past the system worked quickly and judiciously (when ripping my status from my hands). Here’s how it worked for me: http://upgrd.com/thetripsherpa/merged-already-did-american-airlines-match-my-us-airways-status.html