An open letter to American Airlines on PNN

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An open letter to American Airlines

Posted by Maya Posted on: 07/14/08

An open letter to American Airlines

Dear American Airlines,

If you haven't noticed, the US economy is not doing so well right now. I don't know if you're aware of the causes of the current economic problems, but let me break it down for you: many banks gave loans to people who should not have gotten loans to buy houses. These people quickly found themselves unable to pay off these sub-prime loans, having not paid close enough attention to the terms and conditions, and now well, the US banking industry is kind of in the toilet over this whole mess.

With this in mind, it boggles my mind to the point of raising my sense of indignant fury that I got the following email from your esteemed company a few days ago:

"Your home could be worth thousands in American Airlines AAdvantagemiles! Right now, you can earn up to 15,000 bonus miles after closing a loan or real estate transaction through LendingTree. Get up to four customized loan offers, plus earn thousands of miles after closing, all from the comfort of your own home.

Refinance:1,250 milesfor every $10,000 financed+ 15,000 Bonus Miles

Purchase Mortgage:1,250 milesfor every $10,000 financed+ 10,000 Bonus Miles

Home Equity Loan/Line:1,250 milesfor every $10,000 financed+ 5,000 Bonus Miles

Find a REALTOR:3,000 milesfor every $10,000of home purchase or selling price+ 10,000 Bonus Miles

For example, if you refinance $200,000, you could earn 25,000 miles PLUS an additional 15,000 bonus miles. That's a total of 40,000 miles - enough miles for award travel!"

The sheer irresponsibility of this promotion is absurd. People are already in financial difficulties because of bad spending decisions, and you, American Airlines, are waving a free vacation around in their faces if they go even furtherinto debt to procure those miles.

It's in such bad taste it's almost insulting. I can only hope that the decision to run this scheme comes back to bite you in your collective behinds.

- Maya

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