iChat buddy issues

I'm having an odd problem with iChat. I'm using an AIM account via iChat, and one of my buddies, whom I normally have no trouble seeing, is being registered as offline. Conversely, I register as offline to the buddy. I've added and removed the buddy, I've restarted, I've made sure the buddy isn't blocked, I've deleted and re-added my account, and I've had my buddy do all the same, however we just can't seem to see each other as online. The problem is that it's just this one buddy.

Is there any solution?

Same issue

I am having the exact same problem though it only occurs with 2 or 3 of my buddies. All the rest appear online fine. I have deleted and readded and they have too. No luck!

I can't figure out why only selected ones have this issue. We are not blocking each other.

I have noticed that it does make a difference if a buddy has a mobileme account or a .mac account. In other words, if they were originally a .mac, make sure to add them as a .mac. If you add them as .me it doesn't work even though mobileme has replaced .mac.

I would love to hear a solution if anyone knows.