I agree - it is rotten and misleading - absolutely not what was expected by 99% of people who read the email from e-rewards announcing the AA tie up, BUT it is not completely useless. I am sure many people wanting the AA miles will have an AA.com booked flight in that period. Another plus that I see is that AA will award the miles directly (no waiting for a certificate in the mail only to send it off to AA for another wait).

The question I have is exactly how does the promo work? Do you have to make the booking through a link from e-rewards or can you just book as normal on aa.com and then select this promotion, knowing that your AA account will reflect an aa.com booked flight during the period and you will get the miles.