OneWorldSapphire

My parents each have one paid sticker, which I purchased for them in May 2021. I put through refund requests for both, and both were rejected. I then helped them email individually to aadvantage customer service to request refunds. My dad received the email reply (I’ve passed this to a back team for review), but my mother received no reply whatsoever. She followed up and then received a phone call from an agent who was extremely rude and condescending. The agent told her nobody receives refunds anymore, and even though this was purchased she’s out of luck because she’s not elite. The agent was firm that only current elite members who purchased can have their money back; someone who purchased but has no current status gets nada. My parents were both there for the call and both report that the agent was extremely aggressive and out of line. That is certainly awful if only elites can get their cash back. Cash is cash-if you purchase a product that the airline cannot deliver then they should refund anyone who paid. Again-this was purchased within a year. The difference in replies did make me wonder, though: if customer service sees a gender and age combo (an older woman), all data they can access, does one demographic receive this fobbing-off treatment more than others? I think the whole thing is outrageous for those who spent cash to purchase these but are being told they get $0 back.

EncFlyer

My 500 mile upgrade refund has posted to my account

Presguy

My data point is similar to many of the others posted upthread.

I initially started by calling the number from the TPG article. The rep seemed a little confused, and transferred me to the AAdvantage desk, where the total call took about 10 minutes.

The stickers earned by flying, of course, will be converted to 250 LPs each under the new scheme, and that's fine by me, I guess.

I also had about a dozen stickers I had purchased in the last 2-3 years (at $40), and asked about those. At first, he said the only option for those was also 250LPs. When I gently pressed, he offered to refund them. I'd have preferred RDMs for each, but I didn't want to sink that much time into it this morning, and took the refund, which he said would take about ten days.

As a side amusement, the rep I spoke to must have been quite new. He had no idea what I meant when I said "500 mile upgrade stickers", so I had to actively remember and switch to the new nomenclature to continue our conversation.

chix

Does anyone have an opinion?

Dear M……

I am reaching out to you to follow-up on your request for more options
to exchange your purchased 500-mile upgrades. I appreciate the
opportunity to assist an AAdvantage Platinum® member.

Based on our internal records, 18 of your 23 unused 500-mile upgrades
were purchased. While your complimentary upgrades will be automatically
converted to 250 Loyalty Points each later this year, we can offer you
the following refund options for the 18 purchased and unused 500-mile
upgrades:

A. 4,500 Loyalty Points (250 Loyalty Points x 18 purchased 500-mile
upgrades)
B. 90,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles(5,000 bonus miles x 18 purchased
500-mile upgrades)
C. Travel Voucher of $720 (the paid amount associated with your 18
purchased 500-mile upgrades)
D. Refund of $720 to the original form of payment or check depending on
when your upgrades were purchased

Once you have decided on a preferred option, please respond to this
e-mail directly and I will ensure the exchange is promptly executed. I
look forward to hearing from you and helping to bring closure to this
issue.

Best regards,…..

josephstern

For most of us, option B is the winner by a mile.

C&D seem to be a mistake if you can one day use the miles from B.

A might make sense in edge cases where that small number of LPs puts you into a higher elite tier.

bostontraveler

B if you travel domestically or in coach.
C if you don’t. Using AA miles for premium international travel is a pain in the neck- a few bright spots but a headache overall.

ER-One

Just got my A/B/C/D options email form AA. Happy to take the miles at $.008/mile.
These emails look to come form a team that are clearly knowledgeable, as the email is surprisingly astute enough to define the miles as "Bonus".

nk15

Phone call to mile desposit in less than two weeks, for me. They deposit the same day your respond.

ymx

What's the email address for AAdvantage Account Service to write to requesting these options? The web-based interface won't allow for the subject "Other Aadvantage Subject"...

JJeffrey

Standard protocol mentioned throughout this thread and elsewhere is to call AAdvantage Customer Service 800-882-8880, ask the agent about other conversion options, they'll take your information then you'll receive an email in 5-10 days with the options.

AAdvantage Customer Service is different from the normal reservations numbers, I've never had a lengthy hold when calling.

pauleeepaul

12 of 40 are paid. Don't need the LPs (and not a compelling offer even if did.) Clearly option B is better value but i am long on RDM (>3 mm.) Thinking I will flip a coin .

ajf87

20/28 paid. Got the A-B-C-D option. Took the miles hands-down. Had to call twice originally because the first agent said they could only request a refund (EXP line too). Second was more knowledgable, said they can put in a request and they'll email me in 7-10 business days. The best part is they were purchased with Amex cards to hit the fee reimbursement. I just booked ORD-TYO on JAL in J for December too. Got about $.08/mile on that one. Fingers crossed for LAX/SFO-SYD in F on the QF A380 for next year.

HankAAFlyer

as a lifetime PLT, the e500 conversion to LPs does kinda sting, and had been saving my earned e500's as someone mentioned in an earlier post to "not compete with everyone" Of course, my travel patterns tend to be during peak travel days (Thursdays/Sundays/Mondays), so never could use the e500's even when I wanted to. Do wish there was another conversion upgrade to something "tangible" vs LPs, as LPs are useless to folks with lifetime GLD or PLT. I do wish there was an option to convert some amount of e500's to a SWU (like 30 or 40 e500s to a single SWU?) as RDMs aren't on the table. One can dream lol.

njvandy

I understand the sentiment but don't agree with it.

AA is being very generous in my view by offering 5k RDM for paid e500 stickers. My father had 27 of them and just got 135,000 miles - more than a r/t J ticket to Europe - in exchange for a few years' worth of Amex Gold and Platinum fee credits.

The earned upgrades are being "exchanged" for free domestic upgrades for you AND a companion. We can quibble all we want about the increased competition. As always, it will come down to the routes you choose to fly and how flexible you are willing to be to choose times and routings that are less elite-heavy. I imagine 95% or more people will be better off under the new system.

BDL2STL2PVG

Do you know how to determine if the certificates are paid or earned? I can only determine the total and recent activity via aa.com I assume that they were FIFO, so most or all of the earned ones were used, but not certain.