Yes I am guilty of lack of activity. But that is true of many of my other frequent travel programs as well. And this is not simply taking miles in the bank away, this is closing my account. From the email,
We noticed your account has been inactive and may be closed unless you act within the next 30 days. To keep it active, engage with your AAdvantage® account in some way such as, book a flight with us or earn at least 1 AAdvantage® mile.
The fine print limits "engagement" to something that generates miles. Simply logging in or updating the account is not sufficient. And yes, I suppose I could do something to generate one measly mile.
My point is that my account is maintained and updated. It is not abandoned. But the prospect of losing that account and related stored data disincents me from considering AA for any future trip. Yes, I favor UA. Yes, AA has the right to decide what customer accounts they choose to maintain.
I just find this approach to be problematic. I think a nicer approach would have been, "Hey, we notice that you haven't logged in for a while and we'd like to know if you want to keep your AAdvantage account. Simply log in and check your data for accuracy. And while you're at it, check out some great fares to some great places that we fly."