BEWARE: Southwest will steal your points !

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Mar 20, 2019, 8:33 am

jrpcs

Original Poster

Join Date: Mar 2019

Programs: Southwest Rewards

Posts: 1

BEWARE: Southwest will steal your points !

I was surprised recently to find that when trying to get a family member a ticket for a funeral they couldn't afford to attend, that my 115,000+ Reward points had EVAPORATED!
How could that be? I had just taken a Rewards Flight just 2 months prior. When calling Southwest Rewards, I was attended by a representative that sounded exactly like an automaton.

AUTOMATON: Sorry, but if you read the details of the rewards program you will see that if you do not add points to your account, we assume it is defunct and zero it out!
ME: BUT I JUST FLEW WITH YOU USING REWARD POINTS!
AUTOMATON: Sorry that doesn't count...you have to ADD points for us to assume the account is active in a 24 month period.
ME: BUT THAT WAS WORTH OVER $3000 AND YOU NEVER EVEN HAD THE COURTESY TO NOTIFY ME IN ADVANCE THAT THIS WAS PENDING???.
AUTOMATON: Sorry that is not our responsibility.
ME: BUT I WAS AN A-LIST FLYER WITH YOU FOR OVER 16 YEARS ! HAVE YOU NO CUSTOMER LOYALTY? I HAD EARNED OVER 250,000 POINTS WITH YOU AS A BUSINESS TRAVELER, AND NOW THAT I AM RETIRED, AND HAVE TIME TO USE THEM.....YOU TAKE THEM AWAY??? YOU KNEW I WAS ALIVE, I JUST FLEW WITH YOU!
AUTOMATON: Sorry (not sorry).

NEVER AGAIN WITH SOUTHWEST

Last edited by jrpcs; Mar 20, 2019 at 8:35 am Reason: clarity

Mar 20, 2019, 8:42 am

pgh234

Join Date: Jul 2005

Location: PIT, BWI, or IPT

Programs: Dividend Miles, WorldPerks

Posts: 1,302

*sigh*

BearX220, jmw, tatterdema and 7 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 8:44 am

Troopers

Join Date: Sep 2015

Location: SFO

Posts: 3,878

Yea, that sucks. Suggest twitter and perhaps the social media team can help.

ETA: I'd be surprised if you get any sympathy replies. And welcome to FT!

joshua362, Boraxo, kennycrudup and 3 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 8:45 am

aaronp84

Join Date: Jun 2013

Location: STL

Programs: Southwest A+/CP, Hilton Diamond, National Executive Elite

Posts: 170

Maybe read and understand the rules of the program?

BearX220, smmrfld, kennycrudup and 11 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 8:52 am

Troopers

Join Date: Sep 2015

Location: SFO

Posts: 3,878

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronp84

Maybe read and understand the rules of the program?

In fairness to the OP, the OP was not notified about expiration and date of last qualifying activity is not provided in the app. Not customer centric.

kimberlyrose likes this.

Mar 20, 2019, 9:00 am

satman40

Join Date: Dec 2010

Location: Indianapolis

Programs: Hilton-Diamond Lifetime Platinum AA UA, WN-CP, SPG Gold.

Posts: 7,377

They should tell you, but it is posted..

AA does not send you letters, but they will let you buy them back..

funny how we forget bills, some of us forget to go to work..

nancypants likes this.

Mar 20, 2019, 9:42 am

smmrfld

Join Date: May 2005

Posts: 4,870

Why is OP yelling? Similar behavior likely influenced the outcome of the phone conversation. Also, if you’re going to quote a conversation, at least quote it accurately; I highly doubt this is an actual transcript.

nancypants, roundtree and LAX_BillyJoe like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 9:53 am

Tanic

Join Date: May 2002

Programs: WN F9 HA UA AA IHG HH MR

Posts: 3,305

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpcs

ME: BUT I WAS AN A-LIST FLYER WITH YOU FOR OVER 16 YEARS... NEVER AGAIN WITH SOUTHWEST

The Rapid Rewards A-List program was established on November 7, 2007.

toomanybooks, smmrfld, pgh234 and 10 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 10:02 am

PlaneJane1

Join Date: Apr 2018

Posts: 94

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpcs

Sucks but that’s life. They didn’t steal your points. They’re not doing anything with them, they expired. When my DL expires, it’s not stolen by the state. Be aware, be informed and stop yelling.

bobunf, seat38a, nancypants and 2 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 10:22 am

#10

LegalTender

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Blue Ridge, GA

Posts: 5,509

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrpcs

YOU NEVER EVEN HAD THE COURTESY TO NOTIFY ME IN ADVANCE THAT THIS WAS PENDING?

The airline loses $ with pro-active courtesy notifications. It’s better if you’re not told.

Enjoy the FT pile-on.

Boraxo, steved5480, rickg523 and 4 others like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 10:42 am

#11

toomanybooks

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA

Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 14,185

Unfortunately this is precisely covered in the T&Cs. You must have points go into the account every 24 months to keep it active.

Not very friendly, agreed, but quite clearly stated.

BearX220, bobunf and nancypants like this.

Mar 20, 2019, 11:07 am

#12

LegalTender

Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: Blue Ridge, GA

Posts: 5,509

Quote:

Originally Posted by toomanybooks

Not very friendly, agreed, but quite clearly stated.

UA: 'United may, but shall have no obligation to, send a Member a notification of miles nearing expiration.'

AA: 'Your wallet shows the number of miles you have and the earliest date they could expire. All miles expired from December 2002 onward are eligible for reactivation for a fee.'

DL: 'Miles do not expire.'

Mar 20, 2019, 11:17 am

#13

rickg523

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Jun 2013

Posts: 17,435

Quote:

Originally Posted by LegalTender

UA: 'United may, but shall have no obligation to, send a Member a notification of miles nearing expiration.'

That's hilarious! I have like 5000 residual Skymiles from at least a decade ago (when I chose to no longer fly UA due to repeated service failures). And I have gotten at least three mailings a year, every year, offering me magazine subscriptions for those points "before they expire!". Because I'm not a magazine reader, these mailings get round-filed unopened.
As far as I can tell, these Skymiles will never expire.