Please Help - Ticket Confiscated
 

Hello All:
I sold miles for the first time through a brokerage service called Travel Masters and a gentleman by the name of Scott called to notify me that the ticket had been confiscated. He wants me to give him back the money he paid for the ticket as well as take a loss on the miles confiscated (150,000). What do you suggest I do?

Also, the airline has currently shut-down my account and is requesting that I call them. If I call, what do I say?

Thanks in advance for your help!

traveler101, although we appreciate the urgency of your concerns, we try to keep our forums related to their purposes so as to get the best response from our very large community. Your post is best for our MilesBuzz forum and I am moving it there for continued discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator.

Note: In the middle of typing the following post in the FlyerTalk Community forum, Ocn Vw 1K had moved the thread to MilesBuzz!, so here is what I was going to post before the thread was locked and moved: Here is what I wrote in your thread in the TravelBuzz! forum: I added my original post in TravelBuzz! to this post, which is why

[This message has been edited by Canarsie (edited Nov 21, 2003).]

What's your agreement with them? Did you agree to give them back the ticket and pay them if it didn't go through and you were caught?

It's not your problem. Tell them to pound sand.

It is not your fault the ticket was confiscated, so I would not give the broker back his money. The miles you sold him are gone, as well as some "penalty" miles the airline will probably will assess you over and above the miles you sold.

Its against most airlines T&C to sell miles, so it is within their rights to suspend or close your account.

I'd suggest contact them as requested and explaining what happened and requested your account be re-opened.

Its safe to say the miles you sold are gone for good.

Take the cash and go on a nice long vacation (on another airline). It's yours.

The ticket broker assumed the risk of the transaction - that's why he gets that big fat spread between buyer and seller.

What a bummer. Is the broker/passenger going to make it up to you for the miles as they obviously tripped up somewhere. You know, bragging to the Res Agent/Gate Agent, someone at the airline what a great deal they got/ not knowing the "story" about the award etc.

Almost forgot, call the airline right away and come clean and hope for mercy. They caught you and it doesn't get any better with time/lying/denying.

[This message has been edited by rbAA (edited Nov 21, 2003).]

Yea, screw the broker. He had to know that what he was doing violated all airline ff rules. To now want to push all the risk back to you is ridiculous.

He chose broker illegal ff miles, he should have the grapes to deal with the consequences.

It's not clear from the above if "Scott" is the passenger that bought the ticket, or works for the broker.

Traveler101

Welcome to FT.

When you mess with the devil be prepared to be burned.

You took a chance, as did others, and now your will pay part of the penalty. As for the others, the story is the same....unless some paperwork exists that says otherwise.

Next time maybe you will be Traveler 201 and know better.

If Scott is the passenger, tell him to contact the broker, and make no more statements to him. You've already been punished enough (or are about to), through the impending action by the airline for your violation of the Terms and Conditions.

If Scott is employed by the broker, an agent of the broker, or is the broker, don't let yourself get victimized twice!

Don't be surprised to hear threats of lawsuits -- who knows maybe an actual one -- and keep in mind that anything you say may be deemed an "admission" and used against you.

However, with the airline that's probably a moot point, and your best bet is to be suitably supine, keeping records for future use of every contact you have with them -- or anyone else -- about this incident.

By the way, you may not want to say too much on FlyerTalk either. IP addresses can be subpoenaed.

Don't worry about lawsuits from the broker/its client. It is against public policy for a court to enforce illegal agreements so they don't. The contract between you and the broker was illegal according to your agreement with the airline and the broker knew it. The broker has no legal remedy.

As to the airline I don't know how to respond. How many miles did you have left in your account?

Just because the T&C's say it is not permitted, does not make it illegal. Unless a state of federal LAW forbids sale or barter, it is merely a breach of the contract with the airline.

Therefore, check your agreement with the broker carefully and don't ignore the problem. It just can get worse through neglect.