My wife had an AA platinum card for over a decade. We charge about 18k a year. She called up to cancel, as she does every year. She did not get transferred to a retention specialist, which had always happened in the past. The customer service person made no retention offers, and simply informed my wife that if she cancels, she cannot apply for another card in the future. Cold and straightforward, she then put my wife on hold, came back, and said the card was cancelled. It all happened so fast that my wife sat there dazed!

Funny thing was, back in June, they gave me a $50 retention bonus on my AA Gold card. But I guess things have changed since June.