First Impressions of American Airlines and AAdvantage

[ContUNITEus]

I signed up for both the US Airways Barclay's MasterCard and the American Airlines AAdvantage Citi MasterCard. 
 
AAdvantage has been a horrible experience.  For someone that is a brand new customer of AA's FF program, I wish I could go back in time and not have signed up / used any of this, as this is indicative of what's to come with the new AA.
 
Note: US Airways gave me everything that they were supposed to 40000 miles - no issues whatsoever.
 
American has been a hassle.  Nobody knows where the miles went/are supposed to go to/where they are at right now.  Citi's customer service doesn't know how to or can't do it.  So they refer me to AAdvantage.  Advantage is closed on the weekends and their hold times are an average of 20 minutes and yield nothing, except to be sent back to Citi. 
 
So right now I went through the same thing for the third time in 10 days.  I called Citi and after 30 minutes of incorrect information, and letting her trip over her own statements, she realized would not be able to help me, thus referring me to AAdvantage. This time, however, I persuaded the Citi lady to stay on the line with me to see how this would go.  After 20 minutes on hold, the AAdvantage represenative told me that she couldn't assist with that, thus referring to AAdvantage Customer service. (This happened exactly like this last week.)  When the agent connected us to Customer Service, the hold time was going to be another 17 minutes, at which point the CIti lady said that she could no longer hold.  I told her then: "at least now you understand where I am at."
 
Anyway, nothing was solved yet again.  Been after AA for 20 days trying to figure out where the miles went.
 
SHAME ON YOU American Airlines.
 
 

 

[ContUNITEus]

This is what I will try to do towards the end of the week.  I will call US Airways to see if there is somehow an option to associate the miles with United Airlines, then dump AA/US.   Or, I will book an outbound flight using miles on UA, then book a return using US on codeshare with UA (while I still can) then dump US/AA alltogether.
 
It's been a great 1 month AA.  good bye

 

[IORFA]

See ya! The Citi AAdvantage Mastercard I just looked at required a $1000 purchase in the first 3 months and the miles aren't deposited for 8-10 weeks AFTER the $1000 in purchases has been made. So one month wouldn't work for that card. Maybe patience is something you can practice or read the fine print on the agreement.

 

[ContUNITEus]

Don't speak too fast, IOR.  I don't have to disclose all the details about my spending habits, but just know that I just got the 40000 miles for US, so the spending amount is not an issue.  Since you missed it, let me repeat that the problem lies with the fact that they don't know where to put the miles. There are miles that have already been awarded, besides the bonus issue.  Citi is unable to name an AAdvantage account where the miles went to/are supposed to go to.  That's what the issue is about, and the fact that neither party knows what is going on, pointing the finger at the other party involved. 
 
You did a great job at finding an answer, albeit it is one that does not apply to the specifics of this case.  Aside from the fact that the 8-10 weeks is irrelevant to the actual problem, how come that they never spoke about that? 
 
 
Ohh wait... Maybe because that is not the actual problem!!!

 

[737823]

Honestly your gripe should be with Citigroup not American Airlines. But again the terms and conditions of the offer for the two cards are different, Barclays credits the miles upon approval/first purchase (one of the two) while AA Citi card had a minimum spend requirement that must be satisfied. I've opened dozens of the AA Citi cards over the past few years and never had any issues and in practice the miles post much sooner than the T&Cs state-you should receive them once the statement cycles for the period you meet the spending requirement. I understand you a frustrated but it seems you do not have the right understanding of how the card works (not the AAdvantage program-again this Citigroup we are talking about) and therefore had unreasonable expectations going in.

Josh

 

[IORFA]

Did you actually sign up for AAdvantage? Unfortunately, I agree with Josh. This is a Citi card problem. I too have had their card for many years and it is a very positive experience with them.

 

[eolesen]

If you didn't associate the card with an AAdvantage account, that would be a problem... they won't just create one for you.

I've had the Citi card since 1990 or so, and never had any serious problems with their customer service.

 

[dash8roa]

Don't speak too fast, IOR.  I don't have to disclose all the details about my spending habits, but just know that I just got the 40000 miles for US, so the spending amount is not an issue.  Since you missed it, let me repeat that the problem lies with the fact that they don't know where to put the miles. There are miles that have already been awarded, besides the bonus issue.  Citi is unable to name an AAdvantage account where the miles went to/are supposed to go to.  That's what the issue is about, and the fact that neither party knows what is going on, pointing the finger at the other party involved. 
 
You did a great job at finding an answer, albeit it is one that does not apply to the specifics of this case.  Aside from the fact that the 8-10 weeks is irrelevant to the actual problem, how come that they never spoke about that? 
 
 
Ohh wait... Maybe because that is not the actual problem!!!

I have had an AA citibank credit card for over ten years, no problems at all. Wait till you redeem those US miles and have to pay an award processing fee of $25.00 per ticket for domestic or $50.00 per ticket for international. And by the way, the frequent flyer does all the work on the US web site to redeem the miles, no res agent involved. Nice way to treat a good customer.
AA has always had more options and seats for flights on days that US or UA were blacked out.
I fear the worst with my AA miles being devalued.

 

[ContUNITEus]

Oh wow.... good to know.....  I have had UNITED FOR 15 sum yeasss but didn't FF them anymore for a long time, because of the bennies.  But the miles come in handy when you go on vacations and don't want to involve non-reving too much.  Now, I finally decided to diversify and try other airlines - in a sense American Airlines.  US Airways, I only did for the double whammy miles that are gonna be merged with AA later on.

 

[ContUNITEus]

I have heard very good things about AirBerlin.  Heard that they are the most generous one out there, and thus always wins awards for it...  It's a shame they don't have a US based CC.

 

[ContUNITEus]

The irony though....  just noticed this:   http://www.flyertalk.com/awards/2013/
 
Ohhh well.... let's be patient and see if I get to change my opinion about AA after the first bad impression.

 

[MAH4546]

Your problem is with Citi. AA has nothing to do with it.

See ya! The Citi AAdvantage Mastercard I just looked at required a $1000 purchase in the first 3 months and the miles aren't deposited for 8-10 weeks AFTER the $1000 in purchases has been made. So one month wouldn't work for that card. Maybe patience is something you can practice or read the fine print on the agreement.

That's just language to protect from complainers. In practice, the miles post on the same day as the statement in which you reached your minimum spend.

 

[Bob Owens]

Do they still expect you to pay $50 a year for it?

 

[767one]

I signed up for both the US Airways Barclay's MasterCard and the American Airlines AAdvantage Citi MasterCard. 
 
AAdvantage has been a horrible experience.  For someone that is a brand new customer of AA's FF program, I wish I could go back in time and not have signed up / used any of this, as this is indicative of what's to come with the new AA.
 
Note: US Airways gave me everything that they were supposed to 40000 miles - no issues whatsoever.
 
American has been a hassle.  Nobody knows where the miles went/are supposed to go to/where they are at right now.  Citi's customer service doesn't know how to or can't do it.  So they refer me to AAdvantage.  Advantage is closed on the weekends and their hold times are an average of 20 minutes and yield nothing, except to be sent back to Citi. 
 
So right now I went through the same thing for the third time in 10 days.  I called Citi and after 30 minutes of incorrect information, and letting her trip over her own statements, she realized would not be able to help me, thus referring me to AAdvantage. This time, however, I persuaded the Citi lady to stay on the line with me to see how this would go.  After 20 minutes on hold, the AAdvantage represenative told me that she couldn't assist with that, thus referring to AAdvantage Customer service. (This happened exactly like this last week.)  When the agent connected us to Customer Service, the hold time was going to be another 17 minutes, at which point the CIti lady said that she could no longer hold.  I told her then: "at least now you understand where I am at."
 
Anyway, nothing was solved yet again.  Been after AA for 20 days trying to figure out where the miles went.
 
SHAME ON YOU American Airlines.
 
 

I will non-rev on American but If I buy a ticket it will be on any airline but American. Nothing against the American employees but the American management is the same management as the former USAirways. I gave at the office!

 

[IORFA]

Do they still expect you to pay $50 a year for it?

They have one that has no annual fee. Just accrue 1/2 a mile per $1.