AAdvantage Account Shut Down - Recourse/Appeal?
Nov 30, 2019, 10:01 am
#46
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Location: Shanghai
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I'm cool with them closing loopholes, but they should spell them out clearly when they do. And, in the OP's case, the account closure notice should have stated his specific infraction(s) as per the agreed upon terms and conditions.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:11 am
#47
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I agree with others, this is almost certainly because of the card churning and the miles bonuses, if you were doing it for 30-40 months, monthly, to get to the 1.7mil miles. So probably AA is done with this case, they have nothing to gain from talking to you. Your only recourse is probably a lawsuit, but your case is very thin, relying marginally on the loophole/letter of the law/regulation, but you will loose on the spirit of the law/regulation.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:15 am
#48
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This is a good point, but they may have wanted to remain purposefully vague (or simply didn't care), so it would be hard to challenge them on the violations based on the letter of the T & Cs. So his only recourse would be a lawsuit, but they probably bet he won't do that, or that they will win.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:18 am
#49
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: American EXP; British Airways Gold
Posts: 1,896
Evil airline. American should have provided you 90-days notice, so you could have used up all of those miles before the shutdown. 
Nov 30, 2019, 10:28 am
#50
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I will stop short of calling them evil. They created the sandbox, and all of us have agreed to play by their rules, full stop. That having been said, since the sandbox now provides significant revenue and working capital for them, they would be wise to be a little more transparent when using the iron fist.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:40 am
#52
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
I am in a very odd situation. I received an email from AA Corporate Security - Loyalty Fraud team today, in reference to my account, along with my wife's. The email stated, roughly:
"You have been found to have committed multiple violations of the program terms, related to the accrual of ineligible miles and benefits."
It goes on to state that because I have committed this more than once, my account is terminated, all upcoming award travel is cancelled, and all award miles have been forfeited. Total cost of this action was roughly 1.7M miles.
I am aware of the other "Fraud" thread, however, I have not committed any of the typical "fraud" actions. No fully flexible fare cancels, no sold miles, no bought miles, no tickets booked for others except for my wife or vv.. No bought/sold instruments, no bought/sold AA gift cards. All we have done is earn a significant number of miles from credit card spend/bonuses, and spend the miles on tickets or hotels for ourselves. I am a legit AA Gold this year, and while my wife only has 5 segments, we do also earn miles from flying as well.
I have never been reached out to by this team before, or received any sort of warning. I replied to the emails as politely as I could, but I was taken aback honestly, with one of the trips they cancelled being less than 30 days out.
My only thought on why this happened is because I booked a trip for the two of us from my wife's account. It didn't ticket, so I called to check. Since I called, but about my wife's account, maybe they got suspicious? We share the same last name, address, and both of our AA accounts have my email in them, since she doesn't want to get the marketing emails. Maybe they think I am using the two accounts, and my wife doesn't exist?
Is there a proper contact for an appeal process, and how would you move forward with something like this?
"You have been found to have committed multiple violations of the program terms, related to the accrual of ineligible miles and benefits."
It goes on to state that because I have committed this more than once, my account is terminated, all upcoming award travel is cancelled, and all award miles have been forfeited. Total cost of this action was roughly 1.7M miles.
I am aware of the other "Fraud" thread, however, I have not committed any of the typical "fraud" actions. No fully flexible fare cancels, no sold miles, no bought miles, no tickets booked for others except for my wife or vv.. No bought/sold instruments, no bought/sold AA gift cards. All we have done is earn a significant number of miles from credit card spend/bonuses, and spend the miles on tickets or hotels for ourselves. I am a legit AA Gold this year, and while my wife only has 5 segments, we do also earn miles from flying as well.
I have never been reached out to by this team before, or received any sort of warning. I replied to the emails as politely as I could, but I was taken aback honestly, with one of the trips they cancelled being less than 30 days out.
My only thought on why this happened is because I booked a trip for the two of us from my wife's account. It didn't ticket, so I called to check. Since I called, but about my wife's account, maybe they got suspicious? We share the same last name, address, and both of our AA accounts have my email in them, since she doesn't want to get the marketing emails. Maybe they think I am using the two accounts, and my wife doesn't exist?
Is there a proper contact for an appeal process, and how would you move forward with something like this?
Your only possibility, assuming there’s nothing relevant to the situation that has been left out, might be an executive contact. A “snail mail” with tracking might be best. The executive probably has an employee these issues are delegated to, but it might be worth a try. E.g.
Bridget Blaise-Shamai, President, AAdvantage Loyalty Program
American Airlines
1 Skyview Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76155
American Airlines
1 Skyview Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76155
Only you know whether it’s worth a try given all the facts, which I’m doubting we know.
Nov 30, 2019, 10:59 am
#53
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.
Posts: 7,377
i can tell you this AAShopping has audited every purchase this year, requesting an email receipt,
I have received all miles but my last apple watch they wanted the UPS delivery confirmation,
I have had to request point posting for every purchase, but after providing the proff I was paid,
Maybe my IPad tablet is not registering my home IP.
I started auditing when purchases dropped to nothing, the first 9 months this year,
First year I have had a problem, again the problems have been solved.
My wife is Asian, Doctor, has a different last name,
I have received all miles but my last apple watch they wanted the UPS delivery confirmation,
I have had to request point posting for every purchase, but after providing the proff I was paid,
Maybe my IPad tablet is not registering my home IP.
I started auditing when purchases dropped to nothing, the first 9 months this year,
First year I have had a problem, again the problems have been solved.
My wife is Asian, Doctor, has a different last name,
Last edited by satman40; Nov 30, 2019 at 11:05 am
Nov 30, 2019, 11:05 am
#54
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
Programs: American Airlines Executive Platinum, Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite
Posts: 3,226
What would happen if the OP filed a DOT complaint for the canceled tickets?
Nov 30, 2019, 11:11 am
#55
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: SJC
Programs: Southwest, Alaska, United, American Airlines
Posts: 994
DOT would forward the complaint to AA seeking additional information and explanation. And AA would reply back with a thorough documentation of the OP's conduct it deemed to be in violation of the AAdvantage program's T&C and/or the American Airlines CoC. DOT would likely then issue a letter supporting AA's judgment and actions.
Nov 30, 2019, 11:18 am
#56
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Nov 30, 2019, 11:23 am
#57
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: New York City + Vail, CO
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DOT would forward the complaint to AA seeking additional information and explanation. And AA would reply back with a thorough documentation of the OP's conduct it deemed to be in violation of the AAdvantage program's T&C and/or the American Airlines CoC. DOT would likely then issue a letter supporting AA's judgment and actions.
Nov 30, 2019, 11:29 am
#58
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CHS
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Amabassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,589
This is my biggest concern. I am fine with their decision, but with vague reasoning and no chance of appeal it is really tough to stomach. Not to mention the R/T flights I had coming up for New Years that got canceled as well. Now I'm scrambling to figure out how to replace those flights.
You play with fire, you can get burnt. You sound like you know exactly what happened and why it happened, you are just bummed you got caught.
People who abuse the system make it harder for people who don't abuse the system to use their miles because some new "Rule" gets made to counteract something some one tried to pull, so they plugged that loophole, but now that made 2 or 3 other things collateral damage etc
This is why we can't have nice things
Nov 30, 2019, 11:40 am
#59
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This is the issue when you operate in grey areas/loopholes, when things go bad you have no reasonable recourse.
Nov 30, 2019, 11:55 am
#60
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If a card is being used legitimately, both the credit card company (you're using their card and spending money on it - the intended purpose of their credit card product) and the airline (who are being paid by said credit card for the miles for your account) are happy. If you don't spend on the card, then the credit card company doesn't have to spend money buying miles to put into your FFP account. This could only be seen by all as "normal" behaviour, and there is no reason to "cap" the amounts earned (though there presumably is nothing to stop any airline/card company for introducing an upper cap if they wished).
If a customer is, however, constantly opening and closing accounts (churning) and conducting themselves over an extended period in a manner that is clearly and obviously designed explicitly to maximise the advantages to themselves (maximum possible mileage return for the minimum necessary outlay), then it eventually becomes clear that the customer is not interested in the "normal" type of relationship that the parties would prefer.
Is it legal? Should the T&Cs be spec'ed to the extent where committed churners have explicit indication of how far they can push things? I would tend to think not. The T&Cs are not intended as a blueprint for assisting any customer from playing a loyalty scheme to their maximum advantage. But if you conduct yourself in a way that maximises your advantages while maximising the costs to the various parties, don't expect them to value your "loyalty".