AA and Citibank AAdvantage have frustrated me to the point that I'm now seeking alternative airlines. I live in Hawaii and travel American often enough to have rated the "Platinum" designation (for whatever that's worth.). The last 5 times I've attempted to fly American using Miles, they've either told me that the "upgrade" isn't available, or have broken up my trip. On one occasion, I used 75,000 miles to upgrade a Coach ticket to First Class. The seat I was given on the OLD 757 they flew from LAX to HNL was in row 6. Those seats don't even recline They called it an upgrade and charged me the miles for that segment, but all it was was about 6 more inches of leg room and a seat that was 4 inches wider. It's like gourmet dogfood - it's still in the "Gourmet" section of the grocery store, but it's still dogfood. Sadly, even a poor upgrade like that often isn't available. I tried to upgrade a flight about 10 weeks in advance from Coach to First Class. The AA "Reservations Clerk" on the phone asked me if I was kidding! No kidding - and it wasn't even in a "peak" travel time. I'm scheduled to fly AA in August, and to get back to Hawaii from the East Coast they've routed me through Chicago to Dallas to Honolulu, even though there's a direct flight from Chicago. AA's service has gotten worse and worse on American over the past 4-5 years. Perhaps voting with my feet is the best way to deal with American Airlines. Lousy service, unavailable upgrades, and worn-out equipment seems to be their standard. I think Citibank would be better off if they affiliated with another airline, or followed the example of American Express Platinum, which allows use of miles on most major carriers. As we say in Hawaii, Auwe American