My Atmos Rewards Summit Card Application Approval Experience

Yay! Glad it worked out! (Does it ever not work out for you, Ben?) Got any '*gasp* they reject me!' posts? Atmos Summit is a beast 3.1x foreign purchases; 3x rent up to $50K; great SUB; 25K and 100K certificates (if you do it right). Winner, winner, chicken, dinner.

Does it mean you are holding the same card twice? If I was approved for the card a few months ago I am eligible for the bonus - again?

I thought you already got this card when it came out? Did you apply for a second one, or is this just a re-write the first application experience?

By all means get this card, but the easiest way to earn OWS/OWE is a combo of the AA Executive Card and AA Hotels (plus having at least AA Gold status). With AA Hotels I'm frequently getting 15k miles/LPs on 2 night or more stays plus 10x on spend with the AA Exec card. You may pay $100-200 more than direct but the miles you get back makes it worth it.

So for instance assume a 2 night stay would cost $1000 direct or $1200 with AA Hotels but you get 15k miles/LPs plus 10x on spend so another 12k miles plus 1200 LPs. So that's 27k miles at 1.5cpm = $405 in value ($205 after accounting for the $200 upcharge) plus 16,200 LPs.

You only need 75k LPs for OWS and you get 10k LPs once you earn 50k LPs with the AA Exec Card. And once you hit 60k LPs you get 25% bonus LPs for the next 6 months (registration for the promo required). So in the above example would be 18.75k LPs plus 1.2k on spend = 19,950 LPs.

So literally all of 4 two-night stays in a year (plus the 10k LP AA Exec card bonus plus the 1k LP reward at 15k LPs) can earn you OWS. $4800 of spend versus $4000 direct, perhaps. Sure you're paying ~$800 more than direct bookings in that example, but you're earning ~$1600 in value back. After accounting for the AA Exec card ($600) it's net $200 in value. Basically, it's a push and you get OWS.

Or spend $60k on the Atmos card. Whatever works for folks! But if you're not spending $60k on a card, and might otherwise spend $1000 on a nice hotel for the weekend 4x a year, AA Hotels is a great pathway.

They must hate me then... I only opened the FB card with them last Jun and Bilt this Feb for the past 12 months. I've been trying Summit since launch and the Atmos Business card last month. They kept denying me for already having enough credit or have had a new card too recently. The annoying thing is that they no longer have a real reconsideration process.

Probably a re-write to explain the application process and highlight the new bonus. But you're right, it's a little odd.

@ben: do we now if non AA one world elites (for example through Atmos) will be able to still assign seats free and assign upgraded seats on basic economy fares?

To me that would be a compelling reason to have non AA one world status.

@jnrfalcon, your experience is not unique. Despite excellent credit, being in middle-age with good income, and a seven-year relationship with BofA (Ascent/Predecessor in good standing), I was denied twice with no satisfactory explanation. I've decided to replace the Ascent's credit limit (multiple 10s of ks) with another card and close my BofA relationship.

I'd give up on these clowns, too.

Was wondering the same things @Ryan/ Some reheated post?

@jnrfalcon I had a similar experience when it first came out. Was denied in August, and tried again a little over 2 months later before the original 100k bonus went away, with a second denial for reasons similar to yours. However, I was just approved for the Summit at the beginning of this month, so it can happen!

I applied twice when it first came out. Horrible customer service. The site said I was declined both times. Turns out I wasn’t actually declined, but they just needed to verify my identity. After getting the letter (anyone heard on an online form over at BoA??) I sent in everything they asked for and I got back a standard letter saying I was declined because they couldn’t confirm my identity, which made no sense. I replied to that with even more details, a cover letter and 6 forms of identification… and received the same response.

I spent hours and hours trying to call, go into branches trying to find someone who could help. No real people could. I applied again a few months later and got the same need to confirm identity letter even though I had set up a BoA investment account (to get that bonus) earlier hoping that it would help confirm my identity. So it’s absolute bullocks that they couldn’t identify me especially with the 6 forms of identification I sent in… I simply wanted a real human explanation or to have a real human help me verify.

I’m tempted to try again, but god, I wish AS didn’t use BoA. It’s so bad.