When your mother logs into aa.com does she see:
AAdvantageŽ cardmember
...listed below her name where it says:
Wow, never noticed that before on my own account! (I have Citi AA)
Edit-- I looked at my mom's account and it still doesn't say "Citi AA cardmember". I called Citi to see when that would happen, and the agent said that the Citi account will be available tomorrow, but Citi will report to AA when the card is activated. But he said he doesn't know when AA will recognize my mom as a Citi AA cardmember.