Cancelled booking and locked account by us airways (Now updated with result)
Jun 3, 2010, 5:45 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 8
Cancelled booking and locked account by us airways (Now updated with result)
In winter 2009 we found that US Airways were giving a promotion where we can purchase Dividend Miles and receive 100% bonus miles for free. My father, my brother, and I decided that it was a great deal so we took it. Friends of my brother also decided to use this promotion. US Airways brought back the promotion again in beginning of 2010. Once again we used this promotion.
My father and I decided to use the Dividend Miles that we have purchased to go to Tokyo and Shanghai in First Class. It was a very difficult booking to do. It took me four days to complete, working with multiple agents. I then paid all the fees and taxes and purchased our ticket.
My brother, along with his friends, made a booking to Sydney, Australia via Cape Town, South Africa, also in First Class. He repeatedly asked multiple agents and supervisors that this was a valid routing. He was told that it was valid each time.
Later on when I was trying to request a diabetic meal for my father I found out that multiple flight segments were missing. When I contacted US Airways, I was repeatedly pushed to take a refund and start all over. I told US Airways that I have spent far too much time on this itinerary for it just to go down the drain for no valid reason.
We finally found a supervisor who did take an interest in our situation and ended up fixing the whole thing.
After this ordeal we decided that we, my father and I and also my brother and his friends, should print our tickets so that no further changes could be made to this itinerary and it would stick. By IATA regulations, once a ticket has been printed, no further changes can be made without physically reprinting them.
Two weeks ago, my brother found out when his friend was requesting a seat assignment that his entire reservation has been canceled. Once again, no attempt was made by US Airways to alert him of the cancellation. He tried contacting US Airways to know what happened. He spoke to numerous agents and supervisors. He finally got to speak to the manager who said that they would investigate the matter further contact as soon as possible.
My brother then finds out later that week that his Dividend Miles account and the accounts of his friends have been locked and are under audit. When they repeatedly tried to get information, they were repeatedly hanged up on. On the instances that they weren’t hanged up on, they find out that the matter has been turned over to the Corporate Fraud Department.
My brother then goes to the airport so that he can talk to an actual person and get to the bottom of this matter. The station manager of US Airways decides to call police and demands them to arrest my brother on the spot for fraud. My brother then explains to the police officers that he was just engaging in a civil conversation with the agents of US Airways and to find out what happened to his booking. He showed them that he had legally printed tickets with the taxes and fees paid in full. The police then obviously saw that my brother did absolutely nothing wrong let alone fraud and they left. At that point the station manager asked my brother to leave.
On the morning of June 1st, 2010, my brother calls me to tell me that my reservation has been canceled. When I called US Airways to find out what happened, I was repeatedly hanged up on. I now have to start off every conversation I have with an agent or supervisor telling them that I would appreciate it if they do not hang up on me.
The only thing I got from US Airways was that I will have to contact Customer Relations.
I just found out this morning that my account has been locked and is now under audit.
I asked multiple supervisors to look at my account and tell me what I did wrong. There were not that many transactions. All I did was took their promotion that was offered and redeemed it. That is all. Every agent and supervisor that I talked to said they don’t see any wrongdoing anywhere in my account.
I now feel completely helpless. We have tried to get an attorney that is properly specialized in Aviation Law, but we couldn’t find any. I was shocked to see that many of them did not know what I was talking about when I mentioned redemption miles programs like Dividend Miles or Aeroplan. Some who advertise as specialist in Aviation Law are only taking cases dealing with bodily injuries and lost baggage.
I was wondering if there any other options that I can take. Any advice is most welcomed at this point.
Thank you very much.
My father and I decided to use the Dividend Miles that we have purchased to go to Tokyo and Shanghai in First Class. It was a very difficult booking to do. It took me four days to complete, working with multiple agents. I then paid all the fees and taxes and purchased our ticket.
My brother, along with his friends, made a booking to Sydney, Australia via Cape Town, South Africa, also in First Class. He repeatedly asked multiple agents and supervisors that this was a valid routing. He was told that it was valid each time.
Later on when I was trying to request a diabetic meal for my father I found out that multiple flight segments were missing. When I contacted US Airways, I was repeatedly pushed to take a refund and start all over. I told US Airways that I have spent far too much time on this itinerary for it just to go down the drain for no valid reason.
We finally found a supervisor who did take an interest in our situation and ended up fixing the whole thing.
After this ordeal we decided that we, my father and I and also my brother and his friends, should print our tickets so that no further changes could be made to this itinerary and it would stick. By IATA regulations, once a ticket has been printed, no further changes can be made without physically reprinting them.
Two weeks ago, my brother found out when his friend was requesting a seat assignment that his entire reservation has been canceled. Once again, no attempt was made by US Airways to alert him of the cancellation. He tried contacting US Airways to know what happened. He spoke to numerous agents and supervisors. He finally got to speak to the manager who said that they would investigate the matter further contact as soon as possible.
My brother then finds out later that week that his Dividend Miles account and the accounts of his friends have been locked and are under audit. When they repeatedly tried to get information, they were repeatedly hanged up on. On the instances that they weren’t hanged up on, they find out that the matter has been turned over to the Corporate Fraud Department.
My brother then goes to the airport so that he can talk to an actual person and get to the bottom of this matter. The station manager of US Airways decides to call police and demands them to arrest my brother on the spot for fraud. My brother then explains to the police officers that he was just engaging in a civil conversation with the agents of US Airways and to find out what happened to his booking. He showed them that he had legally printed tickets with the taxes and fees paid in full. The police then obviously saw that my brother did absolutely nothing wrong let alone fraud and they left. At that point the station manager asked my brother to leave.
On the morning of June 1st, 2010, my brother calls me to tell me that my reservation has been canceled. When I called US Airways to find out what happened, I was repeatedly hanged up on. I now have to start off every conversation I have with an agent or supervisor telling them that I would appreciate it if they do not hang up on me.
The only thing I got from US Airways was that I will have to contact Customer Relations.
I just found out this morning that my account has been locked and is now under audit.
I asked multiple supervisors to look at my account and tell me what I did wrong. There were not that many transactions. All I did was took their promotion that was offered and redeemed it. That is all. Every agent and supervisor that I talked to said they don’t see any wrongdoing anywhere in my account.
I now feel completely helpless. We have tried to get an attorney that is properly specialized in Aviation Law, but we couldn’t find any. I was shocked to see that many of them did not know what I was talking about when I mentioned redemption miles programs like Dividend Miles or Aeroplan. Some who advertise as specialist in Aviation Law are only taking cases dealing with bodily injuries and lost baggage.
I was wondering if there any other options that I can take. Any advice is most welcomed at this point.
Thank you very much.
Last edited by alireza0782; Jun 3, 2010 at 10:10 pm Reason: typo and missing little info
Jun 3, 2010, 11:35 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2009
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 92
Wow. I am so sorry to hear your ordeal. I was, have been wanted to jump on this promotion but hesitate due to where USAir currently standing, financially. So I didn't.
I hope you will get the answers, resolutions you are looking for.
I hope you will get the answers, resolutions you are looking for.
Jun 4, 2010, 2:08 am
#3
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: PEK
Programs: A3*G, UA Gold EY Silver
Posts: 8,949
Welcome to FT!
I would find someone high up at Scareways and email/fax a letter to them. I doubt calling somoene at a 1-800 number will help, as they don't have any decision-making powers. (I'm talking about regular agents or people at the airport).
I would search the US Airways forum for any similar scenarios, and dispute the charge for purchased miles and taxes/fees on the ticket if it comes to that.
Also, contact a local consumer protection agency.
I would find someone high up at Scareways and email/fax a letter to them. I doubt calling somoene at a 1-800 number will help, as they don't have any decision-making powers. (I'm talking about regular agents or people at the airport).
I would search the US Airways forum for any similar scenarios, and dispute the charge for purchased miles and taxes/fees on the ticket if it comes to that.
Also, contact a local consumer protection agency.
Jun 4, 2010, 7:53 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Benicia, California, USA
Programs: AA PLT,AS,UA PP,J6,FB,EY,LH,SQ,HH Dmd,Hyatt Glbl,Marriott Plat,IHG Plat,Accor Gold
Posts: 10,820
In addition to the other advice you already received, I'd re-post this at the US Airways forum(where you're likely to get much more help) and post a note here asking the moderators for this forum to close this thread (since you can't have the same thread at two separate forums). The mods will probably move this to the US Airways forum on their own anyway, but you might as well be proactive.
Hope it all works out.
Hope it all works out.
Jun 4, 2010, 9:01 am
#5
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,046
Moving this to the USAir forum. Please follow it there.
Aviators99
Moderator
MilesBuzz!
Aviators99
Moderator
MilesBuzz!
Jun 4, 2010, 9:17 am
#6
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: PHL
Programs: Former long-time US GP; now AA dirt
Posts: 4,904
To the OP: Now that this is posted on the USAir forum, expect help very soon from someone with a good contact.
Lots of people on this forum did exactly what you did: bought lots of miles and made long international award routings in F. Whatever triggered your alleged "fraud" by US will be of great interest to a lot of us. Thanks for posting.
Lots of people on this forum did exactly what you did: bought lots of miles and made long international award routings in F. Whatever triggered your alleged "fraud" by US will be of great interest to a lot of us. Thanks for posting.
Jun 4, 2010, 9:32 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: US-CP, UA, Marriott Rewards, HHonors, Avis,
Posts: 4,549
Very unfortunate story but quite interesting as another FT'er recently asked what constitutes "unusal activity" in your US DM account and what would get you flagged as potentially someone who is selling award tickets.
You will probably get some good points of contact within US from this forum but one is [email protected] , this is Doug Parker although he probably has some assistants reading his mail.
The core issue seems not to be the validity of the routing-- I would leave that out of the entire complaint as the routing would be assumed to be valid given that you were able to book it. What IS at issue here is how many tickets were booked, by whom and in what names. Basically you tripped their alarms as being suspicious. I can only guess why; perhaps if you are not doing a lot of business with US, and all of a sudden there are hundreds of thousands of miles being transferred into accounts then redeemed for high-dollar tickets, this set off some kind of alert.
To be honest, this would be the kind of activity one would expect to see from someone who was truly selling award tickets. I am not in any way accusing the OP of doing that; simply stating that the account activity pattern would be similar.
Keep your complaint brief and stick to the facts. Explain the relationship between all the parties involved and how it came to be that everyone started buying and redeeming miles. There is no rule against sharing a good deal with someone but unfortunately the burden of proof is now upon you and your friends to prove that you are legit.
For the rest of us who have seen the constant promos as a shopping spree for great award deals, this is a good wake-up call. I've definitely taken advantage of these miles deals and redeemed for some nice tickets but I'm not going to play travel agent for my friends.
You will probably get some good points of contact within US from this forum but one is [email protected] , this is Doug Parker although he probably has some assistants reading his mail.
The core issue seems not to be the validity of the routing-- I would leave that out of the entire complaint as the routing would be assumed to be valid given that you were able to book it. What IS at issue here is how many tickets were booked, by whom and in what names. Basically you tripped their alarms as being suspicious. I can only guess why; perhaps if you are not doing a lot of business with US, and all of a sudden there are hundreds of thousands of miles being transferred into accounts then redeemed for high-dollar tickets, this set off some kind of alert.
To be honest, this would be the kind of activity one would expect to see from someone who was truly selling award tickets. I am not in any way accusing the OP of doing that; simply stating that the account activity pattern would be similar.
Keep your complaint brief and stick to the facts. Explain the relationship between all the parties involved and how it came to be that everyone started buying and redeeming miles. There is no rule against sharing a good deal with someone but unfortunately the burden of proof is now upon you and your friends to prove that you are legit.
For the rest of us who have seen the constant promos as a shopping spree for great award deals, this is a good wake-up call. I've definitely taken advantage of these miles deals and redeemed for some nice tickets but I'm not going to play travel agent for my friends.
Jun 4, 2010, 10:23 am
#8
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 909
Very unfortunate story but quite interesting as another FT'er recently asked what constitutes "unusal activity" in your US DM account and what would get you flagged as potentially someone who is selling award tickets.
You will probably get some good points of contact within US from this forum but one is [email protected] , this is Doug Parker although he probably has some assistants reading his mail.
The core issue seems not to be the validity of the routing-- I would leave that out of the entire complaint as the routing would be assumed to be valid given that you were able to book it. What IS at issue here is how many tickets were booked, by whom and in what names. Basically you tripped their alarms as being suspicious. I can only guess why; perhaps if you are not doing a lot of business with US, and all of a sudden there are hundreds of thousands of miles being transferred into accounts then redeemed for high-dollar tickets, this set off some kind of alert.
To be honest, this would be the kind of activity one would expect to see from someone who was truly selling award tickets. I am not in any way accusing the OP of doing that; simply stating that the account activity pattern would be similar.
Keep your complaint brief and stick to the facts. Explain the relationship between all the parties involved and how it came to be that everyone started buying and redeeming miles. There is no rule against sharing a good deal with someone but unfortunately the burden of proof is now upon you and your friends to prove that you are legit.
For the rest of us who have seen the constant promos as a shopping spree for great award deals, this is a good wake-up call. I've definitely taken advantage of these miles deals and redeemed for some nice tickets but I'm not going to play travel agent for my friends.
You will probably get some good points of contact within US from this forum but one is [email protected] , this is Doug Parker although he probably has some assistants reading his mail.
The core issue seems not to be the validity of the routing-- I would leave that out of the entire complaint as the routing would be assumed to be valid given that you were able to book it. What IS at issue here is how many tickets were booked, by whom and in what names. Basically you tripped their alarms as being suspicious. I can only guess why; perhaps if you are not doing a lot of business with US, and all of a sudden there are hundreds of thousands of miles being transferred into accounts then redeemed for high-dollar tickets, this set off some kind of alert.
To be honest, this would be the kind of activity one would expect to see from someone who was truly selling award tickets. I am not in any way accusing the OP of doing that; simply stating that the account activity pattern would be similar.
Keep your complaint brief and stick to the facts. Explain the relationship between all the parties involved and how it came to be that everyone started buying and redeeming miles. There is no rule against sharing a good deal with someone but unfortunately the burden of proof is now upon you and your friends to prove that you are legit.
For the rest of us who have seen the constant promos as a shopping spree for great award deals, this is a good wake-up call. I've definitely taken advantage of these miles deals and redeemed for some nice tickets but I'm not going to play travel agent for my friends.
With all due respect e-mailing DUI Doug is a WASTE OF TIME as he is the reason for the problem. He's proven time and again that he holds customers in total conrempt. Why anyone would waste their time and energy reaching out to him or Kirby for that matter is beyond me.
I'm going to put this thread in the hands of someone who can help and most likely will. My concern for the original poster is that to much time has passed to resurrect the itinerary and I believe that was US's plan from the start. These guys could out micro manage Stalin. Never mind that their IT department couldn't organize a one car funeral.
Jun 4, 2010, 10:28 am
#9
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 850
Keep your complaint brief and stick to the facts. Explain the relationship between all the parties involved and how it came to be that everyone started buying and redeeming miles. There is no rule against sharing a good deal with someone but unfortunately the burden of proof is now upon you and your friends to prove that you are legit.
Jun 4, 2010, 10:31 am
#10
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 255
Did you maybe use all one credit card? I have seen posts where this has caused problems and it would make it much easier for them to trace this issue. Also, if you have all used one computer, the IP might have been used. There has to be some connection between all of these accounts for them to reasonably find out about it.
Jun 4, 2010, 10:39 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,381
I'm going to be a bit upset if IP and credit card are the trigger. My minor daughter certainly does NOT have her own credit card, lives with me (so obviously I use the same IP to access both accounts), HAS flown on US (her account was several months old when I used it for the shared miles promo, and had pre-existing US miles in it, as did mine), and as her parent, I believe I legally control things like her FF accounts until she reaches her age of majority.
Jun 4, 2010, 11:26 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 656
I'm going to be a bit upset if IP and credit card are the trigger. My minor daughter certainly does NOT have her own credit card, lives with me (so obviously I use the same IP to access both accounts), HAS flown on US (her account was several months old when I used it for the shared miles promo, and had pre-existing US miles in it, as did mine), and as her parent, I believe I legally control things like her FF accounts until she reaches her age of majority.
Jun 4, 2010, 12:25 pm
#13
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: US-CP, UA, Marriott Rewards, HHonors, Avis,
Posts: 4,549
dcpatti,
With all due respect e-mailing DUI Doug is a WASTE OF TIME as he is the reason for the problem. He's proven time and again that he holds customers in total conrempt. Why anyone would waste their time and energy reaching out to him or Kirby for that matter is beyond me.
I'm going to put this thread in the hands of someone who can help and most likely will. My concern for the original poster is that to much time has passed to resurrect the itinerary and I believe that was US's plan from the start. These guys could out micro manage Stalin. Never mind that their IT department couldn't organize a one car funeral.
With all due respect e-mailing DUI Doug is a WASTE OF TIME as he is the reason for the problem. He's proven time and again that he holds customers in total conrempt. Why anyone would waste their time and energy reaching out to him or Kirby for that matter is beyond me.
I'm going to put this thread in the hands of someone who can help and most likely will. My concern for the original poster is that to much time has passed to resurrect the itinerary and I believe that was US's plan from the start. These guys could out micro manage Stalin. Never mind that their IT department couldn't organize a one car funeral.
I don't think a person went out and planned to kill the OP's award itineraries. More likely, US uses a similar software package that monitors financial account activity, just like how whenever I book overseas hotels online on my CitiCard, my account gets locked. Some of these packages apply one-size-fits-all rules (that really fit nobody). Bank of America just got about $3k in various vacation travel spend from me, just because Citi always flags me for fraud and it takes a little time to get un-flagged.
Now that the OP is locked out, they're running into walls as I would think this is an uncommon situation and many agents just don't know how to deal with it. So they get shuttled around on hold, calls get dropped, etc just because nobody knows what to do.
At any rate, if you feel comfortable passing along your inside angels' info to the OP, I am sure they would appreciate it dearly, or the OP can do some google searches and develop contacts of their own.
Jun 4, 2010, 12:35 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2009
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 92
I am failed to understand the logic of this. USAirway sell the miles, OP purchased them. He PAID for them, USAirway took the money. How quickly, and how many miles OP purchased really does not matter because he paid for the miles directly to USAirway, not to anyone else. If anything, USAirway is the fraud here, not OP.
Jun 4, 2010, 1:02 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 1,437
IP, shmy pi...
I have booked a number of tickets on other people + manage all my fam accounts from my PC, and have never gotten an audit. Looks like there is something else in the story that might be missing, i.e. trail to an ebay auction, or craigslist posting?? op needs to give more details.
If what he says is true then I'd small claims to the max, and i guarantee you he will win.
I have booked a number of tickets on other people + manage all my fam accounts from my PC, and have never gotten an audit. Looks like there is something else in the story that might be missing, i.e. trail to an ebay auction, or craigslist posting?? op needs to give more details.
If what he says is true then I'd small claims to the max, and i guarantee you he will win.