Consumer complaint received 2020-01-04
Company: CITIBANK, N.A.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
This complaint concern Citi and XXXX XXXX and the unfair practices they have used with regards to their Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select cards and the miles they provide for promotional bonuses and regular spending. 

Over the last several years I have earned AAdvantage miles through bonus offers provided by Citi and paid out by XXXX XXXX. I have also earned miles through regular spending on my card. Because I own several XXXX, in the past I have opened several Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select cards. I only contemplated opening a second card because an XXXX XXXX flight attendant was attempting to get passengers on a flight to sign up for one of the credit card offers. I mentioned to her that I already had a card, and she informed me that as long as the application didn't specify any terms about not being eligible, that I could apply for another card and earn the bonus again. 

As a result I accrued a fairly substantial AAdvantage program balance. 

On XX/XX/2019 I attempted to book a reservation using some of my miles. The process for booking an AAdvantage award reservation involved " booking '' the reservation, and then waiting for the airline to actually " ticket '' it. After booking, the reservation will stay in a " ticket pending '' mode until the ticketing department issues the ticket and deducts the miles from your account to pay for it. This process typically takes a few hours. In my case it had been 24 hours and it still had not ticketed so I called in to try and resolve the issue. The next day I spoke to an agent who rebooked the reservation to try and solve the problem, but after another 24 hours this new reservation also had not been ticketed. 

I called in once again and after a long time on the phone, I was told my AAdvantage account had been " locked '' by XXXX XXXX and that I would be unable to use my account. I asked why the account had been locked and was provided no information. Since that day I have called into AAdvantage customer service, called and left several voicemails at the XXXX XXXX department, emailed customer relations, messaged the airline 's XXXX account, emailed several members of staff ( including executives ), and sent paper mail to several employees ( once again, including executives ). I have yet to receive an explanation for why my account is locked, and I continue to be unable to utilize my miles. 

Since this issue, I have done some research and learned the airline is apparently locking and shutting down several hundred or thousand accounts in a similar fashion with no explanation. Some customers have been shut down and had reservations cancelled while overseas - being left stranded by XXXX XXXX ' deceptive business practices. The theory is that XXXX XXXX is punishing customers who utilized the Citi credit card bonus offers, despite the terms and conditions allowing them to. Some customers had as little as one or two bonuses provided to them, and were still terminated by XXXX XXXX. This is unbelievable. 

Despite XXXX XXXX and Citi being seperate entities, I thought the entangled nature of their business relationship was vital to this issue. I reached out to Citi 's executive department to explain the situation and see what they could do to remedy the problem. My opinion is that Citi and XXXX XXXX are effective operating a credit card rewards program in which you earn " miles '' which you can use on a variety of items - from flights, to gift cards, to hotels, to rental cars. In this way, despite them calling these " miles '', the AAdvantage program is essentially a rewards program. But in this case, Citi has outsourced the rewards program to XXXX XXXX. 

Because I rightfully earned these " miles '' through clear terms and conditions, I feel that Citi is obligated to either work with XXXX XXXX to reopen my account, or provide me some form of compensation ( either in their native XXXX Points rewards, or in cash ) that is equal to the value of the points I am losing and unable to use. 

Citi refused to assist me in the matter. 

Citi and XXXX XXXX are essentially engaging in Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices ( UDAAP ), and have failed to deliver on the terms of the offers I enrolled in and rightfully earned. 

It has been a month since my account was locked, and I see no end in sight to this issue. I require the assistance of the CFPB to help me solve this problem. The bank and the airline seem uninterested in assisting or even providing an explanation as to what is going on. 

My AAdvantage account number is XXXX.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation