Dec 18, 2019, 12:31 pm
Last edit by: wyogold
Related discussions in other Flyertalk forums:
AA potentially closing accounts due to credit card churning/churn
How to know if you're locked: (as of 12/22/2019)
- Call in to aadvantage reservations (800-882-8880) If you locked, you'll be forwarded to customer service instead of getting to the automated reservations system
- If you want to stay on the line, ask CSR if your account is locked (you tried to make a reservation but it wouldn't let you). CSR will inform you there's a note on your account and that corporate security will contact you
- Try to make a reservation for a super cheap hotel through useaamiles.com. There are 1000 miles / night hotels in New Delhi, so at worst you'll risk 1K miles. If you're locked, you'll see "Unable to process points. Please call our customer service for assistance."
So far, nobody seems to have gotten unlocked and gotten access to their miles back. Accounts with upcoming travel seem to be the ones that are getting terminated at the highest rate.
AA potentially closing accounts due to credit card churning/churn
How to know if you're locked: (as of 12/22/2019)
- Call in to aadvantage reservations (800-882-8880) If you locked, you'll be forwarded to customer service instead of getting to the automated reservations system
- If you want to stay on the line, ask CSR if your account is locked (you tried to make a reservation but it wouldn't let you). CSR will inform you there's a note on your account and that corporate security will contact you
- Try to make a reservation for a super cheap hotel through useaamiles.com. There are 1000 miles / night hotels in New Delhi, so at worst you'll risk 1K miles. If you're locked, you'll see "Unable to process points. Please call our customer service for assistance."
So far, nobody seems to have gotten unlocked and gotten access to their miles back. Accounts with upcoming travel seem to be the ones that are getting terminated at the highest rate.
AA accounts restricted (Nov/Dec 2019)
Feb 1, 2020, 10:54 am
#2176
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
If one does a quick and dirty count of the amount of money AA lost on free tickets alone, it is easily within tens of thousands of dollars (if not more). If some (or all) of the flights were in J or F, the sums are even more revealing.
It does not surprise me that AA (once they figured it out) wanted to axe as many of the players as possible. With the losses that they incurred, I imagine that they will be more than willing to contest any legal questions that may arise from this.
One quick question I had from the post. Is the member actually banned from the AA program, or do they just have to start from ground zero with a new accounnt?
It does not surprise me that AA (once they figured it out) wanted to axe as many of the players as possible. With the losses that they incurred, I imagine that they will be more than willing to contest any legal questions that may arise from this.
One quick question I had from the post. Is the member actually banned from the AA program, or do they just have to start from ground zero with a new accounnt?
Feb 1, 2020, 11:01 am
#2177
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
It's not at all clear to me that AA lost money. Citi paid them a fortune for the miles, so instead of a customer giving AA cash for the flight, Citi did. The catch is that by banning people, AA gets to keep the money Citi paid them and not incur the expense of letting people fly.
Feb 1, 2020, 11:45 am
#2179
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Moderator action
Thread closed for cooling off period because many are more interested in commenting on others' worthiness to post than participating in a thoughtful discussion. Meta-discussion of who should post in a thread is always off topic. This is a settled issue. Flyertalk threads are public, EVERYONE is welcome if they make substantive contributions. If you cannot respectfully reply to those with whom you disagree you will not be able to post in this thread. Learn to use the Ignore List function.
Likewise, if you are not familiar with the history of Citi AAdvantage card application strategies, please READ some of the older threads to understand the context for this discussion.
Likewise, if you are not familiar with the history of Citi AAdvantage card application strategies, please READ some of the older threads to understand the context for this discussion.
Last edited by mia; Feb 1, 2020 at 12:33 pm
Feb 3, 2020, 2:16 pm
#2180
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: IAD
Posts: 735
Actually, I would think that AA (or, more specifically, their legal counsel) is counting on this. They will find someone who creates the most fake accounts, and is the most abusive, and then they will sue that ONE individual in Federal Court in Dallas. That will be the poster child for abuse of credit card mailers, etc. The benefit will be that IF there are a bunch of other suits filed they might even be able to move to consolidate all of them in the Federal Court in Dallas (there are a LOT of "buts" to this assumption of jurisdiction, but it is a strategic possibility).
Feb 3, 2020, 2:39 pm
#2181
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Orange County, CA, USA
Programs: AA (Life Plat), Marriott (Life Titanium) and every other US program
Posts: 6,411
Feb 3, 2020, 4:03 pm
#2182
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,477
Will there be any buyers this time?
Feb 3, 2020, 4:07 pm
#2183
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
AA made money selling miles. That part is true. But it's highly unlikely AA made money from churners, both because common sense says they didn't, and because companies rarely sacrifice future profits just to take action against a person or group out of spite.
Feb 3, 2020, 4:11 pm
#2184
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
AA made money when Citi payed them for those miles. Then they closed peoples' accounts and refused to provide the services which they advertise that those miles can buy. They are not doing it out of spite, any more than a common thief who breaks into your home steals things out of spite. They are doing it because they want to keep the money and not provide the service.
Feb 3, 2020, 4:14 pm
#2185
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
AA made money when Citi payed them for those miles. Then they closed peoples' accounts and refused to provide the services which they advertise that those miles can buy. They are not doing it out of spite, any more than a common thief who breaks into your home steals things out of spite. They are doing it because they want to keep the money and not provide the service.
Last edited by joe_miami; Feb 3, 2020 at 4:23 pm
Feb 3, 2020, 4:49 pm
#2186
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,610
"People who had their accounts terminated and any associated flights cancelled with a simple boilerplate email claiming expoitative practices, and no explanation or communication otherwise when pressed for further information".
Maybe later during discovery AA can help us slice and dice the class, but till that happens this is a very simple class of people who have been unjustly terminated and thousands of dollars worth of miles confiscated. It would be very similar to if e.g. Amazon or Uber or any other company did unexplained account terminations while those accounts had balances of "UberCash" or "AmazonCredit" etc worth thousands of dollars.
We can start with that class and if/when AA admits that this is related to Citibank, we can drag Citibank into the lawsuit since it looks like AA & Citi conspired to have a scheme where one corporation will issue the miles (after doing a full credit and background check against one's ssn, so these are legally gotten miles), while the other corporation will mark those miles as fraudulent to terminate accounts. If AA ever names Citi, then they are admitting to a criminal conspiracy here to defraud users by deciding the miles they sold Citi were ineligible if Citi ever issued them to their most loyal and frequent customers.
Feb 3, 2020, 4:56 pm
#2187
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Miami, Florida
Programs: AA ExPlat, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Spire, Hilton Gold
Posts: 4,009
Nah, we know. And AA will make sure the court formally knows if/when anyone files a class-action against it.
Feb 3, 2020, 5:22 pm
#2188
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Global
Posts: 5,998
If it got that far, AA might want to negotiate, they would fear discovery as they would be required to reveal a lot more than they would feel comfortable doing. But it is a big if to get that far.
Last edited by mia; Feb 3, 2020 at 6:26 pm Reason: Formatting
Feb 3, 2020, 6:18 pm
#2189
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 153
[deleted]
Last edited by billybayswater; Jul 13, 2020 at 11:56 am
Feb 3, 2020, 6:49 pm
#2190
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
Moderator action
Repetitive personal squabbling over who-knows-what does not advance discussion of the topic. Please make your point once, and move on. Repetitive content will be deleted.