Originally Posted by
arizonawildcat
Nope this one was a crime. Three different Asian names booking first class tickets through PEK.
That screams "ticket broker," but the problem for victims such as yourself is that reports here indicate that AA's current approach is to assume the account holder sold the miles to the broker, rather than the victim of a hack. Reportedly, communication from AA security can be harsh and unsympathetic, but presumably once you satisfy them that you are the victim rather than the perpetrator, your miles will be reinstated.
Originally Posted by
arizonawildcat
So, I am assuming that no one has any other strategies to get Customer Service to help speed this along?
Given that your pressing concern is your desire to book 2018 award trips for your family, if it were me, I'd look for alternatives to that problem that don't hinge on a speedy resolution to the fraud issue. I don't know if AA would do so, but in theory AAdvantage Customer Service could authorize ticketing the mileage awards, since the fraud case will be resolved long before your travel date, so AA can then pay back the miles loaned to you from the restored miles (or cancel the flights if AA security decides you sold the miles to a broker, but we'll assume that won't happen).
Some internet sites allow 2-pass verification (gmail for one), perhaps AA should have this system in place optionally/required when miles are used.
Two-factor authentication has its own set of problems, especially when SMS is the second factor. SMS can and has been hacked. Cell phone numbers can and have been re-ported by fraudsters.
Originally Posted by
arizonawildcat
AA could rethink their communication plan of attack when things like this happen to their customers. A little more empathy in what is undoubtedly a stressful situation for those who have lost their hard earned miles would go a long way. Simply quoting in a robotic manner "it can take up to 6 months and no you can't talk to anyone" certainly does not help.
If someone were to have told me personally (even reading from a script of sorts), "Hey, this is a horrible situation and we are really sorry you are experiencing this. Here at AA we take fraud very seriously and have elevated your case to our security team. While it could take several months to unravel the situation and get your miles back into your account, most cases are solved within a few weeks. The next step is typically us reaching back out to verify some additional information so be on the lookout for this request via email. In the mean time, if you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to this email address: XXXX.
That would be a good idea, but from reports here, not how AA operates.
Originally Posted by
Often1
If these tickets represented $5K in revenue forgone each, that is $15K. If that happens only 200x / year, that is $1 Million in shrinkage to AA. And 200 would be the luckiest year in AA's recent history. By far.
I'm not sure where you came up with the $5k/ticket value, but the face value of an itinerary flown on an award is not the value that AA forgoes, since (1) by definition, SAAver awards are seats AA doesn't think it can sell, and (2) the passengers are unlikely to purchase face-value tickets if they don't get the award.
Originally Posted by
RogerD408
anyone try stopping spam messages lately?
I'm not sure that stopping spam email is directly comparable to stopping fraudulently obtained mileage awards.