If they’re offering to reinstate the miles for $1000 of spend on a new AA credit card when she’s already using an AA credit card with miles going to an unused account (condolences), that seems like a no-brainer to me, especially if the need to get the 94k miles back isn’t urgent. That costs her no cash if you would spend $1000 anyway in the relevant time period and nothing except the opportunity cost on $1000 (assuming you can use a no annual fee or first-year-annual fee-waived AA card, which seems likely). Even with the very best credit card, the opportunity cost on $1000 isn’t more than $50, and the AA miles you would earn on the $1000 aren’t worthless.