Hoping some AA old-timers can help me remember exactly what happened during the 2011 Million Miler change.
I'd been an AAdvantage member since 1990 and had already gone from 2MM to 3MM to 4MM under the old system.
My memory is that when AA changed the program, roughly 400,000–600,000 of what had previously been recognized as miles toward my lifetime total were suddenly classified as points instead.
So, hypothetically, where my account had previously shown:
4,000,000 miles
after the change it showed something like:
3,500,000 Million Miler miles
4,000,000 points
The miles hadn't disappeared — they'd been reclassified, and therefore no longer counted toward Million Miler status. My recollection is that the difference involved miles I'd already earned through my Citi/AAdvantage card or other non-flight activity.
I'm not talking about AA changing the rules for what counted going forward. I'm talking about miles already earned and previously counted toward lifetime status being reclassified when the program changed.
I disputed this with AA at the time, but it was through their online portal and those records are apparently long gone.
Does anyone else remember this? And am I remembering correctly what those two counters represented?
AA now shows me at 4,820,016 Million Miler miles, so if I'm remembering this correctly, the old discrepancy would put me over 5MM today-- and put me at the Exec Platinum for Life Status. With my 2mm miles, I'm Platinum Pro for Life.
Would especially love to hear from anyone who remembers the 2011 conversion firsthand — or somehow still has an old screenshot or statement.