Boss is retiring (8MM)...Would AA care?
 

So here's the deal.
My boss is retiring with well over 8 million miles logged on AA.
At the office, we're kicking around retirement gifts for him, and I wondered out loud if AA would have any sort of "thanks for the memories" tokens of appreciation for his 20 years of loyalty?
If so, who might I approach at AA?

Any suggestions as to which door at AA I should first knock on?
The answer may be a resounding "no", but that's no reason to not ask.

Well, at least you're prepared for the answer.

"Logged" or "earned"? ;) (I've earned over 5M, and though I've flown on AA since the 1940s, I've not logged more than 2M, I'm guessing; I think they'll know the difference.)

I doubt you'll be able to get anything for your boss. If you want to go this route, get you and / or your colleagues to pungle up for a symbolic gift purchased from the C. R. Smith Museum Store, or from the plethora of AA items offered on eBay.

There is tons of AA paraphernalia out there. If he's been flying forever, he may appreciate something. Or more likely, he says to himself, "I'm retiring so I never have to fly these guys again and look what I got..."

Over 400 international trips and God knows how many domestic US trips...but another 2000 at least. He's got a world map full of push pins that he stopped updating several years ago.

I might consider getting him something he can use/spend with his family instead of getting him something that reminds him of all the time he spent away from his family :)

He also received millions of miles to spend on trips and SWUs for million-mile qualification (when the getting was still good (on the miles and the SWUs,) he's been well rewarded.

So I assume he is LT Plat - of which there are many.

You might call AA Advantage desk and see if they would do something - like send a appreciate note or something like that. No harm in asking.

Also - were most his travels on business at higher fares? Or personal low fares?

The airlines know the revenue difference and track it. He likely wasn't a big enough spender for Concierge Status, but maybe in a range above mileage runners.

No harm calling and asking.

AA will not discuss another member in any regard. Trust me, I've tried. They will not do anything for "privacy reasons."

I have heard you do get a phone call once you reach 10MM miles, like in the movie Up in the Air. I have a long way to go to see if it's true myself. ;)

Congrats to your boss! 8MM is quite an achievement. I hope he at least gets a letter from Dougie.

Cheers.

CR Smith Museum store
 

Is a good bet but sadly the "scissored eagles" logo items, which I presume he/she would desire, seem to be gone. I had dibs on laptop slip with that logo, order was confirmed, only to find that within next few minutes someone had purchased in-store the last remaining one. Alas, I loved that logo.

This is actually reassuring. Lots of social engineering cons out there.

If the boss really loves AA, I'd second the eBay option -- there must be some interesting vintage articles from around when he first started flying them.

I don't know anything about how this would work at AA, but my guess is the only hope would be the media and/or social media (Twitter?) teams, not a reservations or AAdvantage phone agent. You would almost certainly get a congratulatory tweet if you tweeted @AmericanAir a photo of the retirement party with some AA mention, since corporate social media teams respond to pretty much everyone who says something unsubstantively positive, but that may be a little less substantive than you have in mind.

Why should AA be bothered about someone who will not be a high-value customer in future? It's not personal, it's business. But he will have his Lifetime PLT membership.

If UA and it's craptastic program can honor a 10MM GS, surely AA could do SOMETHING for someone who's given them a lot of cash over the years - especially because there's only a handful of people who have flown that much. 8MM represents a significant chunk of change. Especially if he ended up making his underlings fly AA too.

Even a small token can go a long way, and even encourage those still flying by showing them that loyalty still means something to at least one airline.