Having spent the better part of last year punishing myself on United I had finally had enough - I made a resolution to switch to another airline in '09. This Merrill program with American seemed like the perfect fit. According to the promotion on the website, all you need to do is achieve a $20,000 spending level and your are entitled to "status matching" on American Airlines. I spent the better part of December achieving the level. Needless to say, when it was time to match my status the program was suspended (even though it was listed on the Merrill website). I called - it was immediately pulled down.

Walk, no run away from Merrill and American Airlines. This is more than a bad program, they are not living up to their promises.