American Airlines Claws Back 25,000 Miles Given By Mistake—But Customers Still Get 5,000

I recently wrote about an AAdvantage Business promotion that customers could apply to their accounts to receive 25,000 miles credited instantly. That was super generous!

In my view it’s always a great idea to jump on these sorts of offers, because sometimes they work out and when they don’t sometimes there are make-good kinds of offers that follow.

It turns out that this promotion wasn’t meant to be available so broadly, and American is clawing back the miles – but will be extending apology miles to those affected. According to a spokesperson,

American Airlines recently identified an error involving AAdvantage miles that were claimed through a recent AAdvantage Business promotion. After reviewing the accounts involved, we confirmed that some claims did not meet the promotion’s eligibility requirements. As a result, the deposited miles have been removed to ensure all balances reflect the correct totals. We apologize for any inconvenience.

I understand that the promotion code was meant to be targeted, but their systems weren’t programmed to limit signups to the intended accounts. While they say they’re removing the 25,000 miles they are giving affected accounts 5,000 miles. So those who popped the promo code into their accounts wind up ahead. Plus, a cursory review suggests that miles may not have actually been removed (yet) from all accounts where the 5,000 miles have been added.