The American Airlines annual status “buy up / buy back” offers are back. American’s status-earning year ends February 28 (not December 31) so if you’re not making status you can choose now to buy your current status level or sometimes higher. It’s generally expensive, though, and there are often better ways to do it.
Here’s an internal memo with this update.
These are targeted offers to pay cash or redeem miles (usually at 1 cent per mile) to lock in status for the next membership year (e.g., through March 31, 2027 if you do it this year). In past years, status has posted in about 3 business days.
- Buy up. to a higher tier than you’ve earned this year. You log into the status offer page and see if you’re targeted for a tier above what you’ve qualified for. In the past there have been reports of some offers to buy two tiers above what you’ve qualified for.
- Buy back. You might get an option to keep your current tier for another year for a price.
Last year we saw pricing list this:
- Gold: ~ $400–$700 range
- Platinum: ~ $1,300 – $1,500 although this varies by how close you are
- Platinum Pro: I actually saw a sub-$1,000 offer last year, but it was for someone quite close to status.
- Executive Platinum: Usually over $2,000
Since there’s still over a month left to qualify, you can do much better with shopping portal offers for things like cancellable subscriptions and flowers.
That said, if you don’t want to mess with effort and tracking and you have solid, certain travel plans coming up where the benefits matter, it’s not insane for some. This was an eight figure revenue generator even a decade ago – people do take these deals.
This gets you a bundle of time-savers and comfort perks from priority check-in and boarding, free checked bags, better seats, and eligibility for complimentary upgrades which aren’t as common as they used to be.
Platinum members and higher get access to lounges when traveling internationally.
Note that this program is separate from ConciergeKey buy back which isn’t offered through this portal.
Last year I was offered to keep my Gold status for $999.00. I declined.
So, I was plat pro last year and already made plat pro for 2026.
I might be willing to pay $2000 for the 4 SWU I would get with ex plat.
Begs the questions, would getting that ex plat through the buy up qualify for the SWU’s?
I don’t understand who in their right mind would spend thousands of dollars on status anymore. I have been EP for years and can’t remember the last time I didn’t buy an F seat, be it through an opt-up or an outright purchase. The odds of getting a complimentary upgrade are vanishingly low now as compared to say 20 or 30 years ago.