I got mine approved through email a couple of months ago without a phone call. I assumed (correctly) it was for the standard AAP. The approval email was sent by a specific team member (a form approval letter, but sent by an individual person, not general guest services), so I could have easily replied back to that specific person if I had any concerns or thought the standard aap would not have worked for me.
Also, I don't think I was "auto-approved" even though I didn't have the phone conversation. My process went like this:
- Got card approved through 3rd party (sorry can never remember the acronym/letters!)
- Week later got a standardized email from both universal guest services asking for availability and travel plans so they could schedule a phone call
- I replied to both, but also gave a couple of details (albeit still vague) about a concern I had in USH last summer, and indicated unexpected phone calls at unknown times are difficult for me so requested a heads up before the phone call
- Several weeks of waiting, no phone call and not hearing anything back
- Got personalized email with case number/approval. The email was sent as a reply from the USH email where I had had more details about my situation. So it seemed more like an accommodation to do it through email rather than an automatic approval.