Where do you live?

I guess soon airlines will start will have to do KYC like banks!!!

Looking at the VA platinum, only having a passport and no flights credited to AS makes me think not US based.

I sorry but solely buying points and never flying, needs to stop. I think AS needs to add not only an account age limitation for buy miles but a credit X number of flights in order to do so

Maybe, but why? As long as AS is making money on the deal (i.e. the flights being redeemed are costing AS less than they are selling the miles for), it seems like a win-win for AS and the customer.

I guess those of us who actually earned our miles the old-fashioned way (flying and CC spend) stand to lose if inventory is all taken up by those who buy-miles-and-fly, but honestly, the shift from programs as loyalty drivers to profit centers in their own rights is a ship that has long since sailed.

Exactly - these are huge profit centers and aren't going the way of the Blue Chip Stamp anytime soon.

Some of us would even say that CC spend isn't the old-fashioned way, if we are really old.

AS could clearly change their account terms to require this. Why take issue with their position?

Not everyone has DL, so limiting DL as the sole form of verification is simply out of touch with reality. Many companies accept a copy of a utility bill along with an official photo ID. CC statements are not generally good enough as anyone can simply change the address without having to reside in that address. Use electric, water, sewage or whatever utility bill that requires one to actually reside in that address or own said property in order to have such service.

Haha, our KYC group is just down the hall on my floor at my company - we work in the same group. I have to go through countless KYC/AML/Risk policy trainings every year. When I first started at my company the core training program (6 training courses) took a whole day. I'll state this for the record, what the KYC team goes through (background research, data gathering and information collection) makes the DHS's background check program look trivial. If one has qualms about the information the DHS asks on any of the trusted traveler applications then that person will never be able to open a trust fund or private banking account.

Too many miles out here makes them less valuable. As you can see from the major devaluations that have occured in the last year or 2. Another example is emirates, the easier it became to book their premium cabin awards, the availability droppeed dramatically.

I can understand the reluctance of allowing someone to book an expensive ticket on a partner airline when the user has never flown Alaska, has large transfers in, and claims a foreign address.

Foreign addresses is usually one trigger in a suite of triggers that leads to a fraud investigation.

However, it is not grounds or a legitimate reasoning to prevent someone from purchasing points and redeeming for F awards.

The program as it is currently designed allows for such behavior and it can easily be modified to limit this kind of customer behavior such as instituting an annual cap. However, AS has no right to "discriminate" a customer under the logic you presented.

ETA: With that said, we only have one side of the story, there might be more to it on AS's side.

I think the vast majority of those who go buy miles are ma and pa kettles that may be a few thousand short to take a vacation. Id imagine those that go buy just miles to go redeem an award is quite miniscule. Id even question the logic or cost effectiveness of such a silly thing

However, in a way I look at miles buying as a way for AS to subsidize our elite bonus 50% or 100% RDMs. A gold earns at a minimum of 3RT coach saver awards each year. A 75K gets enough for 8 awards provided they were Gold at the start of the year for all their flights.

What I dont like is AS hands out free miles like candy to anybody who has a minor inconvenience or emails or calls to complain. When I address a concern to AS....they give me 1000 or 2000 miles. When I am addressing an issue I dont want RDMs :rolleyes: I want the problem fixed going forward. When I do have an issue I always specifically write that I do NOT want miles and that I just hope the issue gets fixed and then I write my ideas for solutions. In return...I get miles :rolleyes:

Yes, that's why I mentioned two other issues.

Sure it does. Not all forms of discrimination are illegal under applicable law. Fraud protection is a legitimate business interest.

If they have a legitimate business reason to flag an account for potential fraudulent conduct, that is fine. Not because they are reluctant to pay $$$ for that customer - who has clearly not violated any terms of the MP program - to book an F award. That is how I read that post [reasoning for making redemption difficult rather than reasoning for audit]. Nonetheless, it seems both of us agree on the same thing and the poster meant the combination of those three things made it a legitimate case for audit.

Anyway back on topic, I think the gist of the OP's compliant was not the audit itself, but the fact AS refuses to accept a different form of ID and Address Verification other than a Driver's License.