blueman2

Original Offer from 4/26/12:
As rwsteelers noted in this POST, American is now status matching all UA customers!!! No challenge, no work, no fuss, no cost! Here are the details:

Call AA at 1-800-882-8880

They will send you an email. Reply with a copy of your card or image from web screen of your account

They will match you! That is it!

Here is a copy of the email they sent me, titled "Send UA Documentation":

Subject line for the original email from 4/20 - 4/27 was "Re: Send UA documentation". The current email which is limited to 1K and GS only is "Re: Earning Your Business". Email address to send to is [email protected].

Agent was quick to pick up the phone (pretty much immediate) and was extremely helpful and supportive. He said TWICE during our short call "thank you for your business, we really want to prove we are the right choice for you". Never in 25 years have I heard anything remotely like that from United. I am a GS, so assume I also get Exec Plat. Just in time for a flight I was going to take 3 weeks from now!!! UA just lost all my C fare business and AA just gained it!

On 4/26/12 morning, I sent a note to UA letting them know about this offer and saying bye-bye. I got a nice note from Martin Hand, SVP of Customer Experience at United (I believe Mileage Plus falls under him). He did not seem aware of the AA match and he wanted to better understand why I am leaving for AA. I let him know my big issues:
- lack of communication from UA (this is getting better)
- system problems (some progress, but this really hurt)
- loss of pre-merger UA 1MM benefits, specifically 2 annual RPUs that were promised for life. (no progress here)
I know everyone here is also very concerned about giving higher upgrade priority to people who purchase cheap $$ upgrades, rather than loyal Premier members. But I don't do any domestic, so did not raise that issue personally. I hope this might speed up resolution of these and other issues.

I have to admire the way AA had met this overwhelming response. They put this offer together in lightening speed, were able to keep their call center wait times to a minimum (mostly 1-2 minutes for a GM to get thru to them, which is amazing), and were able to quickly staff up to deal with the avalanche of unhappy UA customers. One can only shake their head in dismay comparing this to how poorly UA has handled things lately. And worst of all, how UA has totally dropped the ball on communicating and responding. They are either frozen or just do not care.



5/5/12 Offer Update: There appear to be 2 offers:

1. Original offer ran from 4/20/12 to 4/27/12. This offer had an email titled "Send UA Documentation". This offer was valid for all premier levels (see letter below). For 1K and GS, this offer also apparently (though never documented anywhere) provided 8 SWUs automatically without any other challenge. Quite a sweet offer, to be sure. Reports so far show all people who responded to the "Send UA Documentation" letter by April 27 or 28 get their 8 SWUs about 1-2 days after their match shows up in their accounts.
   
2. A second offer started around 4/27/12 and had an email titled initially "Send Documentation" (without the UA in the title) and later "Earning Your Business". This offer was only for 1K and GS. Lower tiers were no longer matched. Also, it appears AA is now requiring a 30,000 mile challenge to get the SWUs. This second offer appears to still be open and valid. There are 1 or 2 reports of people returning the "Send Documentation" letter still getting 8 SWUs without the challenge.

Update on SWUs for EXPlats: First, let's be clear that AA never promised or even mentioned SWUs/eVIPs are part of this deal. People who applied early (apparently sometime at or before Friday 4/27) were pleasantly surprised to receive 8 SWUs deposited into our accounts about 1-2 days after the match. However, as of 5/4/12 evening, we are seeing people getting emails saying SWUs will only come after you fly 30,000 miles. Not clear yet what the cut-over time for this change was. Only speculation right now, but my guess is those who got the original "Send UA Documentation" got the automatic SWUs, and those who got the later "Earning your business" got the 30,000 challenge for SWUs. Some people got the "Send Documentation" (no UA) during the transition, and most were given the challenge. 1 or 2 report being given 8 SWUs.


6/6/12 Update: Easy Re-qualification Offer:
Just got this from AA, which provides easy requal for next year. AA is just amazing. Instant free match to Exec Plat, 8 immediate free SWUs, and now easy way to requal and get more SWUs next year. AAmazing!!

nevansm

Good to know... I'm giving UA a few months to clean up their act, as things have gotten a little bit better and I have 70K booked through the end of the year, getting me well past 1K for this year. Hopefully this sticks around for a few months.

kb1992

Just a status match right?

No evip for EXEPlat?

izzik

Surprised it took AA this long to do a status match campaign, all things considered.
Plenty of bad press around United's problems with system conversion.. perfect timing to pick up new business from frustrated frequent flyers.

rob_flies_ua

Only if that business is profitable business. Picking up low-yield frequent fliers won't help them any. Picking up high-yield frequent fliers will.

channa

Seeing that even GSes seem unhappy, I think this is probably a sound strategy.

rob_flies_ua

The amount of profit they make from the high-yield matchers must outweigh the amount of money they lose from the low-yield matchers for this strategy to be considered effective, and no one on here has access to that data and the ability to publish it.

dayone

I question how many high-yield customers promotions like this attract.

This offer and the AA's almost perpetual elite qualifying miles bonuses seem like a race to the bottom.

goalie

Maybe the dAArkside has been reading the UA forum and seeing how pi$$ed off GS members are post 3/3?

artyam

Wow, called and they thanked me 4 times! Thanks for post!

blueman2

Honestly, as an Aadvantage member with no real status, they were treating me better than UA GS has EVER treated me. They actually seemed to want my business!!

malgudi

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Is the status match restricted to existing AAdvantage members with a mileage balance? Can I sign up for AAdvantage now and then request a status match?

blueman2

Yes, I asked this exact question. They said you do need an AAdvantage account, but as soon as you have it, they will match you!!

Bulldog83

Yeah, I suppose two explanations are either 1) AA is losing a ton of frequent fliers and is desperate to keep/add people or 2) AA is desperate to attract new customers, and they'll worry about the consequences later (post from 3 months from now: "AA EXP -- 18th on Upgrade List ORD-LGA?!?!".

johnru36

I think you could just sign up for an AA number and then make the call. Its your on-going business they want.

They just need an AA number to link to the request. They were processing my request without any reference to past activity (or my 0 miles on AA thusfar this year while i was foolishly maxing UA in my annual 1K pursuit).