Blogger: Indonesia residents buys 9 business tix with Alaska miles, all cancelled
Jun 2, 2019, 9:43 am
#16
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https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...rline-partners
I have friends in Germany and Australia with Alaska accounts. They build up Alaska miles when visiting the U.S. I talked with an Australian at OzFest who is thinking of moving his primary carrier from AA to Alaska due to the new $15,000 minimum spend for top tier at AA (I left when they implemented the $12,000 minimum three years ago). Would you exclude all of them from membership?
Jun 2, 2019, 10:22 am
#17
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Or require some history with Alaska. Don't allow new members to purchase miles within weeks of joining the Alaska program or require some minimal Alaska flight activity. The Indonesian buyer opened an Alaska account in April and bought miles in May. Maybe require 90-180 days before you can buy miles for your account or a couple of Alaska segments? Alaska has lots of options besides capping the sale of miles.
They already have a 150,000 mile cap in place for purchases by those without elite status (though with bonus miles that could add up to 225,000 actual miles as it did with the Indonesia incident, so still a lot of available miles) .
They already have a 150,000 mile cap in place for purchases by those without elite status (though with bonus miles that could add up to 225,000 actual miles as it did with the Indonesia incident, so still a lot of available miles) .
I don’t agree with the idea upthread regarding limiting participation in mileage plan altogether to certain people. Considering that the main problem here revolves around purchasing miles, limiting who can participate in mileage plan would prevent customer engagement unnecessarily.
Jun 2, 2019, 12:24 pm
#18
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This is exactly what I meant by placing limits on buying miles. The limitations can be based on who can purchase miles and/or when miles can be purchased. I should have expanded on my statement.
I don’t agree with the idea upthread regarding limiting participation in mileage plan altogether to certain people. Considering that the main problem here revolves around purchasing miles, limiting who can participate in mileage plan would prevent customer engagement unnecessarily.
I have an SQ Krisflyer account that I opened to transfer pmSPG Srarpoints into for a legitimate redemption. I wonder if the outcome would have been the same if the miles source was from a transfer partner and not purchased at all. I would hope that it would. The activity is unusual. My Mileage Plan account is 12 years old and AS would be suspicious if I suddenly burned seven figures for premium award travel for a group of people whether they were friends or not. James
Jun 2, 2019, 2:33 pm
#19
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This was and may still be a issue for Air France/KLM too. There was a spate of UR users getting tickets canceled due to fraud flags. With the proliferation of point transfer systems it has to be tough.
Jun 2, 2019, 3:52 pm
#20
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Jun 2, 2019, 4:00 pm
#21
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If you’re going to say that, we will wait for you to refer to the regulation AS is violating by canceling and refunding tickets.
Jun 2, 2019, 4:12 pm
#22
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There is also the possibility to file a civil suit against them for breach of contract, but that may be more difficult for someone who resides outside the country.
For Alaska to claim that the tickets were cancelled for one reason, and then, when faced with a DOT complaint or lawsuit pointing out that that reason was invalid, change their story and say that they were cancelled for a different reason, would be quite suspicious in my opinion.
Jun 2, 2019, 4:27 pm
#23
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Jun 2, 2019, 5:41 pm
#25
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https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...and-conditions
Travel agents, travel arrangers and unauthorized brokers are not permitted to issue Mileage Plan tickets or to process or facilitate any other Mileage Plan transactions (including Mileage Plan account creation, account inquiries, and mileage or award ticket transfers) on behalf of others.
I mean, seriously, if you think there's no chance this is just a little fishy, I hope you don't play any three-card monte when you next go to Vegas... I have some bad news about that, too.
Jun 2, 2019, 8:16 pm
#27
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Predominantly, yes. But they technically regulate all parts of an airline's business. There is no language in the "unfair and deceptive practices" regulation that limits it to domestic air travel. It is (presumably intentionally) extremely broad. It's a catch-all.
Jun 2, 2019, 8:20 pm
#28
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Whether or not you, I, or AS thinks it's legit is irrelevant. The T&C covers cases of actual ticket brokering, not suspected brokering.
Jun 2, 2019, 8:41 pm
#29
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Maybe we should all move on to finding new ways to push the boundaries of the system so that we can eventually ruin the game for everyone else?
Jun 2, 2019, 11:03 pm
#30
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So what, AS isn’t allowed to enforce not having “travel arrangers” in their program without a written confession? This isn’t being sent to jail, where you want “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
Again... you’re a Vegas gambler, right? You ever heard of anyone being told they can’t play blackjack in a casino because they’re counting cards? Guess what, airline programs run the same deal. “You’re too good for us.”
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Jun 2, 2019 at 11:09 pm