flatdawgs

I too have never had an issue, and almost solely use my miles to book for friends/family, but all of those bookings have been on Alaska and miles earned via flights on AS and partners (and credit card - no churn) so have no other data points. I could certainly see booking one way partner flights via MP for re-positioning or for RTW-type stuff as allowable under the published conditions of the program, and would be more than a little disappointed (to say the least) if something like happened to the OP happened to me. In fact, with my sister and her family living overseas I can see booking them on tickets not originating in the US and would hate to have that possibility taken away.

I'm a fan of Alaska (particularly their customer service) and a long-time MP member, only losing status because domestically I cannot get to everywhere I need to travel to without AA/DL - but if this is more than just a random data point or three I would have to think carefully about trying to regain status with them.

(edit - thank you for the update, UAPremierExec! I appreciate the explanation - still a bit concerned about what happened to the OP, but think that may have been a perfect storm of FUBAR. As mentioned it's nothing I've ever encountered personally.)