American Airlines Bankruptcy: AAdvantage FAQ

Surely you’ve heard by now that AMR/American Airlines has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.   They’ve also released a FAQ explaining how this will effect the AAdvantage Program.

Two items of interest are revealed: confirmation that partner awards will added to the award booking engine and some kind of new credit card:

We look forward to introducing even more enhancements to the program such as partner award booking online, new credit cards

Anyway, the FAQ was released as a PDF and posted it within the Information About American’s Chapter 11 Reorganization section of their website.   Here it is in its entirety:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT AADVANTAGE

1. Are my AAdvantage miles going away?
No, we intend to maintain our AAdvantage program and ensure that all miles and elite status earned by members remain secure and intact. As usual, your AAdvantage miles do not expire as long as you have qualifying account activity at least once every 18 months. Qualifying account activity is defined as any AAdvantage mileage accrual or AAdvantage award redemption.

2. Do the elite qualifying miles and/or elite status I’ve earned this year go away?
No, we intend to maintain our AAdvantage program and ensure that all miles and elite status earned by members remain secure and intact. As usual, your AAdvantage miles do not expire as long as you have qualifying account activity at least once every 18 months. Qualifying account activity is defined as any AAdvantage mileage accrual or AAdvantage award redemption.

3. Does my Lifetime Gold or Lifetime Platinum status go away?
No, we intend to maintain our AAdvantage program and ensure that all miles and elite status earned by members remain secure and intact. As usual, your AAdvantage miles do not expire as long as you have qualifying account activity at least once every 18 months. Qualifying account activity is defined as any AAdvantage mileage accrual or AAdvantage award redemption.

4. Do earned upgrades or other elite benefits I’ve earned go away?
No, we intend to maintain our AAdvantage program and ensure that all miles and elite status earned by members remain secure and intact. As usual, your AAdvantage miles do not expire as long as you have qualifying account activity at least once every 18 months. Qualifying account activity is defined as any AAdvantage mileage accrual or AAdvantage award redemption.

5. What will happen to the AAdvantage program?
The AAdvantage program, including the elite program and its various facets such as lifetime status, upgrades, and bonus mileage, are intact and we expect they will not be changing as a result of this Chapter 11 filing. We intend to honor your AAdvantage miles in accordance with our normal policies.

6. Are you planning to make any changes to the AAdvantage program?
No, we are not planning any changes as a result of the Chapter 11 filing. We look forward to introducing even more enhancements to the program such as partner award booking online, new credit cards, and new redemption opportunities available only with your favorite currency – AAdvantage miles.

7. Can I continue to use my AAdvantage miles for travel awards, upgrades, and Admirals Club membership?
Yes.

8. Can I still accrue miles and redeem mileage awards through oneworld and American’s frequent flyer air partners?
Yes, we expect that our partnerships with airlines such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines (JAL), LAN, Malév, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines and others remain unchanged as a result of the Chapter 11 filing.

9. Can I still accrue mileage by using the services of AAdvantage participating companies such as rental car partners and hotel partners?
Yes.

10. Can I continue to accrue miles on my Citi AAdvantage credit cards?
Yes. Your ability to accrue miles remains unchanged.

11. Will the Chapter 11 filing have any effect on my Citi AAdvantage credit cards?
No changes to your Citi AAdvantage credit cards are anticipated as a result of this Chapter 11 filing. However, your Citi AAdvantage credit cards will continue to be subject to their usual terms and conditions.

By the way, the staff over at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram SkyTalk blog have lots of interesting details including an interview with the new AMR CEO Tom Horton.