I received the attached communication from AA Corp Security - they have cancelled all my award travel for the remainder of the year (just went to pull a bunch of bookings and they have all been cancelled). any advice? anyone know how long the audit takes? at no point did I ever committed any fraud by using someone else's credit card. any input would be appreciated - I did reply back to the email notifying them that there was no willful fraud or attempt to abuse the system. I also offered a signed affidavit stating this and that this use of any invalid form of payment would never happen again -

"it has been brought to the attention of American Airlines’ corporate security department that you have been holding numerous reservations on aa.com with an invalid credit card. Our records indicate this act has been performed since May 2016. Holding duplicate or illogical reservations is not a benefit granted by American Airlines; it is a violation of our terms and conditions, and as noted below, is subject to appropriate administrative action which may include, without limitation, the forfeiture of all award tickets, accrued mileage in a member’s account, and the termination of the member’s account and the member’s future participation in the system. Your Aadvantage account xxxxx is currently frozen while it is being audited. Going forward any reservations made using an invalid credit card will be canceled immediately. While American Airlines appreciates all of our customers, we do not tolerate abuse of our system and services. Please take the time to review the information provided to you concerning ‘Ticket Validity – Compliance with Terms and Conditions of Sale’. This information is made available to AA’s customers on AA.COM. http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/pr...Conditions.jsp
After our Auditing is completed, we will contact you with all the results and the our decision about your AAdvantage account.
Fraud, misrepresentation, abuse or violation of applicable rules (including, but not limited to, American or American Eagle conditions of carriage, tariffs and AAdvantage program rules) is subject to appropriate administrative and/or legal action by appropriate governmental authorities and American Airlines. Such action may include, without limitation, the forfeiture of all award tickets, and any accrued mileage in a member's account, as well as cancellation of the account and the member's future participation in the AAdvantage program. In addition, American Airlines reserves the right to take appropriate legal action to recover damages, including its attorney fees incurred in prosecuting any lawsuit.
American Airlines reserves the right to audit any and all accounts at any time and without notice to the member to ensure compliance with AAdvantage program rules and applicable conditions of carriage and/or tariffs. In the event that an audit reveals discrepancies or violations, the processing of AAdvantage awards, mileage accrual and summaries may be delayed until the discrepancies or violations are resolved satisfactorily to American Airlines. Pending such resolution, members may be prohibited from redeeming mileage credits for an AAdvantage award or ticket as determined in American's sole discretion."

 

Same situation described here: Unbelievable aa reply to account closure for fraudulent credit card use

How many is "numerous" reservations?

 

I think there was a other thead like this, but don't recall the outcome. Either way, answer all their questions honestly and completely is the only advice I can offer.

ETA - Other poster found the thread.

 

At this point (unlike the other thread) AA doesn't seem to be asking for compensation. Advise to the OP, answer all questions honestly and hope for the best. Honest mistakes can happen but this looks like a deliberate repeat offense.

 

 

OP ... it sounds like this isn't an issue involving awards.

Did you purchase tickets with an invalid credit card, that never ticketed because of the invalid credit card?

If so, how many times?

 

Not sure why OP starts off by denying that he ever "using someone else's credit card," when the AA Corporate Security allegation is specifically that he had engaged in "holding numerous reservations on aa.com with an invalid credit card."

That seems to be a simple factual question, Did OP, on multiple occasions, hold reservations using an invalid card?

Whether that is fraud, a violation of the COC or the t&c of the program is a separate question which can't be addressed until the facts are clear and the only person who can make them clear is OP. Until then, giving him advice is way too premature.

 

Did you use your own credit card, to pay the fees, on award bookings for yourself, using points from your own account? Or was it something more complicated? Not a lot to go on in the OP.

 

How does one book, hold or confirm any reservation with an invalid credit card to begin with?

 

We used a "fly now pay later" card - I am an authorized user of the card. The issues are tied to that card - we've had situations where the card used the payment had not processed. I did call to update a new CC when I got the email from eTDS to provide a new CC number. It hasn't sat around for weeks. This issue is tied to using that card unfortunately. this is the first time I've been notified of this issue so I was a bit taken a back and offered to ensure it never happens again as a one and only warning

 

I've only used either my wife's or my CC. not anyone else's ever.

 

I must be missing something here... how is it possible to hold a ticket with an invalid credit card? Most holds are free. IIRC, AA does have some type of payment model in place for extending the length of hold for cash -- is that what is being discussed here? Also, anytime I make a credit card transaction on AA.com, it seems to validate the credit card right away. For instance, if I mistype part of the credit card number or something similar, I get an error message when it attempts to process the transaction, so I simply correct the error, and then it is set up for ticketing. I don't think I've ever had a confirmation go through only to find out later that the credit card was invalid. How would the OP have made reservations outside of the free hold process where the credit card was not processed up front?

Edited to add: Just read OP's most recent posts above. Is this issue specific to the "fly now buy later" deal? In that case, seems like this wouldn't be a routine issue that most AA flyers would encounter.

 

Quote:

holding numerous reservations on aa.com with an invalid credit card.

Using someone else's credit card is not the same as using an invalid credit card.

The invalid credit card could be YOUR credit card, not someone else's.

 

This isn't making much sense. You can make a reservation on a valid credit card but the charge might not go through. For example, earlier this week I used my debit card to pay for some car repair work, over $2,200. Same day I used it to book a personal flight for $325 but unknown to me my bank limits debit card use to $2,500 per day. I got an email from AA, after a quick call to the bank realized the issue (the bank simply waived the daily limit for me), called AA back, and within seconds the TA said it's now ticketed. AA will always work with someone on a one off because things happen. Corporate Security does not get involved on a one off accident. The OP is not telling us the entire story.