I was around 100 status credits short for renewal of Platinum and just paid the 120,000 points. I figured I would give it a try to see if it is worth it. I have an upgrade request for LA to SYD in a few months and wanted to be at the top of the list. I also rely on the status for domestic USA American flights when I visit home on my own dollar (economy flights). I mainly rationalized it by the lesser status credits for renewal than re-qualifying. This past cycle, I didn't make the re-qual, but during my just-started new 12 month cycle, I think if I have the renew status credits requirement as the hurdle rather than the status credits hurdle imposed as a non-platinum holder, I may just make it. If I don't make it, I will go back to gold and not spend another 120,000 points next year. Looking at this year as an experiment - albeit one that cost a lot of points.