My brother had a ff acct. with AS that he had lost track of the last couple of years. He had not signed up for e-mail statements since he does not use e-mail, and didn't remember getting any paper statements in a long time. He contacted the Mileage Plan to check on his acct. and found that it was cancelled or had become inactive about 1 1/2 years ago. He thought his balance was around 40,000 miles. The rep. looked up his old acct. and without him even asking made a new one and put 39,000 miles in it! Now that is some great customer service! Most people who I have heard about in the same situation (not knowing much about how mileage programs work and that miles expire without activity ect.) have been told, sorry there is nothing we can do, you are responsible for knowing all the rules, we can't help you. I think that it was a very kind and generous exception that AS made for my brother, and want give them credit for doing something that they didn't have to do.