My second RPU audit....
 

A friend of mine at DL informed me last week that my Skymiles account has been selected for a second audit by the wonderful guys and gals of the Revenue Protection Unit. You may recall that my first audit was in November last year over the infamous "6 segments to silver" deal.

Evidently, my IAD-CVG-BNA-ATL routing last month (only route that L fares were available - I'll be ****ed if I am gonna pay for a nonstop Y when L is available for more miles!) was the catalyst that prompted the audit. To their credit, they concluded that "no further action taken at this time" and didn't even contact me about it.

Nonetheless, its comforting to know that the RPU Gestapo are always watching you.

Shows you the dedication of that deptt. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif
They have to go on....even in the face of turmoil of the markets, empty seats, weakening loyalty of the pax........GF

B747-437B.
Perhaps DL's RPU is getting pointers from some retired IRS agents. It looks like your Skymiles account is on their "red flag" list.


[This message has been edited by Rssrsvp (edited 04-13-2001).]

Could you imagine if you were in a store and they had a sale or buy one get one free promotion and you purchased the product. The store would not come to your home and demand you pay the retail price because you got away with a good deal? If they did this 2 days later I would basically send them to h**l.

We the passengers are not the ones who set the prices, the airlines do. We only follow the rules and legally bought a ticket. If the itinerary allowed so many segments than maybe DL should invest in upgrading their system than harassing their frequent flyers.

I would write your congressman about illegal repricing from airlines. It would be much worse if you were doing hidden cities or back to back ticketing. An established RPU is just short of being a group of hit men making sure you pay up. And with all of this bad word of mouth, I don't see how DL can come out ahead acting as IRS auditors.



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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

As a passenger who does follow the airlines rules, for me it is comforting to know that these RPU is out there, not necessarilly for what you did (which is definitely in the gray area), but for other folks like that lady who posted last year about using discount ticket coupons for last minute trips and was busted by RPU.

DL's going to get their money, and I'd rather they do it from someone cheating the system than raise everyone's fares, including mine.

If his story is true, (which I am positive it is), then what is gray about it? Buying the lowest priced routing is "gray area"?

Suppose I want to go PHL-MCO. Typical ('direct') routing would be PHL-ATL-MCO, or PHL-CVG-MCO. Suppose instead I go via PHL-CVG-TPA-MCO, primarily because I want the extra segments/miles.

If I can prove (via sample itineraries off delta.com) that my itinerary was cheaper (by even 1 cent) than the ordinary routing, is that good enough proof? I know a previous poster (not the one in this thread) used an arguement that he was meeting people in each city, but that sound a little weak.

Jeff

What am I missing here? Are you all saying that the DL RPU will disallow segments retroactively, if they determine that the segments were not flown for a valid travel (business or personal) purpose, other than segment accumulation for achieving S/G/P medallion status, even though the itinerary was offered and purchased on delta.com? I can't believe they can or will do that!

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Bert

Go figure, if a pax paid a full Y fare or F fare, and did 8 segments to get from point A to point B would this be a "red flag" for the RPU? Or would they be satisfied with the full fare.

I don't see what is "gray" about what B747-437B did either. He booked the lowest fare on a legal routing. Also, I don't see anything "weak" about meeting people in various cities along a routing. Many people fly to one city for a meeting, an interview, or to deliver critical documents and then depart for another city on some other business or personal activity. These stops may be for only an hour or two or for a few days. Depending on where the meetings are, the airline schedules, routings, etc., unusual itineraries could easily result. For work, I have done all of the above, including occasional trips where I fly in, hand someone a package, and leave on the next flight home.

Frankly, it is none of Delta's or anyone else's business where, when, or why someone is flying somewhere. As long as one purchases a ticket on a valid routing, it simply should not be an issue, particularly if the airline itself sold the ticket!

not for nothing but it's in the rules.. taken directly from delta's site..

Mileage will be calculated between the origin and final destination. On nonstop and multiple-stop through-flights, mileage will be credited from origin to destination. On connecting flights that require a change of plane and flight number, credit is given for each segment of the trip. Voluntary plane changes in lieu of nonstop and/or direct flights for the accumulation of additional mileage or segments are not permitted. Delta reserves the right to limit mileage credit for an itinerary to the number of connecting flights actually traveled or the maximum number of segments shown in Delta's published schedule for a connection between any two cities, whichever is less.

I was referring to his previous "adventure" with RPU. I believe there is wording in the rules to the effect that you can't use unnecessary connections ... they are not very definitive to say the least ...

The second case they looked and didn't do anything, so I don't see what the problem is ...

Who is to say that the connections were purely for mileage credit? There's many legitimate reasons why one might connect instead of going non-stop. If it's a valid fare that the computer or the agent sells you, then there's no reason why there should be any intervention by RPU. RPU's scope should be strictly limited to real ticketing violations like hidden-city, back-to-back, and throw-away ticketing, not this kind of nonsense.



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"Sire, it is not a revolt. It is a Revolution!"

Spiff,

I generally agree with you, but I disagree that back-to-back ticketing should be considered a "real violation." This is a gray area in my opinion. You bought two valid tickets. What's the problem?

Of course, this subject has been thoroughly discussed in several previous posts.

Bruce

I don't know. Logic would say if you agreed to pay the price you are charged, you should be allowed to enjoy what you are entitled to. We are all adults now, I don't want to have to explain to a stranger when and where I will be and I am coming back.

I was not to happy about Delta calling me 2 days before Thanksgiving asking me why I bought a ticket to Dallas for Thursday and then from there a ticket to LA on Friday. I explained I had family in Dallas to visit on Thanksgiving and that I wanted to spend the weekend in LA on vacation. No fares I saw allowed for a stopover in Dallas, only full fares.

The caller didn't say they were the RPU, but did say they were "checking for irregular activity" since these were cities not in my normal flight patterns!??


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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."