I haven't followed much of the 75k AA Citibank promo thread because wife and I used to churn and last year were both turned down when the real good promos came out. I did remember back from the churn days that only 1 credit pull from 2 personal apps within hours, so I went ahead and applied for the AA card right after this hoping that if I got declined it wouldn't count as a credit pull. I got the application pending, aka decline, but to my surprise my wife was approved! And she currently HAS a AA citi card from a few years ago! So I guess today I managed to pick up 75k AA miles and 100k HH points!
So not sure if it will indeed only count as only 1 app, but for those of you who are past AA Citi card holders and were considering this app, it may be worth a try the AA also even if expecting a decline.