Here's a situation of a good deed gone bad:

My gf's dad started flying this past May and has taken 3 R/T flights since then. Thanks to FT, we are all savvy with the latest NW promotions and all so my gf and I started registering him for promotions that would be useful to him (with his knowledge of course). Now, we signed him up for his WP account towards the end of May (right before his first flight). At that time, Northwest had a promotion where if you were a new WP member, you would get 1,000 miles for your first flight and 6,000 for your second flight. Combine that with FFF and flight miles, he was potentially sitting on a nice 25,000 miles after 3 trips (and very happy with the whole Frequent Flyer system, loyalty to one airline, etc).

However, after taking all three flights, we noticed that the very first flight never posted. We called Northwest before his flight and were told that "His WP number was in the reservation". After a few weeks, we called again and got the same response. Finally two months after the flight we persisted with the issue and after some digging by a helpful agent found that the miles were actually posted to another account under his name that was opened in April (at the time of the reservation of the first flight). We were told that it was no big deal and they would simply merge the two accounts together. We were very confused as to how this "second" account got generated but were assured it wouldn't affect anything on his existing account.

Two days later, once the accounts merge, we find that the 7,000 first flight bonus disappeared! On calling, we find that after merging they took the "open" date as the earlier of the two accounts which was in April and therefore he wasn't eligible for the first flight bonus as those accounts had to be opened after May 1st!

Now, frustrating as this is... we confirmed that he did NOT open any accounts in April and spoke to Northwest regarding this. The agents now only see the open date as April and don't really want to discuss much with us as they say that since it is not our account, we may not know everything about when it was opened (even though we opened it and have the confirmation e-mail). In the end, we were told to write a letter with a proof of that e-mail and maybe something could be done.

We have since found out that his sister in-law who did the bookings may have decided to open a WP account for him when she booked the tickets in April. And since she is not a FT'er she wouldn't know that had she just waited another 10 days, my gf's dad would have gotten an extra 7,000 miles for doing nothing.

However, since the account was open without his knowledge (even in good faith), should he not get the bonus miles for an account which was open during the promotional period with his knowledge??

So I am trying to figure out how to write to NW:

1. We have no idea what this "other" account is.
2. "Other" account may have been opened without account holder's knowledge.
3. Any other ideas?? (Great Potential New Customer, already spent over $1000 on his first three flights in 3 months, etc. will continue to fly more.. don't disappoint new customer, etc)

What does everyone think?

Unfortunate, but c'est la vie. How do you prove to NW that he didn't know the first account was opened? How does NW know that the first account wasn't opened with his knowledge and then you decided to cash in on the bonus by opening another account?
I'm not saying that's what happened, but put yourself in NW shoes.

And please don't use the "take care of the new customer" whine. Customers should be treated with value whether they are new or old. Where do you draw the line with that? "I'm a new customer and I thought the $500 non-refundable airfare was $50, you should refund me the $450". If it was your business would you give them the $450?

Again, I'm not saying that this is your attitude but it seems your last comment is heading that way. Now, if NW had done something wrong, then absolutely I would expect them to correct it. In this case they did nothing wrong. And you can't say that opening the account in April was wrong as his sister-in-law did exactly what you did in May by opening an account for him. Granted you say it was without his knowledge but that is shame on her for not telling him. It is in no way NW's fault.

Lastly, they are absolutely correct that they cannot discuss it with you. It is not your account. If you have power of attorney, then send it to them and I'm sure they'll gladly discuss it with you. Otherwise, like I said, unfortunate but c'est la vie.

Real simple -- his sister-in-law had no business opening that account without his knowledge.

However, since he's adult, he's the one who needs to straighten it out.

More likely, he said something along the lines of "yeah, whatever" to both his sister-in-law & to you, and there is nothing to be straightened out.

If you were that savvy, why didn't you use nwa.com to insert the WP # for his newly opened account into the reservation so the miles would accrue automatically?

Because to do that, you need either the WP # linked to the reservation (which we were trying to add) or the CC# used or the e-ticket# (which we did not have at the time). Hence the call to NW to bring up the reservation with the name and flight #.

Frankly, I am a bit surprised by the tone of some of these responses. It seems to imply that I am saying NW is at fault or I am blaming them or I said that I won't fly them unless they fix this. I never said this is the case and acknowledge the mess up was probably on our end. It was in accordance to the NW agent's advice that we were just writing a letter and wanted some advice on the best route to take based on information known during the call and after.

The person in question is now retired and we are just trying to save him some retirement money by making sure he gets all the miles we thought he should get. If you all of a sudden see 7,000 miles gone from your account, you will at least call to see what is going on and try to get them back if you believe you acted in good faith. That is all that we are doing but from the tone here, you would think that I said that we have a right to these miles and will sue if we don't get them

PrivatePilot,
I am not saying that you claim it is NW's fault. In fact, a couple of times I said that "it sounds like......but I'm not saying that's what happened". The reason I did that is mainly because of your third point:
Absolutely, go ahead and write and state your case but when you say (threaten?) things like "will continue to fly more", it sounds like if they don't acquiesce to your request, you won't fly them anymore.
What about everyone else that opened a WP account in April? Should they also be given the additional miles? How about accounts opened in March, February, etc? Where do you draw the line?
There really is nothing unique or special about your circumstance that would warrant NW making an exception. I think if you are going to write, you should just be straightforward with NW and ask if there is any way possible to get the additional miles. I wouldn't try to add in all the fancy stuff as it just makes it seem that you think you can pull the wool over their eyes. I'm not saying you are, it will just seem that way.
I know I am much more likely to make an exception for a customer if they just state the facts in a case like this. When I see that they are trying to pass the blame (and to some extent, be deceitful), I can no longer believe anything they say, including things like "I will continue to use you if you do this for me".

Bottom line is that it never hurts to ask, just don't expect anything and don't hold it against NW when you get nothing.

Privatepilot - it is an unfortunate set of circumstances - but do not hold your breath. We had a similar thing happen with my son and we have no idea how it happened (he swears it wasn't him). NW used to give 5000 miles just for becoming a WP member. (Some miles in one account - some in another)
We have been trying to get his two accounts merged (and still trying).

Maybe you could aviod all of this by providing the advice but let your gf's Dad do the rest. Maybe you are not giving him enough credit to handle his own affairs.

Sounds like he got some bargains. Now if he paid full fare for the three flight then maybe that would be something to toot.

What makes you think we are budding in and weren't asked for help? Not everyone understands everything about frequent flyer programs (bonuses, registrations, promotions).. Many People who fly regularly don't understand let alone someone who first for the first time in his life.


If you read the thread, it was listed as an "idea" of "thought" of something to write... not bragging or threatening.


Moderator, it seems that the original intent of this thread has been served. Please feel free to close the thread.

I am often asked for travel advice since I am a frequent poster here also. I understand your dilema. However, the problem was not really created when your sister opened the account, or when you opened the account. The dilema was created by merging the accounts. I know hindsight is 20/20 but the promotions have rules and they are generally followed. In almost every "new" WP account promotion one of the T&C's is that if the account is merged with an older account you will loose the bonus.

In hindsight, my suggestion would have been to leave both accounts open, only accrue miles in the later account that qualified for the promotions and book your gf's dad on a short quick MR or extra trip to get the third trip in. This would give all the bonus miles in the later account and you could basically just write off the miles in the earlier account.

Unless it was an int'l trip the miles in the former account lost would be more than offset by the 7000+ miles gained in the newer account.

There is nothing wrong with trying to pursue it, but it would only be a goodwill gesture on the part of NW to waive the rules in this case. The agents though should not be speaking to anyone other than the account holder over the telephone or via e-mail correspondence.

Send in the proof of the first account. I did a similar thing to myself with Continental and they were able to straighten it out with the proof I provided.

(fyi, it's butting, not budding)
It sounds like you're getting a little testy about this whole thing. You asked what people thought and because no-one agreed with you, you want to take your toys and go home???
I don't see where anyone was out of line, they just disagreed with you and pointed out that rules are rules.
If you leave the thread open, maybe someone will come up with an answer you like.