The Coupon Connection and related issues (master thread)
 

The Coupon Connection and related issues (master thread)
 

I used to have access to TCC, but just checked today and am unable to do so. Suggestions please? Thanks!

The forum is temporarily CLOSED and has been taken off-line. That happened earlier today. There is no ETA for when the forum will reopen.

Posted by the Community Director:

Oh ok, thanks! Missed that notice.

Can anyone please share the nature of the issues that 'have come to forefront in the past 24 hours'?

Read the last page or two of this thread:
Account audit / fraud issues - Busted selling miles / SWU / VIP, etc (consolidated)

This blog also covers it:
Wanna trade for an American Airlines eVIP?

I did see a May 15th reopening date mentioned earlier.

I think that related to the posting of a site-wide announcement and the default for posting that message was 30 days. Don't think it related to how long the forum would actually be closed. wharvey had posted something about it on the now-deleted Talk Board thread.

Not necessarily accurate. That's just the announcement date termination. Right now, the re-opening date is TBD.

I always thought the criteria was 90 posts, guess it's since been updated and increased... but looks like the forum has been closed again atleast temp... I've yet to experience the magical world that lies beyond lol but one day!

The 180 days/180 posts was changed in 2011.
Motion Passed: Change Coupon Connection Access Requirements

edit: nevermind, just read the blog post about it going down

Read post #487 a few above yours.

I just wanted to get on, find out it's down but have no idea why. Can you please point me to the blog post?
Nevermind here as well. Just curious what happened.

Not sure why I do not have access. I have traded before on Coupon Connection and have well over 90 posts. Can someone please help?

Thanks

You don't have access because the forum is off-line and not visible to anyone. Read the posts above yours.

The entire Coupon Connection forum has been taken offline due to issues with American Airlines closing accounts based on certain transactions and there's an announcement about the closing at the top of each forum

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...fline-657.html

Hello: has there been any update or talk when will CC come back? Just curious.. Thanks and Safe Travels

Yes, there has been talk... but not publicly. An update will provided on whether CC will be reopened and under what conditions once final decisions have been taken by the CC moderators and the Community Director.

Can you share with us more on the detail of the AA issues? I asked this since I have pending trades for AA miles with others in CC and want to avoid such things to happen to my trading partner.

I hope Coupon Connection returns with new guidelines. I have used it successfully before and have never sold or bought anything there.

What is sad is that the guidelines were VERY clear about not selling. And it seems like numerous people got caught violating the rules, particularly with AA.

+1
i have used cc only very occasionally (rarely more than once a year) for over a decade & always within the stated guidelines (+ an extra dose of caution!)
but it was a great service to have!

i'm also very puzzled that the explanatory links posted above are not accessible to me and generate the following error message:

"You do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
This forum may require additional account pre-requisites that you don't current have. Check the Announcements for this forum to see if you're required to have a minimum number of posts already, etc.
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation."

Not sure why that might be. The Account audit / fraud issues - Busted selling miles / SWU / VIP, etc (consolidated) thread is active, and I have been able to access it - maybe clear your cache, and maybe cookies?

The problem with those effectuating trades who were AAdvantage members is AA has been enforcing their AAdvantage Terms and Conditions avidly this year. In part:

They AA Corporate Security people consider any trading or quid pro quo bartering.

thanks for the extra info jdiver!
should have clarified that i was able to get to the "busted selling miles" thread (*******idiot!) but this was the link that generated the error message:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/techn...fline-657.html

Ah! The link was to the announcement, which I replicated in the wikipost before it was taken off line:

Coupon Connection will reopen today or tomorrow. When you first enter the forum, you will need to agree to abide by the updated rules in order to see the forum. It is our desire to stay within program rules. What can and cannot be traded has been limited.

NO exchanges of AA instruments will be allowed.

No third party trades will be allowed. This can be a sign of a broker finding miles for a client.

The forum is really returning to its roots where it is intended to be for members to give and trade small items for which they have no use.

I could have made the decision to never again reopen Coupon Connection. There were some advocates for it. But there were many of us who had used it as intended over the years who found it very beneficial. I have decided that it is a benefit for those who actively participate here over an extended period of time.

Should you learn of airlines or hotels who take offense to any of their instruments being gifted or traded, please advise the mods, Spiff and wharvey. Please direct any questions to them, rather than in this thread.

Thanks Boss ^ and glad to see it, as you put it, "returning to its roots" :)

Edited to add: It's back up as of 4:40pm PDT and nice job on the acceptance screen ^

I, for one, am very happy to see that CC will reopen. I've made several genuine friendships through CC mostly because there is a level of personal interaction in CC that doesn't happen in a lot of the other forums. We just have to be very careful. Most of us belong to so many programs that it is difficult to keep track of what is permitted and what is not permitted. Hopefully, we will all make a commitment to know and follow the rules and to avoid the temptation to try to find ways around them because, if we don't make that commitment, the fraud departments will feel a need to keep a close eye on CC and that's not in anyone's interest.

and any policies with that in mind should indeed be supported.

im sure many appreciate reopening and changes!

if that is not mentioned here >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coupo...c-tos-665.html
might be worth adding

Did the conditions for having access to CC change when it was closed and reopened? I used to have access to it (I never traded anything there, and I don't think I ever posted anything there -- but I could). And now I can't get into it (or even see it).

If you don't have access, you can't see it ;)

Methinks you were grandfathered in previously, but don't meet the minimum post count @:-)

I'd PM a mod and see if they would grant you a reprieve as Original Member.

It will do you no good to PM either Spiff or I, we do not have the authority to grant anyone initial access to Coupon Connection.

As stated in a previous post up-thread, in 2011 the requirements for The Coupon Connection access were revised (and programmed into the "Rules" governing what members are authorized to access, or not,) to 180 days of tenure on FlyerTalk and 180 (contributive) posts.

To the best of my knowledge, the forum moderators are not able to bypass that filter or grant exceptional access.

Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I was grandfathered in when the requirement was increased to 180 posts (I know for sure that I accessed CC in 2012 and 2013, after the change). Taking CC offline and then back online must have eliminated that grandfathering.

This is a bit frustrating -- I had CC access for years and never used it, and there's a good chance I'll want to use it later this year -- but it sounds like there's nothing the mods can do. I guess I'll need to make 60-something more posts between new and then.

I'd check with the Community Director. Here's what she posted in 2011:

Thanks -- this is a very helpful suggestion.

Does anybody know how long it takes to get access to CC after you reach 180 posts?

It's usually automatic, unless other conditions have not been met. E.g. a member has made noncontributing posts or has been excluded for other violations by the forum moderators.

Otherwise, one should be seeing TCC in the Forums list, as indicated in the wikipost.