alphaeagle

Since AS is one of the most generous programs right now, I wonder if there has a been a dramatic increase in mileage brokers doing pretty much what you were doing, except selling the seats. Maybe you were just caught up in a sweep of some sort.

I'd try contacting AS again, being really clear that the miles have been only for you or family. And that you do fly AS, but of course you have to rely on the goodwill of whoever you are contact with. Being anything other than polite will probably not get you far (not saying you weren't based on what you wrote already, but I know something like this can be stressful.) I'd also consider contacting SPG about it, see what they say and if they have any pull in the matter.

jackal

I've merged a couple of threads discussing this topic to keep related discussion together.

This may be the suggestion with the best chance. Perhaps SPG can at least get the miles you transferred and lost back.

IceTrojan

Is this a direct quote from the email? Like, a copy/paste?

timtetra

That is the direct quote. I left out the actual copy pasted part where she linked me to the terms and conditions but here's the full email transcript:

Dear Mr XXXX,
Thank you for calling Alaska Airlines.
Your account is now closed. Our Mileage plans are personal accounts for our
travelers, and your's is not being used as such.
The reason your account has been closed is our Terms & Conditions below:

Alaska Airlines reserves the right to audit Mileage Plan accounts at any time
and without notice to the member to ensure compliance with these Mileage Plan
Conditions of Membership and applicable conditions of carriage and/or tariffs.
In the event that an audit reveals discrepancies or violations, the processing
of Mileage Plan awards, mileage accrual or redemption of accrued mileage may be
suspended until the discrepancies or violations are resolved to Alaska
Airlines' satisfaction. Alaska Airlines reserves the right to terminate the
membership and/or suspend access to the mileage balance of any member at any
time for any reason it deems appropriate.

These Conditions of Membership govern member participation in the Alaska
Airlines Mileage Plan™ program. It is the member’s responsibility to read and
understand these Conditions of Membership and to monitor the Alaska Airlines
website to determine if there have been any changes.
No rights of any kind accrue in the Mileage Plan program except as specifically
defined herein. There are no exceptions to these Conditions of Membership
except for those set out in this document. Alaska Airlines reserves the right
to interpret and apply these Conditions of Membership in its sole discretion.
Enrollment in the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program requires each individual
to provide his/her name, address, phone contact, and birth date. The enrollment
process must be completed by the prospective member himself/herself, unless the
prospective member is a minor, in which case the parent or legal guardian may
complete the enrollment process. Travel agents, travel arrangers, and
unauthorized brokers may not create or manage Mileage Plan accounts for others.
Members will be asked to verify all of this information before speaking with
Alaska Airlines employees about their accounts. If Alaska Airlines becomes
aware that a member or a third party has misrepresented his/her identity in
order to enroll in Mileage Plan or perform a Mileage Plan transaction, Alaska
Airlines may, in its sole discretion, void the transaction.
Sincerely,
Yvette
Alaska Airlines
Fraud Specialist

apodo77

Are you a frequent flyer? Seems you are not.

Also if you disagree with their stance you can always sue. Good luck with that if that is the path you choose.

Often1

Sounds as though AS, like many businesses, does a cost-benefit analysis when it hits a suspicious account. An HVC who engages in some odd transactions may get the benefit of the doubt when he provides good backup. But, someone who does not fly much, is all downside risk to AS, so there is no reason to spend money to research the issue.

That may be the hard truth. That said, the fact is that AS has chosen to set up its program the way it is set up. To the extent that the program is a magnet for mileage brokers, there are solutions.

azepine00

What exactly do you consider to be 'odd transaction'?
Buying miles AS sells to anyone willing to pay? Transfer from spg? Redeeming on cx?

i am not sure what bothers me most - as closing accounts randomly or 'its ok if it happens to someone else' attitude expressed by some on this forum...

I ve seen many threads discussing more or less justified account closures due to mileage selling/brokering etc on other forums but nothing like this - unless of course there is more to the story...

timtetra

@apodo77 - Since when did their mileage plan become purely a frequent flyer program? If that was their intention, then they should only award points via revenue tickets on their metal. Instead, this calls into question the danger of accumulating miles via their Co-Branded BofA card, buying miles, or anything other than flying their airline.

I would totally sue, but at an estimated value per mile at 1 or 2 cents per mile that they would use for accounting purposes... the whole 150k balance is only worth $1500-3000. I'm guessing just the retainer on the lawyer will exceed that amount.

@azepine00 - yeah that's my point exactly. I've offered them more documentation than you would need to get a Driver's License, I can prove all my SPG statements. I can produce documentation for every single thing I have said here if it will help do anything but they've shown a disregard with wanting to work with me at all.

I wouldn't even care if they were just like "Look, your account isn't a winning proposition for us. We can't let you transfer any more points to it after you've used up your current miles", but they decided to ACCEPT my SPG transfer and then right away disable my account.

Calculon

It's not a single transaction, it's a pattern of use that triggers the audit.

Right or wrong, the closures are not "random", as you say. Being closed without good cause after the owner has provided all requested information, *that* is bothersome.

CDKing

I'm all for stopping these massive mileage purchases but they are going about it the wrong way. Now i'm worried that even after flying 300K miles on AS and earning more than 1mm RDM without purchases or transfers, if i decide to buy 250K miles that they will shut down my account. Although i do wonder if the fact i never book awards for other people would save me.

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

I'm thinking this might be key- international awards in premium cabins for others, especially when they don't share a last name. But I don't have any inside knowledge.

robsaw

If you go back to the start of this thread it seems to be obtaining awards for someone other than "self" when told not to do so (perhaps because of English language skill issues). The rest of the transactions/transfers may be legit in and of themselves but it is the redemption for others that is the problem in conjunction with points "earned" and "bought" and "used" in what are typically considered suspect patterns.

acvitale

there was an interesting article about similar issues and the implied vendors the programs project. worm by a university of Miami law professor. these might be the basis for a class action lawsuit particularly where miles were purchased with currency.

Jaimito Cartero

If AS feels they are being gamed, they need to make concrete rules, and make it obvious to a normal consumer what will happen.

They have sales on miles, bonuses on transfers, and then when people avail themselves of such deals they want to close accounts. That's not the AS I know.

dayone

There are only two concrete rules that matter:

As a reminder, account closures are only done after analysis and review. At least two people have agreed that the closure is warranted.