Complaint Review: American Aadvantage Program

I had been an Aadvantage member since 1998. I finally did enough traveling and signed up for their promo Citibank credit card to get my miles up to 29,242. I called in October of 2007 to book a flight but decided to hold off until next year to use the miles. In September 2008, I was ready to redeem my miles, when I was told that my miles had expired in May 2008 due to "inactivity.". I was not given ANY notification via email or mail that they would be doing that.

The representative who I spoke with told me that I could get back my expired mileages thru their "challenge program." In order for me to get all 29,000 miles back, I had to either sign up with Citibank credit card again, or do show that I was an active member by showing proof of a flight within this year. I informed them that I did book a round trip with AA in May of this year. I was then told that I had to enrolled in their AA email program and call back in October to get back my expired miles.

I just called back and spoke with another representative at Aadvantage program and was told that I was "mis-informed." The only way I am able to get my miles back is to sign up for the Citibank credit card. She also tried to sell me on using three of their "partners" to get more miles. I informed her that I was not interested in "starting over" and that I wanted the miles I had earned originally.

With all the airlines hiking up their fees, this was the last straw for me. I told her to cancel my membership. I can't believe that they can just take away my miles without informing me. I was not given a chance to redeem them. DO NOT SIGN UP for the American Aadvantage program!

Trang
Pittsburg, California
U.S.A.