Yeah, I got the AF on my Citi AA card waived this summer by calling in. Going to see what happens next summer although I don't have much use for the Citi AA card since I will be putting all my non category spending on my Arrival, and if I can hit Gold status I get most perks anyway with AA.
Looks like the AA program is not radically changing, at least for another year. So I can put my thought of flying United and Southwest and opening the CSP on the back burner for now. Gives me time to garden my credit as on my Arrival card mailing one of the factors listed affecting my credit score was too many recent accounts and young account age.