Any risks of using miles from 2019 credit card churn for an award 4 years later?
Jul 28, 23, 1:08 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2023
Posts: 3
Any risks of using miles from 2019 credit card churn for an award 4 years later?
Back in 2019, American Airlines & Citi bank shut down thousands of accounts for credit card abuse. I churned like 3 of those credit cards, and accumulated 140k points, but my account was never shut down. All 3 of those cards had organic spending on them to meet the MS requirements (probably why I wasn't automatically banned).
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Last edited by MrMoist; Jul 28, 23 at 1:17 pm
Jul 28, 23, 1:21 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Isle of Man/East Palo Alto
Programs: AA - CK/Airpass
Posts: 974
Back in 2019, American Airlines & Citi bank shut down thousands of accounts for credit card abuse. I churned like 3 of those credit cards, and accumulated 140k points, but my account was never shut down. All 3 of those cards had organic spending on them to meet the MS requirements (probably why I wasn't automatically banned).
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Jul 28, 23, 1:27 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 28,552
Back in 2019, American Airlines & Citi bank shut down thousands of accounts for credit card abuse. I churned like 3 of those credit cards, and accumulated 140k points, but my account was never shut down. All 3 of those cards had organic spending on them to meet the MS requirements (probably why I wasn't automatically banned).
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Jul 28, 23, 2:09 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 11,672
Back in 2019, American Airlines & Citi bank shut down thousands of accounts for credit card abuse. I churned like 3 of those credit cards, and accumulated 140k points, but my account was never shut down. All 3 of those cards had organic spending on them to meet the MS requirements (probably why I wasn't automatically banned).
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Now, 4 years later, I want to spend those points. I booked an economy roundtrip flight Dallas -> Tokyo, what's the likely hood that my confirmed flight gets cancelled and my account gets shutdown? I haven't had any AA activity since 2019.
I ask because back in 2019, many of my friends all had their flights cancelled a couple days before their trip and their account banned.
Good point, although if the OP kept at least one of those card accounts open then the miles would never expire.
Jul 28, 23, 2:11 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2023
Posts: 3
Yeah, I actually booked a flight and cancelled it, and I also booked a cash ticket in 2022, so still have my points 
I guess I'll have to be a datapoint on whether or not my flight gets cancelled. It's going to suuuuuuuuuck if AA bans me a day before my flight :|
I guess I'll have to be a datapoint on whether or not my flight gets cancelled. It's going to suuuuuuuuuck if AA bans me a day before my flight :|
Jul 28, 23, 5:43 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,920
I would be shocked to hear that your account got shut down now for something that happened 4 years ago. Why would they wait for you to redeem? And, there's nothing about redeeming miles in an account that would by itself trigger a review at this point.
Jul 28, 23, 6:39 pm
#7
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AA LT Gold
Posts: 3,551
Doesn't churning mean opening cards with the sole purpose of collecting miles/points. Nothing wrong with that.
Why would that be a reason for AA to cancel the account?
Your friends must have been doing something else for their accounts to be closed.
Why would that be a reason for AA to cancel the account?
Your friends must have been doing something else for their accounts to be closed.
Jul 28, 23, 8:13 pm
#8
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: AA, UA, Marriott
Posts: 807
No idea who OP is or what their friends did, but I recall reading some bans around 2019 due to people opening up multiple cards with targeted offers that were not addressed to them
Jul 28, 23, 9:08 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2023
Posts: 3
Basically my wife was getting mailers, but I was applying to them with my SSN, so my wife kept getting the same mailer over and over. In the end, AA shut down all those accounts in 2019
Jul 28, 23, 11:47 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Juneau, Alaska.
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Posts: 15,441
Jul 29, 23, 9:47 am
#14
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: NYC suburbs
Programs: UA LT Gold (BIS), AA LT Plat (CC SUBs & BD), Hilton Dia (CC), Hyatt Glob (BIB), et. al.
Posts: 3,032
Disagree, that concern is overblown. Weve not seen many, if any, datapoints here of audits or shutdowns due to posting account details here. AA has 115,000,000 members, even a small % of those with similar history would overwhelm any companies capability to audit.
Jul 29, 23, 3:39 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 3,728
I strongly doubt that AA would wait in the wings for four years for you to use your miles and then ban you. If you didn't have your miles clawed back by now, you're fine.
