Account Verification Request Email [Account Audit]
May 15, 2016, 8:48 am
#46
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,476
Not if the airline could show they were booked using miles that were fraudulently obtained, and therefore the FFP itself had been defrauded. Now, there is absolutely no suggestion whatsoever that anyone who's contributed to this thread has indulged in anything like that, but obviously there are reasons why airlines have people to look for such activity, and not everyone in this world is as honest as people on FT ...
May 15, 2016, 8:53 am
#47
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,476
This is worriesome for me, as I havemany friends who fly to and from South Africa on Ethiopian, and other places, and are not interested in miles etc, so i made them accounts, joint them to mine, and after six months remove them and add others. I have no shortage of people to add to my account to get their miles. And I have done this whenever I could, every six months...
Where there is potentially a problem is where people do not exist and perhaps are only being added to gain the sign-up miles. I believe BD used to have a number of cats amongst the membership of Diamond Club!
May 15, 2016, 11:44 am
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,666
I hope the threat to cancel account/tickets in five days is to motivate people to get in touch for the audit. I would assume that they won't lightly do that but they will exhaust options to reach customer by repeated emails and phone calls, and they should just freeze/lock account until issues are cleared. This is what normal people would do. Anything else would be crazy and irrational.
May 16, 2016, 5:20 pm
#49
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: SFO/DFW
Programs: AA-EP, A3*G, UA*S
Posts: 290
In regards to my situation, yes I had just booked an AC award ticket 2 days prior to the audit email... so what you proposed about hidden costs is entirely possible.
Mar 13, 2017, 6:32 pm
#50
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: MAN,TLV
Programs: Silver:BA,VX,AB, QF. Gold:A3,RJ,AZ,GF, EY,SPG,Marriott,Choice, Carlson. Dia/Plat:HH,IHG,BW,Accor
Posts: 1,965
This is worriesome for me, as I havemany friends who fly to and from South Africa on Ethiopian, and other places, and are not interested in miles etc, so i made them accounts, joint them to mine, and after six months remove them and add others. I have no shortage of people to add to my account to get their miles. And I have done this whenever I could, every six months...
I doubt you have an issue - you are crediting from genuine people, A3 is being paid for those miles, and therefore they are making a profit even after you redeem.
Where there is potentially a problem is where people do not exist and perhaps are only being added to gain the sign-up miles. I believe BD used to have a number of cats amongst the membership of Diamond Club!
Where there is potentially a problem is where people do not exist and perhaps are only being added to gain the sign-up miles. I believe BD used to have a number of cats amongst the membership of Diamond Club!
Dear MR. xxxx xxxx,
As a member of the Miles and Bonus Program (*********) , we seek your understanding on the following matter. Account reviews are periodically performed for the protection of the Program and all its members. You are a valued customer and we want to keep you informed while we perform some random and/or routine internal control practices.
Your flights will continue to accrue on your account although issuance of awards has been temporarily suspended pending completion of the review. Aegean Airlines’ primary goal is to protect our members and the mutual benefits of the program. We seek to maintain a positive relationship with our members and provide rationale for our actions as we validate program integrity, rules, and procedures.
A) We also want to be advised about the together account you are involved
B) Hence, a photo of your national identity card of the relative members(21 total) is required, in order to complete the validation.(not passport)
Could you also pls provide us any data which can validate your postal code; UK.
It is our hope that this communication is clear on our intent. It is not to jeopardize customer rapport but rather to maintain a viable program. MR. xxxx xxxx, your cooperation is very much appreciated and we apologize for any inconvenience or potential concern that this standard review may cause. Please reply via email at [email protected] , or call at +302106261679 regarding this matter.
If we don’t get any reply or call from you within 5 days, we will permanently close the account and all tickets and mileage associated will be cancelled.
As a member of the Miles and Bonus Program (*********) , we seek your understanding on the following matter. Account reviews are periodically performed for the protection of the Program and all its members. You are a valued customer and we want to keep you informed while we perform some random and/or routine internal control practices.
Your flights will continue to accrue on your account although issuance of awards has been temporarily suspended pending completion of the review. Aegean Airlines’ primary goal is to protect our members and the mutual benefits of the program. We seek to maintain a positive relationship with our members and provide rationale for our actions as we validate program integrity, rules, and procedures.
A) We also want to be advised about the together account you are involved
B) Hence, a photo of your national identity card of the relative members(21 total) is required, in order to complete the validation.(not passport)
Could you also pls provide us any data which can validate your postal code; UK.
It is our hope that this communication is clear on our intent. It is not to jeopardize customer rapport but rather to maintain a viable program. MR. xxxx xxxx, your cooperation is very much appreciated and we apologize for any inconvenience or potential concern that this standard review may cause. Please reply via email at [email protected] , or call at +302106261679 regarding this matter.
If we don’t get any reply or call from you within 5 days, we will permanently close the account and all tickets and mileage associated will be cancelled.
They want IDs of 21 members?!? But I only have another 4 members besides me?
And they want ID cards, not passports?!?
I doubt I can get hjold of their passports, never mind their ID cards!
HELP!!!!!! Around 70k miles stuck in there!
Mar 13, 2017, 7:42 pm
#51
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
I have now received the dreaded email:
They want IDs of 21 members?!? But I only have another 4 members besides me?
And they want ID cards, not passports?!?
I doubt I can get hjold of their passports, never mind their ID cards!
HELP!!!!!! Around 70k miles stuck in there!
They want IDs of 21 members?!? But I only have another 4 members besides me?
And they want ID cards, not passports?!?
I doubt I can get hjold of their passports, never mind their ID cards!
HELP!!!!!! Around 70k miles stuck in there!
PS You must admit, though, that your idea was not what they had in mind when they started the together accounts a couple of years back. As you wrote, you saw it coming...
Mar 13, 2017, 8:20 pm
#52
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: YYZ, HKG, MFM
Programs: AC35K, AS MVP, WS Gold, ITA EP, Marriott Plat, Hyatt-Explorist, IHG Diamond
Posts: 2,019
I have now received the dreaded email:
They want IDs of 21 members?!? But I only have another 4 members besides me?
And they want ID cards, not passports?!?
I doubt I can get hjold of their passports, never mind their ID cards!
HELP!!!!!! Around 70k miles stuck in there!
They want IDs of 21 members?!? But I only have another 4 members besides me?
And they want ID cards, not passports?!?
I doubt I can get hjold of their passports, never mind their ID cards!
HELP!!!!!! Around 70k miles stuck in there!
Mar 14, 2017, 5:22 am
#54
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,476
21 might be considered a little excessive ... I think had we been aware that the number of people you were churning was that high, the advice here might have been a little different.
I can perfectly well see why A3 might think these miles are being collected (which they won't particularly care about) and potentially spent (which they definitely will) outside the spirit of the program.
I think you should probably consider yourself lucky there are only 70k miles at stake here - and until this is resolved either way I wouldn't be putting any more in there because I'd think there's a high chance this will end in account closure. Your bigger issue here is the loss of status, not the miles.
There is a perfect logic to A3's requests - if these 21 people really were close acquaintances or family members, you should have no difficulty in getting hold of ID for a very large majority of them relatively quickly in the age of scanners, digital cameras and e-mail. If you can't, it would support A3's suspicion that you really don't know them that well, and in their eyes this would constitute a breach of the spirit of the Together account. The reason they want the whole 21, of course, is because they feel you may be spending miles that were not earned 'legitimately' in terms of M+B crediting by all of those people.
The only good news in this is that, unlike BA, A3 actually tells you what to expect and why your account is under audit - so at least you know what proof you have to produce. I fear you will need a lot of good fortune to explain your way out of this one though ...
I can perfectly well see why A3 might think these miles are being collected (which they won't particularly care about) and potentially spent (which they definitely will) outside the spirit of the program.
I think you should probably consider yourself lucky there are only 70k miles at stake here - and until this is resolved either way I wouldn't be putting any more in there because I'd think there's a high chance this will end in account closure. Your bigger issue here is the loss of status, not the miles.
There is a perfect logic to A3's requests - if these 21 people really were close acquaintances or family members, you should have no difficulty in getting hold of ID for a very large majority of them relatively quickly in the age of scanners, digital cameras and e-mail. If you can't, it would support A3's suspicion that you really don't know them that well, and in their eyes this would constitute a breach of the spirit of the Together account. The reason they want the whole 21, of course, is because they feel you may be spending miles that were not earned 'legitimately' in terms of M+B crediting by all of those people.
The only good news in this is that, unlike BA, A3 actually tells you what to expect and why your account is under audit - so at least you know what proof you have to produce. I fear you will need a lot of good fortune to explain your way out of this one though ...
Mar 14, 2017, 8:09 am
#55
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SYD
Programs: TK*G, QR Gold, VA Gold, NZ Gold
Posts: 237
based on experience, you just need to provide majority of the ids. in my case i provided at least 75%. and mentions that others are legitimate but pending.
i also ensured that i talk to them so that they gain understanding that i am not trying to abuse the system.
i also ensured that i talk to them so that they gain understanding that i am not trying to abuse the system.
Mar 14, 2017, 1:40 pm
#56
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Paris
Programs: Miles&Bonus *G
Posts: 318
Anyway, my advice is to be careful with adding too many people. Not something worth losing status over. Also, it's probably a matter of time before A3 changes the rules to stop this kind of thing happening.
Mar 15, 2017, 6:56 am
#57
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: PAS, Paros Greece
Programs: A3 *G
Posts: 1,372
So, for the people who have been audited - do any/all of your together members actually have flights posted? With Aegean or other airlines? Info like this might set some people's minds at rest. It would be interesting and useful to find a pattern in this. Is there a specific number of members that sets this off? A percentage of miles earned by primary member vs others? Geographical disparities (members from the other side of the world who never even fly Aegean)? I have had 11 members in total over three years. I don't think that's unreasonable but these posts always worry me. All my members, past and present have actually flown A3/OA multiple times. Aegean set the six month turnover limit to control the total number of members. Surely if one sticks to that (well, there's no way around it) and the people actually fly, then how can ANY number of members be outside the "spirit" of the program? If they don't like it, they aught to somehow make a further restriction on the total number of members allowed.
Last edited by Knobbgb; Mar 15, 2017 at 7:09 am
Mar 15, 2017, 9:21 am
#58
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: SYD
Programs: TK*G, QR Gold, VA Gold, NZ Gold
Posts: 237
i think you were asking me directly but the answer is no. i was merely promoting a3. it was too bad that majority of my mates did not book any flight or even hotel. but come to think of it, to date - 1/3 of my together members I was able to bring to Greece and they posted their miles to together account. plus possibility of future travels with my family too. my parents do not have passport but working on it.
my loyalty to a3 brought me to greece 3x now. i'm still happy and loyal cos its one of the best program out there.
my loyalty to a3 brought me to greece 3x now. i'm still happy and loyal cos its one of the best program out there.
Mar 16, 2017, 12:34 pm
#59
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: MAN,TLV
Programs: Silver:BA,VX,AB, QF. Gold:A3,RJ,AZ,GF, EY,SPG,Marriott,Choice, Carlson. Dia/Plat:HH,IHG,BW,Accor
Posts: 1,965
about my case - I def did not just join random members to get the 1k miles - I just book many people's tickets, and they let me get the miles by opening them an account an joining it to mine.