Swiss Tony

Reading all this I feel a bit left-out. The only near-win I had was an award I was disputing over the crazy YQ. I ended up cancelling it, but even though it was ticketed for a month or so, the cash element was never charged (so was never deducted or refunded, either).

No missed sectors, no ex-zone 2 malarky, no trips to KTM. Oh, how I never lived.

lizban

I had a M+C redemption to AKL - miles didn't come out of my account, after I returned to the UK from the trip I rang them and told them - they duly deducted the miles (75k I think). My wife still thinks I'm mad.

Maybe I'm silly maybe I'm foolish but it felt dishonest - and if I made a mistake at work that cost money I'd like to think most people would tell me - naive I know!

HIDDY

Not silly or foolish at all....you were just doing what your conscience told you to do.

Nothing wrong with that. ^

A_Lee

I think I've always done the same where it's a specific mistake that a worker makes and that worker will be held responsible for if it's found out, or if it's a mistake made by a sole proprietor. Example, given too much in change during purchasing an item.

In the case of DC, it's quite obvious that with regard to it's implementation, the entire program was completely mismanaged to the point of costing them probably billions of miles per year due to IT and employee errors. They obviously had no audit checks in place or they would have seen just how enormous the problem was, as evidenced here in this thread. So in this case I don't really have any problems with my conscience. It seems to me that from the owner on down, nobody cared enough to do anything about it, and any individuals reporting errors in their favor would not have had any effect on the bottom line.

People make mistakes, and it is to be expected. It's up to the managers/owner to see to it that there is a system in place to catch all or most errors. DC utterly failed in that respect, and many/most of their customers were on the receiving end of those errors, and not always in the customer's favor.

Actually, by reporting an error, unless you're able to talk to the exact person who made the error, you might end up getting the person who made the error fired or dinged on their performance, if the error ended up getting reported to the manager.

lizban

Interesting view - my 'morals' don't distinguish between size of the firm. Can understand your point of view - just don't agree with it.

Would I have liked another J flight to AKL of course just feels wrong to me,

What's the legal position - assuming there's no fraud / deception or repertition and they are mistakes it's no problem legally.

A_Lee

For me also the size of the firm doesn't matter. Even if it's a huge chain store, and the check-out clerk makes a mistake in my favor, I'll say so at that point if I catch it, where it can be corrected immediately by that same individual. If I don't catch it until the next day, I'm not going to go back and report to the manager that the mistake was made, because I figure it'll likely get the clerk into more trouble. Perhaps go back to the same clerk to let him/her know I caught the mistake, and see if I can refund the money to avoid the worker's pay being docked by that amount, but at that point the cash register and receipts have already been totaled and any over/under already have been reported.

In the case of DC, and the errors I discovered, there was no way of reporting it directly to the individual who made the mistake. The only option would have been to report it to management, which likely would have caused the worker responsible to be reprimanded or fired. On the one hand, I guess I feel a little bad that I've in a way taken advantage of a mistake, but because they took such a lackadaisical attitude towards auditing their operations, and because reporting it wouldn't have made any overall difference in the bottom line but would have gotten a worker into trouble, I chose not to report it.

fqtv_kraven

Well, they had.

LiviLion

I had a lean period in the middle of my BD*G days and wasn't going to keep gold so I emailed across my AF Gold card (which I think I got from a Status Match of my BD Gold) asking for a status match. I got a 15 month extension and they forgot to reset my status miles so I started renewed with about 22k status miles. Think I got a Z1-Z3 one way for half a return instead of 25k as well.

netd

No you did the right thing and good on you, world needs more like you!

So for my confession...

Had a similar issue with a MAN-LAS redemption years ago, changed or cancelled, I can't remember now, but they credited back double the miles. In my case I called three times to get it fixed and each time it never did so I ended up keeping them, but my conscience is clear.

FlyEDI

I had 2 FRA-LAX returns booked in C with Lufthansa.

I upgraded the return leg to First but the miles were never deducted from my account...

alexwuk

I earned and burned so much it was very hard to figure out what the correctly pulled and what they forgot to refund when I cancelled; I figure it was a wash.

Best gag? ALA-[lh]-FRA-[lh]-ZRH-[lx]-NRT-[lh]-MUC-[lh]-FRA-[lh]-ALA in F, for 20k Miles+Cash in First, skipping the last two legs.

Also, just after they changed from points to miles .. there was no last name check of star alliance partner flights. So anyone using your *G number got *G status for the flight and you earned their miles.

21H21J

I consider this BMI's parting gift to me, but quite mild compared to some.

Only 18750 miles taken.

RowH

Two minor things (not necessarily DC errors) I wouldn't have mentioned at the time:
1. Expedia bookings on *A using my old (expired) Gold FF number and almost all these flights ending up with *G on the boarding pass, plus lounge access and preferential seating (none of which was earned)
2. BD *G seat blocking working for some years on BD flights booked using same (1-prefix) Gold DC account number.

Always wondered if anyone else had noticed these flaws in the booking system

Mr H

I did benefit from the odd mix up or loophole with Diamond Club but I would feel uncomfortable in talking about them because it would make it seem as though I had set out to take advantage. The reality is that Diamond Club was a great scheme that enabled me to fly to places I could not otherwise have gone in cabins I could never have hoped to experience. It was run by people who really did care and were willing to offer a personal touch for those who asked. I didn't seek to cheat the system and was grateful when things went my way. By the same token, I am sure I could point to errors I made that meant I didn't always get quite as much as I could. I still kinda regret not seeing the Virgin Clubhouse when flying in F with SQ - just because I didn't know I could.

Flying Bat

It was good to have an excuse to a far flung nook like KTM, one of the most amazing landing approaches on the planet - sadly it is hard to envisage another excuse to travel to that place.