actually, all of this has failed. I just saw citi take back the 18k, the 18k miles and put the money back into my CC. Oh well. Sorry everyone. It dont work.

(ending up paying no fees now so no real loss except the tease of nearly gaining many miles and a few pennies in interest, plus the feeling that you WON, but in this case, it was a no go after all/)

I have since called them and closed the account--that is, after a long, stupid convo with some far away CSR and her manager. Kind of a bummer but I pretty much expected this was too good to be true anyway. If it worked for any of you, then good luck.