Comments on: Millions of Miles Lost: The Full Story Behind American Airlines Massive AAdvantage Account Shutdowns

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:24:48 +0000

For one thing:

NO PET OR PLANT EVER GOT A CREDIT CARD.

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:24:18 +0000

Dude, you don’t get it. I’m not reading about this second hand.

By: Retired Gambler

Retired Gambler — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:22:20 +0000

@Blue – Gary reported some with over 50 cards. Also people set up multiple accounts using pet names, fake names etc then loaded those with cards. Do a little research on other blogs and see how some even bragged about it.

As for the same offer, that is not relevant for a class action, You have to have similar exposure and risk profile. It wasn’t the offer that is the problem as the vast majority of people using it weren’t impacted, it was the fact the offer was misused against AA policy and, in some cases, in a criminal matter.

Of course that doesn’t stop some ambulance chasers and sleazy grifters looking for a handout

Trust me – this is going nowhere.

By: Blue

Blue — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:17:27 +0000

@RetiredGambler, you literally could not have 50 cards on a single AA account from this hack due to Citi timing issues for new cards. Trust me, I was deep in this.

There literally was no “variance in actions”, either. Everyone was using the exact same offer.

By: Logan

Logan — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:06:11 +0000

@Duckeduck It must be a very quiet life you lead if you’re only interested in things that are perfect.

By: Retired Gambler

Retired Gambler — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:39:44 +0000

@Blue – Also AA didn’t take anything away as their rules clearly state the airline is ALWAYS the owner of the points (not the flyer) and has broad authority to change the rules or shut down accounts.

AA wouldn’t do it due to marketing reasons but they could actually just shut down the entire program and declare all points null and void. Legally their rules also this – the program exists are their sole discretion

By: Retired Gambler

Retired Gambler — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:36:22 +0000

@Blue – AA acted based on data from their analytics software of missies of the offers in violations of AA’s rules. 99.9% of members weren’t impacted. Also, as Gary noted, once you dig into it the vast majority end up being bad actors clearly in violation. As for 50 cards – did you not read that some people bought offers from Flyer Talk and Reddit? Some used over a hundred offers.

As for a class I still contend it will be very difficult to establish a class action due to the variance in actions. AA will fight that (as they should) and likely win. This isn’t the case of a homogeneous group exposed to the same potential risk – many willingly took part in creating it.

I’m n any event I hate civil litigation and the view of so many Americans that any time something happens they should cash in. I’m all for significant caps on awards, elimination of class action lawsuits and other corporate protections. Of course as long as the Dims are in power that won’t happen as they hate business and pander to the lazy grifters and ambulance chasers.

By: Blue

Blue — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 22:54:24 +0000

Oh, and one more thing–AA did not act against distinguishable members of a class. It whacked purely on number of bonuses. They won’t be able to argue that they were selectively targeting fraudsters.

By: Blue

Blue — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 22:51:08 +0000

People who are saying the class won’t get substantial relief if the suit makes it through class formation and AA’s inevitable MTDs are wrong. The individuals suffered substantial and verifiable losses. This isn’t everyone gets credit monitoring for six months. Should the lawsuit pass those thresholds AA will pay because the potential damage to it’s control of the program is way too big to risk a formal judgment.

A mild correction–the number of friends/pets/plants accounts didn’t need to be large (e.g. 20) because Citi’s velocity limits meant you only needed a handful of mailers per year. 50 cards for one account would also have been impossible.

By: Gerald

Gerald — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 19:03:47 +0000

“In other words, Citi programmed their systems poorly. ”

I’m shocked!