AAdvantage Great Customer Service and an Easy 500 AA miles

Today's post is mainly a shout out to the fantastic customer service I received from American Airline's AAdvantage Customer Service department.  I only wish I would have written down the name of the agent that assisted me for singling out (I'm just bad at that).  Anyways, here's a quick recap of what happened:

So if you've followed me the past couple of days, you read that I reached AA Executive Platinum (EXP) level for the rest of this year and through February 2014.  I reached the level on Saturday (12/1/12) morning just after AA updated everyone's accounts for the current double promotion (AATHX).  Of course no one knew when that update was going to happen.  I had planned a mileage run of sorts (prior to the AATHX promotion announcement) on 12/1/12 to reach EXP while trying to get to a party in Carlsbad, CA.  The flight was DFW-MIA-LAX.  I requested upgrades on both flights and was cleared for both.  The million dollar question was whether AA would treat those 2 upgrades as a Platinum Elite or EXP Elite?  The difference is that at Platinum Elite, the upgrades "cost" me eight 500 miles upgrade stickers.  If the system updated fast enough, I could be treated as EXP where no 500 mile stickers are taken from my account.  Only time would tell on Monday which was I was treated.

So on Monday I logged into my account and noticed that eight 500 mile stickers were deducted from my account balance.  It did not come to a surprise to me since the timing of my graduation to EXP was during a weekend of flying.  I decided to make a call to AAdvantage Customer Service to beg for them back.  After going through all the prompts I laughed as I got an automated message saying my call would be answered in 30 minutes.  As I was about to immediately hang up, an agent picked up.  After some laughing together I explained that I had become EXP effective 12/1/12 and that I had been deducted eight 500 miles stickers on flights that day.  She verified the information in her system and, after a short hold, informed me that all 8 would be returned to my account.  While many may believe that I was entitled to keep those stickers, I think AA could have gone either way on that.  The call was pleasant and fun.  Thank you AAdvantage!  I wanted them back in order to upgrade the Mrs when we fly together and clear for upgrades.

As a quick bonus, answer a few questions on AA's "Mile For Your Thoughts" on Facebook and get 500 miles credited to your account.  Yeah, it's not much, but many of us have, at one time or another, been short a few miles for redemption.  Just snag the free miles!