Phantom E-Upgrade and other Ghosts in the Machine...
Feb 16, 2012 | 3:41 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Canada's worst airport....YYJ
Programs: AC: E75K, Marriott :Titanium, National: EXEC ELITE
Posts: 640
Phantom E-Upgrade and other Ghosts in the Machine...
Just had to share a strange experience I had today, and see if it's happened to anyone else....
This morning, I update my AC app on my I-Pad, and lo and behold, it states there is a change to my YWG-YYC flight for tomorrow. I take a peek, and my seat has been changed from Y to J. Kind of strange I think, but I know from EF that the flight is likely in an oversell, and I think maybe they are proactively moving a few SEs and Es to J to make space for everyone.
Of course, as I'm walking to the office, the fresh air wakes me up, and I realize there's no way this is the case. Firstly, upgrading 36 hours before the flight before offering LMU to the masses, and secondly, actually potentially upgrading top tier members in some semblance of order.
So I log into ac.com, and sure enough, my PNR shows the flight is now in R class. I check the e-upgrade system, and it shows the upgrade request as completed, and 6 credits removed from my account (original fare class T).
The problem is....I never requested the upgrade. I used up all my 2011 credits, and I sure as hell wouldn't waste 6 credits on a 2 hour CRA flight. So I call Reservations, tell my tale, get put on hold for a few minutes, and suddendly the agent comes back, tells me that they've cancelled the upgrade, and that my account must have been hacked. I'm immediately suspicious, as I didn't have to argue at all to get the upgrade cancelled, and in fact they had to rebook me as full Y (as the flight is already oversold) , and didn't try to charge me for the difference. So I ask when the request was made, and the agent tells me 9AM a couple of days ago. This immediately confirms it wasn't me, as I was on my way to YWG at that time and didn't have web access.
There's something fishy going on here. Firstly, I don't buy that my account is compromised. It seems unlikely that someone would have my Aeroplan number, and even more unlikely that my password was hacked, as it's a hard password, and not even close to guessable. I know it wasn't my wife, as she wouldn't have the first idea of how to process an upgrade request, and no one else arranges travel for me.
Secondly, there were some issues with my file on the flight out here. Somehow, a CSA in YYC checked in someone else under my name and issued them a BP. I show up at Exec check-in, and the agent is like "Uhh, you're already checked in, and had tagged and checked a bag". No, I'm pretty positive I just got here, and my bag is firmly attached to my right arm, and I'm nowhere near foolish enough to check a bag for a 3 day trip. So a total Charlie-Foxtrot ensues, especially since the flight is overbooked by 3, and some poor schmo thinks he has a BP, but in reality, isn't even checked in. And the helpful CSA cancelled the bag tag, so who knows where his suitcase ended up.
So the long and the short of it is, I know that the CSA's were mucking around in my file right at the same time a phantom upgrade request is supposedly made. Coincidence? I think not. I feel like I was just given some song and dance to get me off the phone when I called in.
Anyone else had a similar experience?
This morning, I update my AC app on my I-Pad, and lo and behold, it states there is a change to my YWG-YYC flight for tomorrow. I take a peek, and my seat has been changed from Y to J. Kind of strange I think, but I know from EF that the flight is likely in an oversell, and I think maybe they are proactively moving a few SEs and Es to J to make space for everyone.
Of course, as I'm walking to the office, the fresh air wakes me up, and I realize there's no way this is the case. Firstly, upgrading 36 hours before the flight before offering LMU to the masses, and secondly, actually potentially upgrading top tier members in some semblance of order.
So I log into ac.com, and sure enough, my PNR shows the flight is now in R class. I check the e-upgrade system, and it shows the upgrade request as completed, and 6 credits removed from my account (original fare class T).
The problem is....I never requested the upgrade. I used up all my 2011 credits, and I sure as hell wouldn't waste 6 credits on a 2 hour CRA flight. So I call Reservations, tell my tale, get put on hold for a few minutes, and suddendly the agent comes back, tells me that they've cancelled the upgrade, and that my account must have been hacked. I'm immediately suspicious, as I didn't have to argue at all to get the upgrade cancelled, and in fact they had to rebook me as full Y (as the flight is already oversold) , and didn't try to charge me for the difference. So I ask when the request was made, and the agent tells me 9AM a couple of days ago. This immediately confirms it wasn't me, as I was on my way to YWG at that time and didn't have web access.
There's something fishy going on here. Firstly, I don't buy that my account is compromised. It seems unlikely that someone would have my Aeroplan number, and even more unlikely that my password was hacked, as it's a hard password, and not even close to guessable. I know it wasn't my wife, as she wouldn't have the first idea of how to process an upgrade request, and no one else arranges travel for me.
Secondly, there were some issues with my file on the flight out here. Somehow, a CSA in YYC checked in someone else under my name and issued them a BP. I show up at Exec check-in, and the agent is like "Uhh, you're already checked in, and had tagged and checked a bag". No, I'm pretty positive I just got here, and my bag is firmly attached to my right arm, and I'm nowhere near foolish enough to check a bag for a 3 day trip. So a total Charlie-Foxtrot ensues, especially since the flight is overbooked by 3, and some poor schmo thinks he has a BP, but in reality, isn't even checked in. And the helpful CSA cancelled the bag tag, so who knows where his suitcase ended up.
So the long and the short of it is, I know that the CSA's were mucking around in my file right at the same time a phantom upgrade request is supposedly made. Coincidence? I think not. I feel like I was just given some song and dance to get me off the phone when I called in.
Anyone else had a similar experience?
Feb 16, 2012 | 4:01 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 778
Interesting story. What did you suspect would happen if you had kept the upgrade?
Once departing Bogota to Toronto last year I was checked in by the agent as someone else and I noticed she started tagging my bags onward to Montreal... If I didn't stop her the boarding pass I would have gotten would have been under someone else's name too... so not a first on that case
Once departing Bogota to Toronto last year I was checked in by the agent as someone else and I noticed she started tagging my bags onward to Montreal... If I didn't stop her the boarding pass I would have gotten would have been under someone else's name too... so not a first on that case
