Burned by FB. What to do now?
Jun 13, 2018, 2:55 pm
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
Posts: 15,556
Frankly, your attempted transaction is heavily suspicious of bartering awards.
Some airlines are more ferocious about it than others, but FB of AFKL is.
There have been many posts about using a FB account without any activity, transfering miles from a cc and using them to book awards for unrelated persons.
Unless you can establish that the persons are related to you, one way or the other, you risk losing that FB account.
Of course, if you wished to use the miles for yourself, that might be a way out of this jam.
Some airlines are more ferocious about it than others, but FB of AFKL is.
There have been many posts about using a FB account without any activity, transfering miles from a cc and using them to book awards for unrelated persons.
Unless you can establish that the persons are related to you, one way or the other, you risk losing that FB account.
Of course, if you wished to use the miles for yourself, that might be a way out of this jam.
Jun 13, 2018, 3:04 pm
#18
formerly willbbiddy
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 208
Frankly, your attempted transaction is heavily suspicious of bartering awards.
Some airlines are more ferocious about it than others, but FB of AFKL is.
There have been many posts about using a FB account without any activity, transfering miles from a cc and using them to book awards for unrelated persons.
Unless you can establish that the persons are related to you, one way or the other, you risk losing that FB account.
Of course, if you wished to use the miles for yourself, that might be a way out of this jam.
Some airlines are more ferocious about it than others, but FB of AFKL is.
There have been many posts about using a FB account without any activity, transfering miles from a cc and using them to book awards for unrelated persons.
Unless you can establish that the persons are related to you, one way or the other, you risk losing that FB account.
Of course, if you wished to use the miles for yourself, that might be a way out of this jam.
Last edited by BirdLawyer; Jun 14, 2018 at 7:37 am
Jun 13, 2018, 5:35 pm
#19
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Milwaukee
Programs: AA Pl, KL Platinum for Life
Posts: 384
KLM had a rule that required the FB member to be flying the same itinerary as the person using the award. I'm not sure if they still have that rule or not but it makes sense to prevent fraud and selling awards. Check out the rules applicable today by visiting their site. Based on the other comments you made it sounds like you didn't check any rules before transferring points. Were you on the same itinerary?
Last edited by Lakeviewsteve; Jun 13, 2018 at 5:45 pm
Jun 13, 2018, 5:41 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Paris, France
Programs: AF/KL Flying Blue Platinum for life/Club2000 Ultimate, Accor ALL Diamond
Posts: 21,922
Jun 13, 2018, 5:43 pm
#21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Paris, France
Programs: AF/KL Flying Blue Platinum for life/Club2000 Ultimate, Accor ALL Diamond
Posts: 21,922
KLM had a rule that required the FB member to be flying the same itinerary as the person using the award. I'm not sure if they still have that rule or not but it makes sense to prevent fraud and selling awards. Check out the rules applicable today by visiting their site. Based on the other comments you made it sounds like you didn't check any rules before transferring points.
Jun 13, 2018, 6:20 pm
#23
formerly willbbiddy
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 208
I quoted the FB terms above, and have said that this is specifically why I went with flying blue over KE Skypass. This is what bothers me about my current situation.
If if anyone has any further input on my specific situation I’d appreciate it, but I do not want this thread to devolve into people bickering about the ins and outs of the FB program.
I hope that that my responses have clearly shown that this is a legitimate transaction, and I am only looking for advice on how to move forward. Thank you to all who have tried to address my problems and concerns. I will be sure to post a follow up to how this all ends.
Update: FB contacted me by email today asking for my ID and a copy of my FB card (I sent them a screenshot as I do not have a physical one) as well as asking if the people I was trying to book the award for were who I intended to book and if I was receiving compensation for it (the answers are yes and no respectively). They said they will get back within 24hrs. Let’s hope they honor the original booking, but I’m not holding my breath.
If if anyone has any further input on my specific situation I’d appreciate it, but I do not want this thread to devolve into people bickering about the ins and outs of the FB program.
I hope that that my responses have clearly shown that this is a legitimate transaction, and I am only looking for advice on how to move forward. Thank you to all who have tried to address my problems and concerns. I will be sure to post a follow up to how this all ends.
Update: FB contacted me by email today asking for my ID and a copy of my FB card (I sent them a screenshot as I do not have a physical one) as well as asking if the people I was trying to book the award for were who I intended to book and if I was receiving compensation for it (the answers are yes and no respectively). They said they will get back within 24hrs. Let’s hope they honor the original booking, but I’m not holding my breath.
Last edited by BirdLawyer; Jun 14, 2018 at 7:38 am
Jun 14, 2018, 1:57 am
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,730
SOP for customers in the OP's position - booking tickets for third parties from "clean skin" accounts never used to accrue miles by normal.earning methods - is to attend an AF ticket desk in person to have the ticket/FB account suspension lifted.
Jun 14, 2018, 2:44 am
#25
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,452
Possibly, but I've never had an airport station help me with an account problem, rather than a ticketing problem.
Jun 14, 2018, 4:14 am
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
Posts: 15,556
It's for my 2 cousins, one of their wives, and the others girlfriend. Also my parents had legal custody of the 2 cousins until they were 18. Again, why not just spell this out on the FB site like KL does? I would have gone through KL, but the girlfriend wouldn't be able to be booked that way and I would of had to split them up so I used FB specifically because this is admissible.
Jun 14, 2018, 4:21 am
#27
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
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I am afraid that the burden of the proof is now on the side of the OP. AFKL want to make it difficult/costly for someone to sell award tickets.
But maybe, FB will clear the account and the OP will then have to negotiate with them to reinstate a booking.
Jun 14, 2018, 11:34 am
#29
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Hong Kong, France
Programs: FB , BA Gold
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Jun 14, 2018, 1:08 pm
#30
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,730
However, we have had numerous reports through the years where people reporting the same issue as the OP were asked to attend an AF ticket office to "prove" their case
That these people invariably lived nowhere near an AF ticket desk led to further complaints. Perhaps they have changed their procedure as a result.
But now you know why the other poster suggested what they did.