Originally Posted by jayer

Guess I, and FT in general, may not know the answer to your question in the third line. But if you print out the response from AA to show them at the door, it might just be good enough documentation for them to say "yes". Or confuse them enough to say what "whatever and one-time exception". What else can they do but say "no", which you seem to accept is a possibility?

What I am confused about is why you don't have or didn't get a FF number from AA and book as a codeshare. That many miles would be a good way to start up an account. Are you already with JAL?

Or and also, get the Citibank card. I don't even use mine for much except a very few AA tickets. But while departure access can be useful, I keep the card just for arrival access. Helps wind me down from the flight faster.