Q. I received some certificates titled "In Recognition of Outstanding Service Excellence"; what are they and how do they work?

A. These certificates, also called “Applause” "Above and Beyond" and "Round of Applause"), are mailed to elite AAdvantage members with their status credentials. The number of certificates is based upon their specific Elite status as follows:

• Executive Platinum - 10 certificates
• Platinum Pro - unknown
• Platinum - 8 certificates
• Gold - 6 certificates

Requests for More Certificates: "Unfortunately, requests for additional or replacement certificates cannot be honored." (However, some members claim they've called and been issued more.)

The certificates are numbered with a 12 digit code and intended to be given out to employees who who "go beyond the call of duty to truly make a difference when customers fly" as a form of passenger-generated employee recognition to those They can be handed to or otherwise given (ask other employees how they'd like these - you could mail or email and include the 12 digit certificate code) to "all active American (and U.S.) and American Eagle employees worldwide up to and including Management Level 4 are eligible to participate in the employee recognition program."

Original certificates did not have an expiration date.

Q. How do employee recognition certificates benefit employees?

A. The certificates are not entered into employee's files at this time (as reported by employees) unlike letters and other communications regarding employee recognition. The certificates are entered (using Jetnet, employee identification and the 12 digit code) into quarterly drawings:

"AA has adopted the US Air(ways) program so the drawings, which used to be monthly, are now quarterly. The drawings used to be for 25k miles but now it is various monetary sums...."

• 10 employees $10,000 each
• 100 employees $1,000 each
• 250 employees $250 each

Verified and originally posted by sukn and NovaEngr.

Q. How do I use an employee recognition certificate?

A. You may personally hand a certificate to any AA (including wholly owned subsidiaries) employee; they're pre-printed with your name and FFN, you can add brief feedback, and the employee will add their information as necessary.

You may also "award" a certificate by phone - the employee will need the 12 digit code from the certificate you have. (Certificates are designed for single use, so it's a good idea to dispose of used certificates awarded this way, or if you wish to retain it you may want to annotate it as used.)

You may still write a letter or use the "Contact AA" e-mail form to pass on your commendation to AA, as the certificates neither go to supervisor / management nor to be appended to the employee's record.) And read on about using Twitter to register your compliments.

Q. what else can I do to reward an exceptional employee?

A. You can use Twitter - @AmericanAir - to tweet your compliments. The AA Social Media Twitter team will log your comments, which are forwarded to the employee's supervisor and added to their employee file.

Q. Which employees benefit from "Applause" certificates?

All AA employees below the director level from our mainline and wholly owned carriers (Envoy, Piedmont and PSA) are eligible for the program. Employees of non-owned carriers or AA contractors (e.g. Club bartenders and cleaning staff, employees of Compass et al, etc.) do not qualify for the benefits offered by Applause chits.

Q. Wasn't the original "Round of Applause" certificate for miles drawings?

A. The certificates originally could be entered by employees by using the 12 digit code on Jetnet in monthly random drawings for chances to win 25,000 AAdvantage miles.

"One-hundred winners will be chosen monthly and announced on Jetnet on the 15th of each month following the drawing. The first drawing will be on December 1st and on the first of each month thereafter with the final drawing on May 1, 2007." N.B. Employees were required to pay taxes on these "winnings" just as we are taxed on non-"earned" miles won in contests.

Q. What did the "Round of Applause" certificates replace?

A. The program superseded the "You're SomeOne Special" ("SOS") program as of 2006. Three SOS certificates could be used for one round trip positive space; certificates could be used for merchandise discounts or gift certificates. They were very popular.

Links to related resources:

Employee reactions: Question for AA Crew: Your preference on Applause Certs

The archive can be searched for posts by AAFA, jrhone, skylady and sluggoaafa; they are also linked to in the OP.

Other ways of providing employee feedback / recognition:

These are merged, archival threads with information about the SOS program, its benefits, discontinuation and how some attempted to appeal to AA or create their own responses:

The LUS thread: Above and Beyond Certificates (now AA & US - see Combined forum) posts have been merged into this thread (17 October 2017).

Link to ARCHIVE: "Rounds of Applause" Employee Recognition and Certificates

You're Someone Special - SOS program employee recognition [merged]

You're SomeOne Special Program (SOS) - Discontinued [merged]

and Appeal to AA (and attempts) to bring back the SOS / SomeOne Special program [merged]