LatinPass/GlobalPass - GP retracts on all TACA awards reservation not ticketed!!!

Just got this e-mail:

"Dear GlobalPass Customer:

Due to the high volume of GlobalAwards requested during the month of June 2005, we regret to inform you we are unable to complete your recent award reservation request(s).

The award reservations were accepted by TACA Airlines Reservations Department, however, TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the awards.

Please accept our sincere apologies for not being able to satisfy your request.

Sincerely,

GlobalPass Customer Care Center

P.S. Your miles can continue to be used with other services and products as long as you maintain activity with GlobalPass."

:mad: :mad: :mad:

I just got the same email. This beings Global Pass to all-time low.

How could they be telling us to fax and email our reservations to them and then not honor them?

Of course when I tried to call I couldn't get through...

Same message received for my five award tickets.

not surprised. Marrissa told me this morning that my email for my trips was on time yesterday and will be tkted.

I 1st read about the change (undoing) when I was overseas and didnt have any of my info I needed with me. well thats 480,000 down the tubes. I got back and had to figure out when I could get down there.

Maybe Randy can get Taca to do something.

Just got off the phone with Globalpass and they said nothing is being honored by TACA. When they told me i could still use the miles towards flights in the new scheme i almost lost but held it together. I spent all day Tueday and Wednesday making reservations for myself and my sister. We had about 450000 miles each left and were only able to book two after we were given notice. They suggested writing to cutomer care with our concerns but at this point i am just disgusted.

Randy might be able to help, but remember Global Pass took away his million as they said he did not have any activity in three years. He did a car rental. Another guy that did the run with Randy and I together lost his miles as well. Just got the email myself

We definitely don't have to take this hands down.
Randy would be very welcome help. The press, consumer advocates, state attorney general, other legal action come to mind.
I not sure TACA wants all that negative publicity in the North American market.

Why am I not surprised? Boy, ain't I happy to have paid the expedite fee to have my tickets issued right away a couple of weeks ago.

Both my wife and I just received the same e-mail messages. Does anyone have any experience dealing with Press, or know who might likely pick-up this story?

A number of us also purchased additional miles. Unless we know this is dead, we probably don't want to try to get those purchases reveresed, lest TACA backs-off and then GP says we don't have enough miles in our account!

Who picked-up the Million Mile story the first time around?

I just got my e-mail too. 500K+ in award requests were denied. I guess you guys know that I have kinda been riding Randy hard about the GP issue - to which I kinda got a whippin' recently. (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4260031#post4260031post4260031) But that's ok... I can handle it.

Apparently Randy is doing a write up in the next issue of IF. Well, I hope that he hasn't gone to press yet - so that the rest of the story can be aired. And there WILL be more to this story... A LOT more I am sure. Can this wind up similar to the FIJI Travelocity deal? Ultimately, everyone was ticketed, including moi!

Personally, I think that this is basically a TACA issue now. If we can put some pressure on them to honor the tickets requested by June 30th, then we might be able to salvage what we have. This could be very, very bad press for TACA Airlines. Does anyone know some journalist with the MIAMI HERALD? Or in SJO and/or SAL.

I can see it now,

TACA LEAVES FREQUENT FLYERS
STRANDED!


Let's brain storm. Where do we go from here?

Both my wife and I just received the same e-mail messages. Does anyone have any experience dealing with Press, or know who might likely pick-up this story?

A number of us also purchased additional miles. Unless we know this is dead, we probably don't want to try to get those purchases reveresed, lest TACA backs-off and then GP says we don't have enough miles in our account!

Who picked-up the Million Mile story the first time around?

Well Rhino I did not mean to throw a stone at you the other day just friendy nudging, and honestly I wished your situation had allowed you to use some of those miles, honestly! But to answer your question & how I found out about the promo 'USA TODAY"!!! They did quite a LARGE layout even showing the routing you could use. We are all in a pickle (I'm from the south...lol)
May as well laugh as to cry. Those dirty birds.

A number of us also purchased additional miles. Unless we know this is dead, we probably don't want to try to get those purchases reveresed, lest TACA backs-off and then GP says we don't have enough miles in our account!

I'm not a lawyer, but you may be in better shape than the rest of us. Did they charge your card? If so, would this constitute an agreement?

Who picked-up the Million Mile story the first time around?

PuddingGuy would know. And would be the perfect candidate to re-interview at this point, especially if he got the letter.

Did everyone 'snap shot' the GP web deadline notice? And wasn't it interesting that the notice went out just before the 3 day weekend?

I got the same email. I bought 10,000 miles for $150 to have enough miles. I also will wait to dispute the charge. In the end, I think we've been royally screwed. Not surprising considering GP past actions. I will be pleasantly surprised if the reverse this decision.

How many calls would it take to tie up TACAs 800 system? Perhaps we can organize mass calling as a protest. Probably will not help, but it would help me vent my anger.

I was featured in an AP wire story that was picked up by lot of newspapers. I was also interviewed by the BBC radio. I'll see if I can contact either reporter and see if they are interested in a follow-up.

Let's hope a little public pressure will force Taca to honor our valid award reservations AND force GP to give the proper 6 months notice for what amounts to the end of the program. If that doesn't work, perhaps the Florida Attorney General would be interested in persuing it.

[QUOTE=dhacker]I was featured in an AP wire story that was picked up by lot of newspapers. I was also interviewed by the BBC radio. I'll see if I can contact either reporter and see if they are interested in a follow-up.

USA Today (as mentioned above) featured it on the front page as well as 1 or 2 (can't remember) inside. Contact them.

[QUOTE=Schutzee]I got the same email. I bought 10,000 miles for $150 to have enough miles. I also will wait to dispute the charge. In the end, I think we've been royally screwed. Not surprising considering GP past actions. I will be pleasantly surprised if the reverse this decision.

I too spent $90 to round up my account. I have the tkt number, am I safe?
The whole KLM changing return date issue is a real mess, as well.

Well Rhino I did not mean to throw a stone at you the other day just friendy nudging, and honestly I wished your situation had allowed you to use some of those miles, honestly! But to answer your question & how I found out about the promo 'USA TODAY"!!! They did quite a LARGE layout even showing the routing you could use. We are all in a pickle (I'm from the south...lol)
May as well laugh as to cry. Those dirty birds.

BOA VIAGEM,

I took your message the way in which you indicated it was intended. If someone can track down the name of the author and post it, that would be helpful.

Can anyone find-out from GP or TACA who made the decision not to issue the tickets, and/or does anyone know to whom letters of complaint should be addressed? I'm not an attorney, by the word FRAUD seems to come to mind. My attorney said CLASS ACTION SUIT also came to mind, although the attorneys seem to do much better in those than either the plaintiffs and defendants. My attorney will be drafting a letter as the first step in this process.

Why am I not surprised? Boy, ain't I happy to have paid the expedite fee to have my tickets issued right away a couple of weeks ago.

I received my ticket numbers the same day that I booked with GP a couple of weeks ago so I do not think it benefits to have paid an optional expedite fee.

[QUOTE=dhacker]I was featured in an AP wire story that was picked up by lot of newspapers. I was also interviewed by the BBC radio. I'll see if I can contact either reporter and see if they are interested in a follow-up.

USA Today (as mentioned above) featured it on the front page as well as 1 or 2 (can't remember) inside. Contact them.

I don't recall USA Today picking up the story and think it profiled someone else's run. They still may be interested in following up. However, I did have my very own CNN.com quick poll for a while which asked "Would you do what dhacker did for one million FF miles?"

If that doesn't work, perhaps the Florida Attorney General would be interested in persuing it.

I have been very patient enduring all the changes, restrictions, drop-out of airlines - many unannounced, overnight. I was of the opinion by spreading out redemptions I am giving GP and its partners the necessary breathing room in the interest of everbody. Have been patiently sending e-mails, faxes, award requests time & again just to find out there was virtual non-availability of seats on certain partner carriers. Still I have been giving them the benefit of the doubt, been hanging in there, hoping to at least get some tickets from the few remaining options.

And now this! If these reservations are not honored by TACA & processed by GP, we are at the point of Blatant Obvious Fraud , where criminal prosecution by the Attorney General is warranted.

The latest action is the proverbial straw to break the camel's back!

My friends just got the same denied e-mail from GlobalPass for both of their confirmed TACA reservations.

Are you sure this is TACA denying the reservation or is it GlobalPass.

While I believe that GP's latest e-mail message is accurate in that Taca refuses to issue ticket numbers and ticket stock, it is to GP that we must look to for remedy, as we are members of their frequent flyer program. They made the promises/commitments, and set all of the rules. How they fulfill those obligations with TACA or anyone else is GP's responsibility. Taca can be pressured if it doesn't want the bad press, and it may have some contractual obligation with GP to provide the tickets. This is why I have continually been asking if anyone has an understanding of how this relationship between GP and TACA works. It DOES matter, especially now that we are in the situation that we are in.

[QUOTE=BOA VIAGEM]

I don't recall USA Today picking up the story and think it profiled someone else's run. They still may be interested in following up. However, I did have my very own CNN.com quick poll for a while which asked "Would you do what dhacker did for one million FF miles?"

I did a quick search and "The Pudding Guy" is in USA Today May 19th, 2000 for his Latinpass run, by Jayne Clark. Bet she would love this scoop!!!(full o'poop!!!)

My sympathies to everyone that didn't get ticketed in time. It's a sad end to Latin/GlobalPass.

I was able to use up most of my miles in time, but it looks like two of my friends won't be joining us in Cuzco, and another friend is going to be left holding 90k miles because they won't issue two requested tickets. I haven't checked in with some other friends, but I suspect they got hosed as well.

I hadn't heard that Randy lost all his miles. That's an amazing story, too.

:td:

Count three more people (one million miler and two half million milers) here as having received the email notification from the people at Globalpass. It's disappointing because we all actually have been sending follow up earning miles through car rental and hotels to our Globalpass accounts.

I don't know why they bother to give us a deadline when they don't honor it anyway. They should have just said nuts to all of us on any given day.

Does anyone know the name of TACA's president, his e-mail address, and his fax number?

A possibility: El Dr. Fernando Naranjo

see: http://news.taca.com/esp01-db-00393.htm

Gathering from the article it seems to be:

Name: Dr. Fernando Naranjo
Title: President of Taca Costa Rica

Not sure if there is also a head of the entire Taca Group.

Ok,
I did it. Just sent an e-mail to the Editor of USA Today about this. Let's see what happens? :confused:

Did everyone 'snap shot' the GP web deadline notice? And wasn't it interesting that the notice went out just before the 3 day weekend?

The website was down but is now up and I was able to "snap shot" the news page. Here's the relevant information:

Effective June 30th, 2005, GlobalPass will no longer offer “award” seats in the traditional airline manner. GlobalPass Affiliate Airlines (Aeropostal, KLM, Southern Winds and TACA Airlines) will no longer participate in GlobalPass and customers will no longer be able to earn flown miles as of June 30th, 2005. GlobalPass customers must have confirmed award reservations by June 30th, 2005 and award travel must be completed by June 29th, 2006.

I did exactly what I was supposed to and followed their rules, but am now being screwed over. So, GlobalPass, tell me what I did wrong? I don't see how GlobalPass can have a future after this fiasco. And as for Taca, which has a substantial presence flying to the US, this has the potential to result in a tonne of bad PR for them. If they're smart they'll reconsider and figure out a way to satisfy or at least placate a huge segment of their frequent flyers! Like a lot of other people, I flew paid business class on their airline and was happy to participate in their LatinPass promotion in 2000. So this is how you reward me?

I called TACA and was given Mr. Kriete's name as president. I googled him and this is what I came up with:

Key People • Chairman of the Board and CEO: Roberto Kriete • President: Alfredo Schildknecht • COO: Enrique Beltranena

TACA AIRLINES
Paseo General Escalón y 71 Avenida Norte
Centro Comercial Galerias
San Salvador, El Salvador
PHONE: +503-(2)-298-1560, or possibly 503-(2)-267-8888
FAX: +503-(2)-298-3064 (this one works)

Obviously this fax number most likely doesn't go directly into his office. But come Monday morning, I think he should have a few well worded faxes from FTers waiting for him...???



Grupo TACA (Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos) flies throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, and to Toronto and Montreal and nine major US cities. One of Central America's largest private employers, Grupo TACA in 1997 united five small airlines: Costa Rica's Lacsa, El Salvador's TACA International, Guatemala's Aviateca, Honduras' TACA, and Nicaragua's Nica. The group's TACA Peru serves Latin American cities, as well as San Jose, California, and Miami. The airline operates a fleet of new Airbus jets. Grupo TACA's Aeroman performs aircraft maintenance. Founded in Honduras in 1931 by New Zealand pilot Lowell Yerex, Grupo TACA has been owned by the family of chairman Roberto Kriete since 1961.

----------------------------------------------------------
update:
The original fax number didn't work for me until I added the city code for SAL (2). (Number modified above to reflect the number that worked for my fax).
I spent quite some time this morining running a search for Mr. Kriete's fax & phone numbers and they seem to be well hidden from a public internet search.

But, I found the corporate communications director's address. She appears to be in GUA rather than SAL. FWIW, here is her address:

TACA’S OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Communications Director
Ms. Claudia Arenas
E-mail: carenas@taca.com

FWIW, e's to the following addys have not bounced as of yet:

RKriete@taca.com
RobertoKriete@taca.com

A MIAMI fax number for TACA is: 305-869-3727. But this appears to be the airport fax number. This should still work to get a msg to the TACA US Sales Manager.

While I believe that GP's latest e-mail message is accurate in that Taca refuses to issue ticket numbers and ticket stock, it is to GP that we must look to for remedy, as we are members of their frequent flyer program. They made the promises/commitments, and set all of the rules. How they fulfill those obligations with TACA or anyone else is GP's responsibility. Taca can be pressured if it doesn't want the bad press, and it may have some contractual obligation with GP to provide the tickets. This is why I have continually been asking if anyone has an understanding of how this relationship between GP and TACA works. It DOES matter, especially now that we are in the situation that we are in.

Yes, the relationship between GP and TACA is important. A few years ago, when we did the mileage run, we were informed that GP was actually owned by TACA and possibly some other Airlines, but then later we were informed that GP was spun off into a unrelated entity. So the facts are important (I am an attorney, but don't hold it against me), if GP mileage holders wanted to try to hold TACA responsible for this debacle. TACA's representations in the past, including the time when they had an ownership interest in GP may be useful, if they could be found. A statement by TACA such as if it existed, "fly with us and inform us that you want miles to be credited to GP and then later you can fly free on TACA!" would be useful. Also, I can not think that is normal that an airline like TACA would take reservations, like they did during the past week, from people who informed them specifically that their GP miles would be used for ticketing in the "D" or "T" classes without at least qualifying the reservation with a statement like "we already told GP that we are not giving them any more ticket numbers and unless something amazing happens, we are not going to be giving them any more ticket numbers, but we will hold your reservation for one week anyway"

There may be some other evidence out there but it may not be found until after any court proceeding was instituted and the court would then have the authority to require, in discovery, that TACA and GP release copies of their contracts between each other and their communications to each other and to the GP mileage holders.

Maybe not as far back as the times of Lowell Yerex, but TACA has stood for Take A Chance Airlines... Sorry to hear about your troubles!

Maybe not as far back as the times of Lowell Yerex, but TACA has stood for Take A Chance Airlines... Sorry to hear about your troubles!

Your name sounds good in the past, but more acurate for right now would be, "Try And Cash-In Airline." :td: :mad:

I suggest that Taca take the responsibility and allow mileage transfers in to their Distancia program from GlobalPass as originally allowed when we joined the Latinpass program.

This would allow Taca show good faith, allow us to continue to be loyal Taca customers on the future and redeem at a sensible pace, and allow GP to "transform" their FF programme into a travel agency.

Everyone wins.

RU suggesting that TACA absorb all FF miles...or just on those customers who were unable to ticket?

I doubt we will ever see a TACA transfer allowed, but TACA does have a responsibility to honor its commitments! TACA benefited from its relationship with GP by allowing its passengers to accumulate miles in the program until June 30th. TACA’s position is not realistic if they want the benefits (mileage accumulation and the loyalty associated with it) but do not want the liabilities which come with membership in the program!

If what GP is telling us is true and TACA has refused to honor its participation in the program thru the end of the month than GP should be acting as our agent to enforce the contract they had with TACA. If GP is to continue its program it needs the good faith of its best customers and instead of issuing a letter blaming TACA they should be telling us they are pursuing legal means to enforce its contract with the airline.

The excuse both TACA and GP is giving us is just plain lame; no ticket stock available! My most recent Distancia award was issued as an E-Ticket and I am certain in the last week TACA and GP could have worked out an agreement. Even if E-Tickets were not an option I am certain TACA had some ticket stock available somewhere and could Fed Ex it to them within a week.

I do smell a rat however; it seems a little to convenient on the morning of July 1, 2005 GP sends out a letter saying they can not honor reservations. I wonder how long GP actually knew the reservations would not be honored and misled us.

This is not something we should take lying down please list how many tickets these guys ripped off from you and lets take some legal action against these crooks.

I am not interested in a lawsuit and am happy letting the chips fall where they may fall. However, I am curious if this is TACA's fault or Global Pass's fault. The answer will greatly affect my spending patterns in the future.

Did anyone have reservations on Aeropostal or Southern Winds denied? Did anyone have reservations on these two airlines confirmed?

The answer to these questions will point the finger at the guilty party...

Did anyone have reservations on Aeropostal or Southern Winds denied? Did anyone have reservations on these two airlines confirmed?

The answer to these questions will point the finger at the guilty party...

Very good suggestion! We ALL seem to only be talking about TACA.

I am sorry for all of you; I am not in your situation but I think all of you should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection. They are the first step to US federal actions.

FTC Consumer Website:
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm

Consumer Complaint Form:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

Best luck.

Southern Winds is history having filed bk I do believe. According to their former US representative, the carrier is no longer flying. And their website (www.fly-sw.com) no longer shows available flights. There are reports that the scraps may be rolled into LAN, but that doesn't help us. (http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1110567707.html)

LP/GP have continually moved the goalpost: promising something and then going back on it. Remember: they introduced a 250K limit/yr, which was never ever referred to (indeed not even thought of) at the time the promotion ran. They advertised KL as a redemption possibility but getting an award on KL was like pulling hens teeth. Then airlines dropping one after the other, with very little, if any, notice. Then the new scheme, where they will not let you use your bonus miles unless you match your miles with new miles (thereby destroying any value you bonus might have had). Now, the no ticket stock issue.
OK, if Taca won't play ball and can't be made to play ball, GP can still do something: let us use bonus miles under the new scheme without imposing a new condition of matching old mile with new miles. That condition never existed when we earned the bonus.

...I think all of you should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission...

Before we run off and file a bunch of complaints w the FTC, etc., it would seem to me that what we need to do is to brainstorm and develop a plan of attack. And, we've got all weekend to do it. But, if we wait much longer after that, our reservations ticketing time limits will kick in, and restoring our reservations could be problematic once cancelled. For all we know at this point, TACA's management might not even be aware of exactly what has happened here. Granted, that's unlikely, but...

One thing that I do know is that historically Global Pass has always passed the buck for what happened on to someone else (i.e., Hilton, 'THEY dropped out on us without warning.' Or Avianca, 'THEY withdrew without letting us know.' Could the truth really have been that GP just didn't want to pay for the miles that were being transferred? GP also passed the buck on the advance notice issue, 'we're an online FF program. We always let you know of the changes via our website.' And I don't even want to start on the KLM issue! In each case, Global Pass was never to blame. As I recall, they had reasons, too, for delaying the posting of our miles and bonuses for some 5-6 months.).

So why would this be any different? GP passing the buck to TACA is completely in line with their previous shenanigans.

FWIW, I recently experienced the Air Pacific Fiji debacle. For those that don't know, it was a zero fared deal, that FJ initially refused to honor, but was later backed up by a reputable company, Travelocity, and things ultimately worked out 'peachie good' (tvl-4-free) - and both Air Pacific and Travelocity came out of the debacle smelling like a rose - in the public forum. Yeah, it cost em a little, but the goodwill that was created was priceless. And the free advertisement was great for Air Pacific. Who ever heard of Air Pacific, anyway?

TACA, I believe, is also a reputable company. I think w a little concerted effort, we can show them that it is worth their while to honor a relatively small number of tickets that were submitted in a one week time frame. Remember, TACA was already willing to offer those seats to FFers 4free, as evidenced by the fact that TACA made D and T class available to us.
And it's not like we're using them all at once. I mean, I was spattered all the way into late May 06.

What I'm trying to get around to saying is that with the Air Pacific deal, we organized! We made people aware. We contacted the press. Features were written. TACA is very big in the Miami - Central America market and I'm confident that they wouldn't appreciate (or tolerate) too much bad press in the Miami Herald, for example. Miami bound business travelers - paying the big bucks - arn't going to appreciate a carrier that is so readily eager to cancel their FF miles so suddenly, I suspect. American AAdvantage is always out there flying shoulder to shoulder w TACA.

So let's crank up the heat. I say this because, not many other suggestions have been offered. Let your fingers fly! You might want to start at the top by faxing TACA's Chairman, Roberto Kriete. And TACA's Director of Communication could certainly use an e-mail. I say flood the MIAMI fax number with a copy marked 'ATTN: US SALES MANAGER.' He or she needs to be fully aware of what is going on so that he can communicate this back to TACA's Headquarter's in El Salvador.

What concerns me most here is that we have let GP get away with this for far too long! As a group, we don't seem to want to do much about it. I just trust that in this case, we can put on a United front, and get something done! Let's not let complacency set in!

So I say, again, LET YOUR FINGER's DO THE WALKING! SPEAK UP! Take a few minutes and jet a note to a newsperson. Fax Mr. Kriete in El Salvador and the US Sales Manager in Miami. E-mail the Communications Director. Let everyone in the FF community know... especially the press! As you write, just casually advise your record locator numbers, and advise that if your records cancel, you will hold them responsible. (Saying that is up to you.). You will find the e-mail addys and phone numbers listed above.

If we each do what we can, we can prevail... I'm almost positive. And sooo, there ya have it. My devaluated 2 pesos worth! SO WRITE!!! There's certainly nothing to lose and perhaps, free tickets to gain!

So if everyone pitches in, mebbe we'll get some action.

Then we can sit back, smile, and enjoy Classe Ejecutiva TACA style! After all, my friends, you earned it! And the hard way I might add...BIS. :D

Luego amigos.

I've spent most of the morning googling 'everything TACA' for more executive addresses and e-mails. I'm not comming up w much. If I find more, I'll put em here. In the meantime, here's the MIAMI address for TACA.

TACA, 7795 west flager St. Suite 45. Mall of the Americas, Miami FL 33144



BTW, I didn't remember that TACA's former president, Federico Bloch, was murdered in San Salvador. Apparently he was machine gunned down in the street. (http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2004/sepoct/classnotes/bloch.html) Now doesn't that just make you want to rush off for a vacation to El Salvador?

Isn't it funny how GP uses the word SCHEME in describing the new mile redemption process when using half of the bonus miles! I think that from day one GP was nothing but one large Ponzi Scheme!
They would receive money in one hand then pay off the airlines for the used tickets with the other hand. This tactic has finally caught up to them.
I wouldn't be surprised if many of us even with ticket numbers don't get our tickets. So if I were traveling I wouldn't put down too much money on land reservations that would be non-refundable.
I also wouldn't be too surprised if GP top brass will flee the United States to avoid any JAIL TIME !

Tvl4free

Makes a valid point; we should band together and demand action against both Global Pass and TACA. Notifying the media and discovering who is culpable for this debacle should be our primary goal at this point. I believe we should use every option available to bring a speedy resolution to this matter. I disagree with tvl4free on one small point that we should hold off on notifying the FTC. I believe we should use every bullet in the arsenal to proceed against both GP and TACA immediately. What we desire is a speedy resolution to this matter and no stone should be left unturned.

First note some precautions to take immediately:

1. Go to www.checkmytrips.com and print out the itinerary you booked, these bookings may disappear very soon. Checkmytrips makes a much nicer printable version of reservation than the TACA site!
2. Enter Global Pass account and print your message both requesting award and denial of award.
3. If you booked by e-mail or fax, save copies and request official notification from GP in writing they will not be ticketing award
4. Go to Global Pass or TACA Web site and print out copy of identical reservation to the one you have, same class of service and dates, To be fair use least expensive airfare option and print copy of what reservation will cost to replace. Do not make fake reservation however!
5. Document everything, phone calls, times etc.


Some actions that are available to us now are:

If your state has a department of consumer affairs, (New York and California, have very vigilant ones, and other states may be equally helpful) notify the departments and supply documentation of the present situation.

Notify the FTC and ask them to investigate these two companies for acting in collusion to defraud the public.

Send a demand letter, certified mail, return receipt requested, to both Global Pass and TACA, enclose a copy of the itinerary and the amount of money you will accept as compensation for the denied reservations. Remind the recipients they will be held responsible for court costs when you prevail and advise them you will see this matter thru.

I am confused. Why Global Pass and TACA? If Aeropostal awards were being honored on June 30. It should be TACA only. Leave Global Pass alone if it was TACA's fault. Did anyone receive a ticket on AeroPostal last week?

Isn't it funny how GP uses the word SCHEME in describing the new mile redemption process when using half of the bonus miles! I think that from day one GP was nothing but one large Ponzi Scheme!
They would receive money in one hand then pay off the airlines for the used tickets with the other hand. This tactic has finally caught up to them.
I wouldn't be surprised if many of us even with ticket numbers don't get our tickets. So if I were traveling I wouldn't put down too much money on land reservations that would be non-refundable.
I also wouldn't be too surprised if GP top brass will flee the United States to avoid any JAIL TIME !

No one has mentioned American Express, and how they have a 1 to 1 or 1 to 2 mileage conversion, as you state it sounds like it would be construed as a Ponzi scheme :D :D :D (something to make us laugh in this mess)
Honestly I did a 17K transfer from my Membership Rewards account to GP, only to have them reduce it (to next to nothing). I wonder if AMEX will continue their relationship w/GP, and if anyone else has transferred reward points to GP???

To All GP + Taca employee lurkers , I hope you are out there reading all these facts and I do mean facts ! You can run but you can't hide !

This is not something we should take lying down please list how many tickets these guys ripped off from you and lets take some legal action against these crooks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidental_beneficiary

Explains our situation in relation to TACA if, as GP has written, TACA breached their contract with GP by TACA not providing tickets that they were obligated to provide for the GP mileageholders. Even if GP does not try to take action against TACA to honor such obligations, the mileageholders, who are intended beneficiaries, can take direct action against TACA.

I am confused. Why Global Pass and TACA? If Aeropostal awards were being honored on June 30. It should be TACA only. Leave Global Pass alone if it was TACA's fault. Did anyone receive a ticket on AeroPostal last week?

fetchem,

We really do not know who is at fault yet but if it truly was TACAs fault alone; would it not be logical GP would now be taking some action to force TACA to live up to its contractual obligations. GP states they are in business for the long haul, yet they are willing to alienate many of the best customers they have? This does not make any sense? If TACA really deceived GP; GP should be taking legal action to defend our rights now and I have seen no indication of this. In fact it seemed a little too convenient GP had an email prepared on the morning of July1, they would not be honoring reservations. TACA and GP have always had a very close relationship in fact if you remember they both shared the same offices in Miami.

Cygone,

Your points are well taken. However, Global Pass told us exactly what happened:

"TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the awards."

They clearly point the finger at TACA. I think we should believe Global Pass and not conjecture. I certainly do. Unless, of course, someone made a reservation on Aeropostal and received the same email.

How funny would this email be:

"TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the award reservations on Aeropostal."

"TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the award reservations on Aeropostal."


Actually not too far fetched. I was recently (May, 2005) issued an Award ticket on Aeropostal strictly on Taca ticket stock.

Actually not too far fetched. I was recently (May, 2005) issued an Award ticket on Aeropostal strictly on Taca ticket stock.

I too was issued a KLM ticket strictly on Taca stock. The one I keep telling you about & NO one will accept responsibility for & can't simply change a return date. Plus I contacted GP BEFORE the Alliance w/KLM expired telling them I wanted to change the return date and even today they say the tkt is good for one year, but I still can't get it changed!

@:-) GP like all other FF programs "I'm sure" have a clause that states they can END the program AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT NOTICE, NO RECOURSE, ETC.
Has anyone looked at the CONDITIONS of CONTRACT, or can tell us ALL where to find them?

:confused: I don't see Taca as being liable since WE belonged to GP, unless Taca already issued a ticket OR a tkt. # is on Taca's site. Only then "I'm sure" would we have ANY recourse w/Taca.

Cygone,

Your points are well taken. However, Global Pass told us exactly what happened:

"TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the awards."

They clearly point the finger at TACA. I think we should believe Global Pass and not conjecture. I certainly do. Unless, of course, someone made a reservation on Aeropostal and received the same email.

How funny would this email be:

"TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the award reservations on Aeropostal."

I would believe Global Pass if they were doing anything to defend the rights of the injured parties. What action or actions have Global Pass taken to force TACA to meet its contractual obligations. If Global Pass had a contract with TACA and TACA did not meet the terms of the contract than Global Pass should be defending the injured customers, not making excuses. In fact if TACA actually did what GP says they did and refused to issue tickets while a valid contract existed than GP may be able to seek punative damages against TACA. Certainly TACAs default damages the reputation of Global Pass and they will loose some very valuable customers. If Global Pass does nothing to enforce the rights of damaged customers, than they can only come up smelling very bad.

If Global Pass sends me an email within the next week and says something to the extent "Cygone, we are sorry for what happened and we will file an action against TACA to enforce your rights as well as other injured parties" than they will have my loyalty. If they do not do that than GP should expect to be served with a lawsuit of their own.

Unfortunately the only way we will ever know what really happened is to bring both Global Pass and TACA into court at the same time. It will no longer be a he said she said, and the truth will be unearthed. Just because Global Pass wrote "TACA Airlines has not provided and assigned the necessary ticket numbers to complete the awards" does not mean that really happend. Actions speak louder than words and GPs reaction to TACAs supposed default is muted at best and makes no sense.

The Booths have gone from spearheading a Latin American airline alliance to running a travel agency.

There are two possibilities, as I see it. First, TACA decided it did not want to be responsible alone for fulfillment of all the remaining award tickets, and pulled out and refused to continue to provide tickets. Certainly possible, particularly if the contract requires them to accept some sub-optimal compensation for flying the award passengers.

Second possibility is that GP would be required to provide some compensation which TACA still deems acceptable, and that TACA will not provide any further tickets BECAUSE GP has not been paying for the award tickets, but is in the hole.

Not sure which is more likely, but I believe these are the two most likely scenarios.

@:-) GP like all other FF programs "I'm sure" have a clause that states they can END the program AT ANY TIME, WITHOUT NOTICE, NO RECOURSE, ETC.
Has anyone looked at the CONDITIONS of CONTRACT, or can tell us ALL where to find them?

:confused: I don't see Taca as being liable since WE belonged to GP, unless Taca already issued a ticket OR a tkt. # is on Taca's site. Only then "I'm sure" would we have ANY recourse w/Taca.

Global Pass may have had the right to terminate the program or amend it as they saw fit without notice and they did so when they posted this addendum on the Global Pass website.

“Effective June 30th, 2005, GlobalPass will no longer offer “award” seats in the traditional airline manner. GlobalPass Affiliate Airlines (Aeropostal, KLM, Southern Winds and TACA Airlines) will no longer participate in GlobalPass and customers will no longer be able to earn flown miles as of June 30th, 2005. GlobalPass customers must have confirmed award reservations by June 30th, 2005 and award travel must be completed by June 29th, 2006.”

Although they may be able to change terms of the program without notice, they may not change terms retroactively. In this case: Global Pass was very specific as to how they intended to modify the program. If you read the statement very carefully you will note no requirement is stated that the reservation must be ticketed by June 30th, only that you must have a confirmed award reservation by June 30th.

In my case I called TACA to make reservations, on June 27th and informed them I was using Global Pass frequent flyer miles, TACA made the reservations and issued confirmation codes of the reservations. I was able to print out the reservations information from the TACA website and sent the reservation information to Global Pass to ticket on June 27th.

You ask why TACA may have some liability, let me point out a portion of an email they sent to all four members of my family on July 1, 2005


“Termination of GlobalPass agreement

Please note that as of July 1, 2005, we have terminated our agreements with the GlobalPass frequent flyer program, which includes Aeropostal
and KLM airlines and non-air partners such as hotel chains and
rental car agencies.

As a result DISTANCIA members can no longer earn miles with
GlobalPass or redeem existing miles for travel rewards with the
companies associated with that program."


As you can see TACA admits being a member of the Global Pass program until July 1, 2005. When TACA issued a reservation on June 27th they were a full member of Global Pass. TACA benefited from its relationship with GP until June 30th and also must assume the liabilities it accepted while a member of Global Pass. Ticket stock non availability is not a viable excuse.

I would agree if you do not have a confirmed reservation before June 30th you have no legal recourse, but when TACA made the reservation and I completed the reservation process as stipulated by Global Pass, a contract existed.

I believe what TACA and GP are trying to do together is issue as few tickets as possible, but they really do not have a legal leg to stand on.

Cygone,
Excellent points and well taken! I too had my request in prior to the cut off dates for both programs (& even KLM). From what you pointed out... they are BOUND to honor ALL the request that were submitted in a timely fashion and before THEIR (and I stress) THEIR cut off date. It started making sense how they just decided to scr*w a goodly portion out of their miles and tickets, even though we followed the 'last min.' rules.
BUT if they could, would, AND THEN DID, change the rules would they have the right to modify at the last moment, again? If their 'Conditions of Contract' from the very beginnning state that "For NO reason, and without notification, we can modify the program at any given moment", then like I said before...they may not be liable? Yet they sent notices-how odd, and because of that it may be their un-doing.

They are the ones that own GlobalPass:

http://www.avgroupllc.com/

Vice President of Marketing:
John H. Jackson,
Direct phone : 305/870-7546
Office : 305/876-9339 Fax : 305/876-9325
E-mail: jack@globalpass.com and jack@avman.com

Hope it will help solve your situation

Their address is the same as GP

I think Cygone has the most cogent argument out here. Both GlobalPass and TACA have demonstrated that they believed and agreed that the agreement was valid through the end of June 30th. If they had posted on the website(s) that the agreement was terminated June 23d, for example, then I don't think we would have much to stand on. But, they didn't and that's their problem. We have documentation as stated above that the agreements were as posted. To modify a contractual agreement, a meeting of the minds has to continue and posting in the normal method (on web site, postal mail, email, etc) would be required to modify the agreement. It would have been very, very easy for them to do. The emails from Distancia on July 1st that Cygone mentions and the communication from GlobalPass on July 1st both meet the standard of referring to rules that can't be changed after the fact.

I have saved the GlobalPass web information and pertinent portions of TACA's website. I have documentation of my reservations and my email and fax submissions to GlobalPass--I suggest everyone does the same. You also need to make a TACA reservation (but don't complete it) for similar trips to help show potential damages.

Oddly enough, I have the impression that the GlobalPass email to us may be right on the mark. Everytime before they made crazy changes, they posted it. This time they haven't. They have to wise up to the fact that since their "miles as money" program is such POOR value for those of us with bonus miles, that we won't let this drop. We sat by for the other changes in the GlobalPass program, but we don't have to do that for this one since we did it all correctly as consumers. I still believe there is some possibility that TACA will provide the ticketing information and this will all take place as we expected it to. I say that because TACA is really an excellent and reputable airline and this doesn't smell right that they would deny ticketing in violation of their own agreements. I think that we all need to contact GlobalPass and TACA and let them know how we feel about this. No threats, just a simple explanation that we insist that we've met the conditions and requirements and they should meet their obligations.

I would appreciate it if someone has a good idea of who to email (and the address) at TACA. It would be more effective to email them directly than to send emails to Distanciasoporte@taca.com and get potential form letters back. But, if we have no other email address, then that would be better than nothing.

I have emails in to Randy, GlobalPass and TACA. I'll let you know what may come of them. I think it would be wisest to wait to see how much more information can be developed before we go crazy with plans. We should all post here as we get tidbits. Document all calls, names, etc. If after a week or two at most we don't have satisfaction, then I would suggest we get extremely persistent and start moving on other fronts. I will be more than happy to expend time and money--I'm very unhappy with this whiff of incompetence or fraud and I won't go away quietly.

It's ironic that the "run" on TACA tickets was caused by GlobalPass--their replacement program is such poor value. If TACA had set up a special one time transfer of all GlobalPass miles to be used in a Distancia account with no restrictions, the run to get tickets processed wouldn't have happened. They would have gained positive publicity and loyal customers with such a gesture.

I am waiting to see if the amazing Randy has the ability to contact GlobalPass and TACA and help them see the light to do the right thing by their customers. Oftentimes, the higher-ups aren't in the loop and when they are brought into it and they can see the consequences and they help fix things.

I would also suggest whoever is interested go to the Only Randy Petersen section under communities and add to the 'sleazypass thread' asking Randy to help us out. So far, I'm the only one--no groundswell there yet!

With numbers and activism we will conquer! :mad:

Thought we needed a little levity, we are getting to seriouse!

Was just comparing costs of paid reservations using Global Pass booking engine and TACA booking engine (trying to get paperwork together).

LAX-SCL business class in January

TACA Site lowest fare $2,741 each

GP Site lowest fare $4,886 each

Another example

LAX-RTB (Roatan) in economy

TACA site lowest fare $812.15 each

GP site lowest fare $921.43 each

Same airline same dates, same class of service.

to add to the levity maybe we ALL should actually go and book those fares from GP and since they are Refundable ( I assume) then just like they did to us cancel them the last minute.

Lets see if we each make 10 res and then cancel them, let them feel what its like or even better book it on Taca and then not even cancel so Taca cant sell the seats and if its fully refundable we cant lose any $$. maybe Taca also has to see what its like to have a SCAM done onto them as BOTH of these GP/GT did onto us. :D

Craz,

Actually they were the lowest fares available, may not be refundable! Business class tickets probably refundable, don't know about the enconomy reservations. You do have a good idea though.

Just a confirmation that another million miler and myself are more than willing to expend time, energy, and money to ensure that TACA and GP "do the right thing" and ticket award reservations that were reserved on TACA and sent to GP for ticketing prior to the June 30 deadline.

We've both prepared letters to TACA and GP, with which we plan to include all pertinant documentation, but don't know if we should wait until more information is forthcoming about this fiasco before we send them.

Please advise.

MAIL IT! I certainly sent mine.

We need fuel for the fire we're buiding! So let's get serious! :D Be sure that TACA gets something too. Did you fax SAL corporate as well? And did an e-mail go out to the TACA Communications Director?

This statement pretty much sums it all up:

With numbers and activism we will conquer! :mad:

............

Tried to figure out what it will cost to replace two business class tickets to Chile utilizing Global Pass program.

Option 1. Old program 130,000 miles pus tax and shipping of about $150

Option 2. Purchase tickets from GP: cost would be: $9,772 tax included but shipping charges to be determined.

Option 3. Using GPs new miles as money program I need: 1,389,000 miles plus delivery charges still to be determined!


or

Option 4. I may use my 130,000 bonus mile and purchase the additional 1,259,000 miles as Global Pass suggests.
Total cost would only be the 130,000 miles and $18,885 to purchase the additional miles at 15 dollars per 1,000, plus a still to be determined delivery charge.

to add to the levity maybe we ALL should actually go and book those fares from GP and since they are Refundable ( I assume) then just like they did to us cancel them the last minute.

Lets see if we each make 10 res and then cancel them, let them feel what its like or even better book it on Taca and then not even cancel so Taca cant sell the seats and if its fully refundable we cant lose any $$. maybe Taca also has to see what its like to have a SCAM done onto them as BOTH of these GP/GT did onto us. :D


Now we wouldn't do that. :rolleyes: Just think what would happen if they 'canceled' the refunds on all class purchases ( 3 week notice with tied up 800 #'s and total chaos included for free) or / and no refund stock ..ah we ran out of paper...sorry.

MrKey,
Thats why I always use my CC, and in this case one which the statement just closed so that there would be enough time to get the refund, Oh they play with that , thats fine a little something called 'Dispute' and you get a temp credit for the full amount and my CC takes back the $$$ from Taca and theres nothing they can do about it unless they decide not to accept CCs anymore, in which case their flying days are numbered.

If done right it will cost both GP/GT enough. Granted it wont give us our tkts back but they will be very sorry they ever did it. for now I think its best to hold off and give them a chance to redeem themselves with some type of an offer. Barring that let the CHAOS begin.

Maybe this is my optimism showing through..but I do think some type of offer will be made We might not be happy with it..but I do thing something will result in a reduced compensation..extented award dates..something to quiet the masses and salvage their reputation. Let's see what pans out in the next few days.

Now if these awards were redemed through Travelocity..we would all be happy Flyers..ala Fiji..they sure came thru for us,tickets, vouchers . AA miles and a written policy and web posting on FT. They earned my business for those actions and smart PR alone. Taca ..can you hear us?

I believe if TACA would just say OK reservations are good, but there is a $100.00 processing fee, we would all jump on board. We are going to have to sweeten the pot and meet them somewhere in the middle. We all know that GP/LP has changed the rules five times on us in the last five years. We were never able to get relief, so why will we this time unless we make some concession. Isn't $100 a ticket a fair amount to pay instead of loosing hundreds of thousands of miles?

Please remember TACA was thinking we are one of the 11 airlines in this program. They might have thought our liability is xxxx tickets and now it is xxxxxxx tickets. They could have said 2 years ago well everybody else is bailing, gone out of business and we don't want to shoulder all these tickets, so we are out of here. I believe if we come up with a plan whereby they benefit, then we might have a chance to see these tickets. The attitude that forget it, we earned these miles and they have to give me the tickets will result in the same results when LP changed their program over and over. And that would be NOTHING!

milesrus, I hope you are right, but why would they do it for $100 would that even cover the gas portion? I dont see them doing it for any amount short of their reg fare basis. Im sure that most cashed out for Biz tkts at that.

Even at 2X on the miles I dont see them coming thru.

Oh miles! Oh miles!

Nooooooo! Done paid all maaa money.

In fact, if GP does come around to ticketing these records, they should waive their normal ticketing fees due to added costs I'm incurring and enormous additional hassle.

FWIW: 2 more devalued pesos worth.

Craz, not sure what the number should be, but all airlines charge fee's ie processing fee's. I only have two tickets left and they are to Costa Rica value is $350 per ticket so I'd pay maybe $150 those with Business maybe double that. My $100 is just a reference number. My point is we might/maybe get further if we offer something. Offering nothing demanding something per Trvl4free will get us the nothing option. Our options are limited as TACA is a foreign company. Has anybody called the US Embassy in San Salvador? This could do the most as they represent Americans interest in that country

What is happening to people who bought miles to finish a trip and received no tickets?

milesrus, I still feel what we should do is get the Media onto this and have them go after both GP & GT. Offering them anything I dont feel will get us any where at this point. And frankly I dont think I should have to offer them anything other than my miles. What they pulled is a SCAM and shouldnt be rewarded for it.

Would you feel the same way if it was CO or UA or AA etc, what if all of a sudden all your Hotel Pts were worthless and you had made a number of reservations and they gave you confirmation #s would you say Oh lets give the hotel $50 and call it even. I doubt it, I sure wouldnt. GP/GT shiuldnt get rewarded for pulling off the Scam they did and you want to reward them. I dont.

Keep in mind that GP took $$$ for people that were topping off their accts KNOWING at that time that the people wouldnt be tkted, and yet they took the $$$$. Why reward the THEIVES as you want to????

Just got off the phone with "Ladi" at GlobalPass.

When I asked her when my TACA award is being sent out she said they are working with TACA and will notify me by e-mail. Don't know if this means they are trying to resolve this for everyone or she was just trying to get me off the phone.

Unless you had your res in 2 weeks ago or more. id say youre not going to get any. Could be that they didnt get around to getting all the emails out, or missed yours by mistake.

Never give in to Kidnappers ! We are all due what is prommised. If anyone here has received any tickets recently please let us know.

Main Entry: steal
Part of Speech: verb 1
Definition: take without ok
Synonyms: abduct, appropriate, bag, blackmail, burglarize, carry off, cheat, cozen, crib, defraud, despoil, divert, embezzle, filch, fleece, heist, hold up, housebreak, keep, Kidnap, lift, loot, misappropriate, nick, peculate, pilfer, pillage, pinch, pirate, plagiarize, plunder, poach, purloin, ransack, remove, rifle, rip off, sack, shanghai, shoplift, snitch, spirit away, stick up, strip, swindle, swipe, take, thieve, withdraw


point well taken

Craz ditto give LP no more money!

I was referring to working with Taca, they don't want bad publicity for something they really aren't guilty of. It is my belief that GP had us book reservations hoping Taca would send another 10,000 or so tickets. Taca probably thought my word we just sent them several thousand. Hello Red Flags going up in Taca marketing offices. Taca probably said hey we signed on with 11 other airlines, why should we shoulder all this cost by ourselves. Had I been Taca I would have bailed when all the other airlines had.

Imagine if TWA & USair and Hilton and Marriott had stayed in the program. I would imagine that Taca's liability would have been very low. Most people would have burned through all their miles as well. With Taca being the sole survivor just got hammered. My point unless Taca gets something I doubt we will see those tickets. As for the Booths they have shown they care less about our complaints. Every change they made to the program they did with no input of our concern

miles, I have to disagree with you. All I know is that even on 6/30 Taca was making a res using GP miles and I cant believe that they didnt know that GP ran out of tkt stock and that they werent going to give them any more.
Heck GT could have simply done E-tkts as it does for itself. sorry but these 2 are in the same boat together and Im Positive that each knew what the other was up to and maybe even coordinated it together.

They both pulled off the SCAM. I understand your point about Taca being left holding the bag but then again we had to fly alot more flights on them then anyone else. so they got the bulk of our $$$ when we did the run and they were sharing the same offices as LP back then also.

sorry they should have handled it differently, Im surprised that GP actually used the tkts they had on hand rather than returning them to Taca. Then GP should have said the program is ending there are limited amounts of tkts on hand. Instaed they said we had till 6/30 to make a res, nothing about limited amount of tkts. Not that that would have changed anything much, but this is so full of deceit it aint funny, on both GP & GT part.

I am one of the last people to ever defend Global Pass but when you consider the amount of warning GP gave its customers as opposed to the amount TACA gave you have to acknowledge GP as having at least some mild sense of fairness.

Not that a byline in a GP ad was much warning of advance ticketing requirements but TACA gave no notice whatsoever of its plan to leave the Global Pass program. On July 1, 2005 TACA sent out this message to Distancia members which I have posted before.

“Termination of GlobalPass agreement

Please note that as of July 1, 2005, we have terminated our agreements with the GlobalPass frequent flyer program, which includes Aeropostal
and KLM airlines and non-air partners such as hotel chains and
rental car agencies.

As a result DISTANCIA members can no longer earn miles with
GlobalPass or redeem existing miles for travel rewards with the
companies associated with that program."
TACA did not even let its members have one day notice of their intent to withdraw from the program. AT this point I am not willing to pay any extra to TACA or GP for reservations they made with me. The only compromise I may make is on Court Costs, and if I have to go to court that option will not be available to them either.

Craz ditto give LP no more money!

I was referring to working with Taca, they don't want bad publicity for something they really aren't guilty of. It is my belief that GP had us book reservations hoping Taca would send another 10,000 or so tickets. Taca probably thought my word we just sent them several thousand.

I think we may be overestimating the number of tickets issued in June (and those not issued in the last week or so of June). Based on the ticket numbers assigned for awards I booked, it looks like the ticket stock that GP had on hand was used sequentially. The difference between the first ticket I got on June 9 and the last one I got on June 22 was 134. And some of our awards included two tickets (e.g., my trips from SFO to Cuzco). Thus, it sounds like GP might have issued in the neighborhood of 200 award tickets in June.

I think we may be overestimating the number of tickets issued in June (and those not issued in the last week or so of June). Based on the ticket numbers assigned for awards I booked, it looks like the ticket stock that GP had on hand was used sequentially. The difference between the first ticket I got on June 9 and the last one I got on June 22 was 134. And some of our awards included two tickets (e.g., my trips from SFO to Cuzco). Thus, it sounds like GP might have issued in the neighborhood of 200 award tickets in June.

It could be even fewer if GP occasionally issues miles-for-money awards using Taca stock.

Who do we have here that can best write up a 'press release' type of report of our plight from 'beginning to end' for submission to the wire service.?

Yesterday some family members came to my home for a 4th of July get together, I spent a lot of my time in my den (on flyertalk) avoiding my mother in law. My brother in law (also trying to hide from his mother) spent quite a bit of time with me. He is a contracts attorney and gave me some very helpful advice as to actions available to us.

1. TACA can be sued in US courts because they do business in this country and have offices in the US. If you are in Great Britain or some other country not serviced by TACA you may have no legal recourse however.
2. To form a contract three conditions must be met. An offer must be made, the offer must be accepted and payment must be received.

In our case it is very clear Global Pass was willing to accept the offer and had not changed the terms because the email they sent us specifically states the reason they could not execute the contract was lack of ticket stock. TACA has little weasel room also because they sent out an email on July1, 2005 specifically stating they were no longer participating in GP after June 30, 2005.

Certainly there was an acceptance of the Global Pass offer when we submitted our requests and agreed to the terms as specified by the GP guideline.

Now comes consideration, consideration does not have to be money, it can be any item with value, (Manhattan Island was bought for some beads if you remember). We offered GP: the miles they already had on account and told them to use our miles for awards. I sent them my credit card information and all they had to do was deduct the miles and charge my card. GP chose not to accept the consideration but that does not mean a contract does not exist. If the Indians on Manhattan chose to leave the beads on the ground a contract would still exist as long as all the terms had been met.

It was pointed out to me what Global Pass did is absolutely outrageous! when you consider the circumstance. Consider a similar scenario: You call up your broker on Jun25th and tell him you wish to sell all your stock in XYZ Corporation, ($10,000 dollars worth at that time) and he tells you he will do so. On June 28th XYZ corporation declares bankruptcy and the stock, becomes worthless, you sure are glad you sold your stock. Suppose your broker writes you on July 1st and informs you American Paper Products did not deliver his order forms, and he was unable to execute your trade, he is sorry but the good news is you still have all your worthless stock in XYZ Corporation.

Now compare that to my situation, had four confirmed orders for business class tickets to South America with a minimum value of $10,000 dollars and was told sorry no ticket stock. On June 27th 260,000 bonus miles was worth four business class tickets to South America. If you are reading these forums you know what 260,000 GP bonus points are worth today? You could not even get a stick of bubble gum with them.

To those of you who wish to make concessions, don’t count on me to be any part of that! As I dictated in my demand letters to TACA and GP I will only accept full restitution!

CyGone, regardless of your tactic to collect, what odds would you say you will collect on either the tickets or the money?

Maybe with enough pressure Taca will say all those awrds booked will be credited to a distancia account and then we will use their program to use our miles.

My negative points are based on past actions. We never got relief from all their changes except the elimination of the 250,000 per year.

I put our chances at collecting at 1-6 and only because Taca is a good airline. Chance of collecting from Looser Pass is 1-10000000000

These guys have no money! No assets! Going to Court? well good luck, Exxon is still appealing some of the Valdez rulings and that has been over 15 years.

milesrus,

TACA has offices in California where I live, since the injury actually happened here I can name GP as a co-defendent even though they are based in Miami. California allows small claims suits up to 5,000 dollars. In my case our reservations come from two accounts, my wifes and mine. We can both file actions against both TACA and GP. If TACA or GP looses case I highly doubt they would appeal as an appeal would cost them more than just paying the claim. At the very least I would learn the true facts of the matter when they file the responce to court action.

In my demand letter I have offered to drop all claims if they honor the request for tickets. Remember the least expensive option is if they just issue the tickets as we all agreed. Anything less than that I am not willing to accept. This is really a matter of principal for me.

I am also willing to let Judge Judy decide the matter!

milesrus,

TACA has offices in California where I live, since the injury actually happened here I can name GP as a co-defendent even though they are based in Miami. California allows small claims suits up to 5,000 dollars. In my case our reservations come from two accounts, my wifes and mine. We can both file actions against both TACA and GP. If TACA or GP looses case I highly doubt they would appeal as an appeal would cost them more than just paying the claim. At the very least I would learn the true facts of the matter when they file the responce to court action.

In my demand letter I have offered to drop all claims if they honor the request for tickets. Remember the least expensive option is if they just issue the tickets as we all agreed. Anything less than that I am not willing to accept. This is really a matter of principal for me.

I am also willing to let Judge Judy decide the matter!

If you just want the tickets, why would you care about joining GP in the suit? Just sue TACA. If they want to join GP, they can. Your doing so will just make this more of a headache for you.

According to an attorney if I just name TACA when we go to court, TACA may just point the finger at GP. The only way to find out what really happened is to have them both answer the suit! TACA and GP can argue who is at fault and a judge can decide which one is liable!

I hope it does not come to court actions, but we should let them know we are prepared to do it. Look we may only be talking about a couple of hundred tickets, nothing that will break either program. We abided by the rules they didn't!

I hope it does not come to court actions, but we should let them know we are prepared to do it. Look we may only be talking about a couple of hundred tickets, nothing that will break either program. We abided by the rules they didn't!

I'm thinking about more than small claims court. We have to identify those who are willing to spend some money or if everyone is looking at small claims? Cygone, would your brother in law have any roundabout idea of billable hours/costs involved? Or, would he suggest small claims?

We need to start up a new thread and list those who are "damaged". We will need to work privately and not on the main board so we don't give away info to the "enemy".

We also need to start up a new thread with contacts at GlobalPass, TACA, FTC, state attorneys general, DOJ, etc. We want to get the word out on all our complaint avenues. I want to send certified letters, faxes, and emails, and perhaps make some phone calls.

Who has called TACA or GlobalPass on this first business day? What has the response been? (I haven't had time to call.) When I talked to GlobalPass before the July 1st email came out, they were telling me that TACA wasn't getting back to them. At that time (last week) they were telling me that they expected to have it resolved by this week before Thursday. I wonder if GlobalPass is still working on getting us our awards or not? Their email to us on July 1st doesn't specifically say TACA refused...just that it hadn't happened as of that date. Is there still hope, or has GlobalPass washed its hands of the matter? When I find out that there is no more progress with either GlobalPass and/or TACA, and I receive communication from Randy that he can't do anything or there's no hope, then I'll be ready to take 'em on. I'm fired up about this and won't let it go. I'm not willing to spend another cent than what I would have spent in taxes and $15 processing fees. The ONLY thing that I'd possibly consider would be to have my entire GlobalPass balance transferred UNRESTRICTED to Distancia. The only reason TACA had a run on tickets was that no one wants to participate in the lousy "miles as money" GlobalPass with 1:1 release of bonus miles.

update on my day:

1. I just spoke to the Miami Herald. They are interested in info on story. I am gathering what I know and submitting it shortly. I'm fairly confident that they will take this story.

2. I also had a nice little chat w TACA's Sales Offices in Miami. The bottom line is that essentially they are clueless about our plight. And I mean totally lost! So here is where we would need to direct our correspondence at this point, I would suppose.

Evelyn De La Vega
Miami Sales Manager
Grupo TACA
7795 W. Flagler ST.
Mall of the Americas
Miami, FL 33144

Banter, while fun, gets us nowhere guys. What did you do to move our cause forward today? Can someone chime in on post 87? AP and Reuters need a write up.

This is listed as TACA's Miami phone number: 305-871-1587

thats good if you have unlimited calling if not use their 800# and have them pay for the call 800-535-8780 dont know which option you'll need to press thou

The 800 number wont get you thru to MIA, the local number will if you press the right option- sales. I have the fax number in MIA too. Should I post it - so that the whole world has it?

One of our fellow LatinPass mileage runners is a reporter for the Sacramento Bee named David Barton. He and his newsanchor friend earned the 500k bonus. Both subsequently prepared nice stories on the experience.

I wrote David on learning of the GlobalPass change, and learned that he had only just returned from his first trip taken with the miles he'd earned. He got busy booking trips with Taca, but he didn't connect with GlobalPass until after they'd run out of tickets (if that's what actually happened). He got the e-mail from GlobalPass denying all his award requests. He's obviously a little distressed about what happened. He spoke with GlobalPass this morning, and they gave him some ray of hope that things were still in process, though I warned him that this could simply be GlobalPass attempting to delay/confuse our responses.

Regardless of what happens with his tickets, he told me today that he's planning to write a follow-up story on LatinPass. He's interested in hearing your stories (good & bad) and asked me to post his e-mail address. It is:

DBarton@sacbee.com

I just shot David an e-mail. I'm also from Sacramento, so it might help David to have information for a story about someone also from the Sacramento area that is a reader. I can also tell him a story about helping friends and family win 5 Chevy Trailblazers a couple of summers ago in another promotion! ;)

One of our fellow LatinPass mileage runners is a reporter for the Sacramento Bee named David Barton. He and his newsanchor friend earned the 500k bonus. Both subsequently prepared nice stories on the experience.

I wrote David on learning of the GlobalPass change, and learned that he had only just returned from his first trip taken with the miles he'd earned. He got busy booking trips with Taca, but he didn't connect with GlobalPass until after they'd run out of tickets (if that's what actually happened). He got the e-mail from GlobalPass denying all his award requests. He's obviously a little distressed about what happened. He spoke with GlobalPass this morning, and they gave him some ray of hope that things were still in process, though I warned him that this could simply be GlobalPass attempting to delay/confuse our responses.

Regardless of what happens with his tickets, he told me today that he's planning to write a follow-up story on LatinPass. He's interested in hearing your stories (good & bad) and asked me to post his e-mail address. It is:

DBarton@sacbee.com

I just shot David an e-mail. I'm also from Sacramento, so it might help David to have information for a story about someone also from the Sacramento area that is a reader. I can also tell him a story about helping friends and family win 5 Chevy Trailblazers a couple of summers ago in another promotion! ;)

Wow! You must be an MIT alum? I'd heard that story, and didn't think for a second it might be someone on Flyertalk. I'll leave the telling to you, and you should---it's a pretty amazing story.

Flight Hound,

1st did you get my email if not I will send the info again?


My brother in law (the lawyer) sometimes it is good to have one in the family, said the "squeaky wheel approach" may be best under these circumstances. He suggested a class action suit, would take a very long time and in the end, after attorney fees we may not end up with much value.

To define "squeaky wheel approach" it was suggested to follow thru on every avenue available (most of which have already been discussed in this thread), make demand for payment from both TACA and GP and if they do not answer within thirty days to sue them in small claims court. (You may be able to take an action for each denied reservation) TACA and GP may give tickets to those of us who are willing to make the most noise. For those willing to sit back and accept the excuses, well TACA and GP can save money by not giving those individuals anything.

He believed TACA would settle before going to court because all they have to offer as compensation is a seat on a flight that would probably go unoccupied anyway. Why risk a judgment when you can settle the case fro nothing? The other problem for TACA and GP is once one person gets a judgment against them than a precedent has been set and many can follow later. TACA would much rather give out tickets to the ''Squeaky wheels" than pay damages. Another problem for both TACA and GP is if someone can prove fraud, punitive damages may also be assessed. (This is very difficult to prove though)

Remember the adage “The squeaky wheel gets all the grease”

I received the same email as the rest from GlobalPass. I am assuming that this only applies to the most recent request I made (on June 27th). I have 5 other pending ticket requests that were made prior to the new rule requiring that you couldn't call in a request once the reservation was set up, but instead had to fax or email. But I have received no tickets from those request so we'll see.

Regardless, I am furious, and am willing to join in any efforts including lawsuits, calls/claims to the Florida State Attorney General's office, or other actions thru the New York State consumer fraud office (I live in NYS). Quite honestly, regradless of who is responsible for this, it can only be defined as outright theft and/or fraud.

Me thinks if you dont have the tkts in hand by now or at least this Fri you wont be getting them. I really dont think that GP is holding onto tkt stk to send out tkts in the future, no matter when you made the res.

Cygone--yes, I received your email, thanks.

Tvl4Free--yes, post the fax number...nothing wrong with that!

I ask, if we're going to be SQUEAKY, we need everyone to do something (call, email, and/or fax). Don't assume that since someone else is doing it, you can skate. Send an email (short sweet and to the point without threats) to DistanciaSoporte@taca.com, CC it to CustomerCare@globalpass.com, fax to GlobalPass 305-870-7555, and fax a copy it to the GrupoTACA Miami fax number that Tvl4Free will be posting. Tvl4Free, could you post the TACA Miami, name, address, phone, and fax number in the Thread I created for it, so we have it consolidated? If you want to target a fax or email to GlobalPass take a look at the contact information thread for them, their owners, and the director of marketing. If I had to guess, Guy Booth's (the big boss) email would be Guy@globalpass.com--anyone want to give it a shot?

I've recently received some reliable information (and was asked not to ID the source) that the GlobalPass version of events is close to reality. It was TACA who refused to provide ticketing coordination. Why?--I have a lot of speculation which I can't be sure is correct. But, I would think that the opportunity cost of the award seat to TACA would me minor if their revenue system was good enough to predict heavy loads so they could blackout award seats. That's why I have a hard time understanding TACA's position (low cost to them for capacity controlled seats with new customers [our friends and families], high downside via poor publicity or even legal action). I'm sorry to be mysterious about the information, but please don't flame me or ask more right now. More information will be coming out soon.

I have a slightly different understanding of the "no ticket stock" version of events. Perhaps some people were told that and it may be true, but we all know that you can get more ticket stock quickly especially when everyone is VERY close by in Miami. The real problem that developed around June 23d was that TACA stopped giving ticket numbers to GlobalPass, from what I'm able to deduce from GlobalPass agents and other information. (Remember that GlobalPass has never lied to us--at least me--they just crazily change the rules, impose strange restrictions, provide little notice, etc, etc.) Go back and read their email to us at face value. They could have just as easily written something different. When I booked an award reservation with GlobalPass on June 22d, they put me on hold and called TACA to confirm the class of booking, that the rules were met, etc. Within minutes, I was OK'd, had a ticket number, a GlobalPass email, and could see all the information. (I was only using standard processing, so unfortunately I don't have paper tickets yet.) Starting around June 23d, you could no longer call--one had to email or fax. I'm making an assumption here, but I believe it was because of TACA suddenly putting a brake on it. They could no longer call TACA on the spot, so they didn't want to take your call--especially if you could ask for expedite and they wouldn't have been able to do it. That was also near the same time that I became aware of the internal memo at TACA making new bookings past Dec 31st off limits. A few days later, TACA also began drawing down their award inventory to make it impossible to get many seats. (I made several bookings for the same routings for different relatives and could see each day how the Lima-SJO flight availability would disappear no matter what date I looked at, so I would then have to plan via Bogota, until that option was gone two days later, then it was Lima via Quito that had the only availability, etc.) I was told by two different GlobalPass agents that they were taking the faxes and emails and submitting all the information to TACA. They were expecting TACA's answer (as of last week) by mid-week this week. Apparently, they got it early--last Friday! They knew something was up because they were a little evasive and talking about "if" TACA would approve the requests. When I asked directly if TACA might refuse them, they said maybe, but they weren't expecting it. After TACA was to approve the requests, GlobalPass would ticket the awards in the order that they were received. I was also told directly, with no confusion, that if it took them two weeks in July to get around to it, it would be done because I had "done my part" by getting the request in to GlobalPass prior to June 30th.

I'm also hearing that GlobalPass is reattacking the issue with TACA, but I have much less verification on this.

IMHO I suggest:

1) we need to be SQUEAKY with GlobalPass directly and EVERYONE needs to email and/or fax them within the next day or so that we insist we get our awards and would appreciate additional and exhaustive attempts on their part to uphold their agreements with TACA. I'm sure GlobalPass thinks (little birdie here on my part) that our continued participation in their new program rather than cancelling our miles outright as they could do, is a big-hearted step on their part (reference the P.S. of their email). I would also emphasize to them that because their new program doesn't have anywhere near the same sort of value, using our bonus miles in GlobalPass' "new era" of web airlines and miles as money is not a desirable option for us. The 1:1 ratio of release of bonus miles is a poor substitute. Kindly insist on their continued efforts to obtain our award tickets as promised. The whole concept here is to let GlobalPass know this is important to us and we won't go quietly.

2) we need to be SQUEAKY with TACA (more addresses, email, fax numbers if people can develop them) and let them know that we don't intend to let the matter drop. And, we need to let TACA know that if they don't provide the award tickets via GlobalPass we will continue to use every available means (publicity, newspapers, consumer complaints, etc) to press our "case". Point out to them the benefit of providing our award tickets as small incremental costs of the award seats versus potential, higher unknown costs.

3) Those people who have the availability of news contacts, if the papers were to call GlobalPass and TACA they would know we're serious and the heat will only increase in the short term.

4) Contact Randy at Randy@flyertalk.com with a SHORT email asking him to work with TACA to see if they can be persuaded to clear the books of all the award reservations without restrictions. He doesn't need any background info on the situation.

SQUEAKY_Hound

This is what I think happened.
GP had an agreement with Taca to purchase a set number of tickets at a discounted price.
After GP ran out of those tickets Taca refused to sell them more or raised the price and TACA said ADIOS AMIOGOS !
Or GP just ran out of money and TACA said " SORRY CHARLIE ! "

But the truth is yet to come , as we all will find out !

Many of the posters here seem to feel sorry for TACA and the predicament they got themselves into. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane! Remember the 10 airlines that were originally part of Latin Pass which by the time the LP run started was actually 9. Well three of them LACSA, TACA, and Aviateca were part of the TACA group and the original nine airlines.

TACA is not the first program that had a run on its tickets. The first program that stopped allowing mileage transfers was Marriott; Marriott had a big run on points when most of us realized you could actually get more miles in the Marriott program with a transfer than the old LP program! Marriott dropped out but honored its transfers for the last month. Hilton hung in much longer but when it dropped out it honored its last mileage transfers as well!

The next big run came on KLM flights, KLM was the only airline in the group that had service everywhere and most of us had exotic destinations in mind for our million miles. In the first year of KLM participation I was able to get two tickets in business class to Kenya, and my kids were able to go to China. KLM probably became so overwhelmed they severely limited availability sometime after the first year.

With KLM flights drying up most of us turned out attention to US Air and TWA. US Air dropped out with only a few days notice but it did honor all its existing reservations. TWA merged with American and departed the program again honoring existing reservations. When COPA dropped out of the program (also with little notice) they honored all existing reservations!

When ACES merged with Avianca, Avianca absorbed existing reservations. Avianca is one program I am uncertain as to what happened when it departed the program, I had no reservations with them and did not follow the Avianca departure closely.


In the early days of the LP program if you wanted a US or European flight you would choose TWA, KLM or US Air. If you wanted to go to South America, ACES or AVIANCA or COPA were better alternatives than TACA. For Central American destinations COPA was a better carrier than TACA.

The point I am trying to make is the TACA group (TACA, LACSA, AVIATECA) although one third of the original Latin Pass program got a virtual free ride for mileage redemptions in the early years. It is just, that they now have to pay the piper!

Sorry cygone your info above is not 100% correct regarding Groupo Taca. it was way more than the 3 you mentioned (Taca,Lacsa,Avitaca) We also had to fly on NICA but since they werent in the air as yet we NEEDED to fly Taca bet Managua and Miami in either direction to satisfy that one.

Then there was TACA PERU who was flying only LIM-CUZ or to IQT, yea they were domestics but thats cause again TP wasnt flying Intl at that time.

Also SEATA but we were told to fly ACES instead either way bet UIO-LIM, although I dont think thios one was part of GT.

So really we NEEDED to fly 50% of our fights on a GT (Groupo Taca) carrier, so if anything then GT should have expected 50% of the redemptions, which as you posted I doubt that they ever had. So it seems they made out as Bandits twice now.

The ONLY thing that I'd possibly consider would be to have my entire GlobalPass balance transferred UNRESTRICTED to Distancia.

I fully support this course of action: Option to transfer of GP balance per 30 June 2005 to TACA. After all we had to go thru this is a fair and equitable solution.

The point I am trying to make is the TACA group (TACA, LACSA, AVIATECA) although one third of the original Latin Pass program got a virtual free ride for mileage redemptions in the early years. It is just, that they now have to pay the piper!

TACA finally has to come thru for its fair share of the deal. That's all we're asking for.

I just got off the phone with the Marissa, an agent from Globalpass who told me that yesterday they got some more tickets from TACA and are starting to write up more tickets. She would not tell me how many, and she also told me that they are very actively pursuing getting all of the ticket stock that they need from TACA. She told me that, naturally, they would be ticketing first the reservations that were for travel this month, so we will know if it is actually happending when the FT members in such a situation get their tickets or not.

Even if true, we dont know if someone made a res for July 25 on June 29 and received the email on 7/1 if she was referring to those res. Or to the ones back when.

If anything it might mean that those who were able to have GP get a confirmed res confirmation from Taca when we were able to call up GP that they might still get their tkts. But I hold little chance that anyone that was able to book with Taca and GP didnt confirm would get anything at all.

Craz,

You are absolutely right, I forgot about the NICA fiasco, and the TACA Peru requirement. Thanks for correcting me. Wow 50% of the flights!

Wow! You must be an MIT alum? I'd heard that story, and didn't think for a second it might be someone on Flyertalk. I'll leave the telling to you, and you should---it's a pretty amazing story.

Pudding Guy,

I saw the original article about you regarding the pudding and the mileage run, and that is what got my wife and I to do the Million Mile Run. So, A GREAT BIG THANKS, and I wouldn't mind buying you a drink sometime!

The Chevy Trailblazer promotion was even more fun that Latin Pass, and far more lucrative. Graswich had heard about it and wanted to write a piece on it in the Bee at the time, but we had not yet received the prizes and I had a nervousness that 76 might try to disqualify us, despite my being extremely careful about following all of the rules. How did you hear about it? The Class Notes in MIT's Technology Review and a fellow Sacramento entrant's website are the only two places that I've heard it mentioned.

Barton's got my e-mail address, so feel free to shoot me an e-mail!

Thought maybe someone would like to contact "The New York Times" as they featured an article written by "Joseph Siano" way back on July 9th, 2000 on the Latinpass Mileage Run. Anyone have any in-roads?

BOB,
I dont know if we should be going down this road at this time. If what Randy posted is true and from others posts it seems it is. Then I think we can wait alittle longer and see what happens in the way of GP sending the tkts.

I dont see the sense in getting the Negative PR out there as long as GP is in fact still processing the tkt requests.

And NO I havent been contacted in any manner/shape/or form that indicates that my 9 tkts will be processed if anything the opposite. But I dont see how getting the Media to come down on them will help us at this time in as much as GP has REstarted the issuance of tkts. If I was them and the Media starts hounding me Id stop the issuance. also the answer the Media will get will be that they are issuing tkts and then if it should stop it would be that much harder to get the Media reinterested in the Story.

That having been said if the Majority feels that we should proceed Full-Court ahead with the Media etc then I will be apart of the process in going after GP & GT.

I definately agree with craz. Let's let GlobalPass do the "right thing."

BOB & everyone
sort of an after thought, I for one didnt know of tehNYT article was referring to.

Maybe we should be PMing a vol or have a thread only on where people remember which Media outlet ran with the Orginal Story. This way if we unfortunately have to resort to those measures we will have a head start.

To add to BOBs The NBC Today Show I remember did a story and had Pudding Guy on to explain about the LP run, that was with Matt Lauffer I believe.
again lets NOT contact these people yet ONLY draw a list up. I was based overseas then so I cant be of much help in remembering where it was mentioned.

I only posted the NYT because it seemed most everyone wanted to alert the media, and had requested same earlier in the thread. I too agree that "if & only if" they don't hold up their end should ANY media be alerted or legal steps be taken. Just a heads up, for anyone who got to the point & wanted to alert the media. I really believe the media cares less because we are so few, not a BIG story. I think a Consumer Advocate should come first.
I mis-understood & you mis-understood :confused:

I will say they have sc%e*ed me to date out of the return portion of a KLM ticket on TACA Stock. Unless a miracle happens, I have been cheated, lied too, and otherwise been sold ocean front property in TN. Don't believe them when they tell you a ticket is good for 1 year! Fingers crossed.

My .01 (get the other penny from GP/Taca/KLM...et al)

NOT Bob

Boa Viagem!

Just back from Mexico. Sorry to see so many are in limbo (at best) about their GP tickets.

I was lucky to use up all my miles and get tickets to EZE expedited about 2 weeks ago. I recommended everyone expedite regardless of your travel plan dates - as GP is just not very trustworthy and changes too often.

As to who is responsible, I assume it is both TACA and GP. TACA started having "no available award seats" for huge spans of time to EZE in early June. As I am retired and gave them about a 3 month window to find me about 3 weeks in EZE, I figured there would be no problem. Finally got something, but it took lots of searching.

Also GP excuse of no ticket stock may have been correct, but unlikely. They should have known days (weeks?) ahead they were running low and could have ordered more overnight. Imagine going to a BMW dealer and they could not sell you a car because no "title forms" -- and it would take a 2 weeks to get some!! Ticket stock is something you just don't forget to check.

I wonder how many tickets were written in the 3 weeks after the announcements. I suspect not as many as some speculate. In fact, my guess is 80% of GP patrons with miles in their accounts did not even get the word of 30 June deadline.!! I would guess most only got 3-4 tickets - and some fewer. I think only about 250- 300 tickets for GP miles were requested.

If those that did request trips do not get them, I think small claims court would be appropriate. Lots of time and effort by GP/TACA and they are unlikely to win. I think one should first give TACA option of issuing ticket or at least post the miles that were used to get tickets into a Distancia account. Low cost for TACA and an easy out with little overhead.

Best of luck to everyone. If anyone will be in EZE in late August - mid Sept., drop me an email or PM and perhaps we can meet for a cerveza!

So what is the consensus on getting tickets? I have two tickets from Dallas to Costa Rica for my brother's friends. These are in January, will I receive them? And when? Hope to get them via expediate soon.