Portolan

So he was violating the program terms and not innocently since ""he thought he was careful enough and his anonimity was protected" and thought he had a case?

WineCountryUA

first you need to determine if you violated any of the MileagePlus Program Rules such as If you have, even just once, violated the rules, the actions by UA are clearly laid out.


That is what the program rules clearly state.

If UA has grounds for thinking you have been unfair, then not sure why you think they need to be fair. HOWEVER, if UA is unjust in thinking you acted inappropriately, then you have grounds for making a claim against UA.

The airlines take the no barter / no consideration clause very seriousily.

DianeDakota

Someone who has enough miles to sell upgrades certainly isn't a poor soul so it is difficult to understand the motivation to risk your account for a few dollars when the free travel is worth thousands over the years.

JeffS

Never underestimate the power of greed. Some are far more greedy than others.

DianeDakota

Gee I guess so!

MojaveFlyer

I wonder what UA thinks (if they have the facts correct in the first place) of a person who owns a company using their miles to get travel for their employees. One could argue that it benefits the owner, as s/he doesn't have to buy those tickets out of company money. But the account belongs to an individual, not the company. And the employees would not appear to be giving anything in return in consideration of the flight. Would be interesting to know.

phranticaw

Happens all the time. My company sets up a unique FF account for each person. When I have enough miles in my account for a ticket, they'll use it for whomever they like in the company. I think it violates the terms but who knows, and clearly UA knows it is going on and doesn't want to jeopardize the account.

double standard, or course....but what you going to do.. other than to choose another airline!

EmailKid

Flew to EWR for a job interview when I was still a CO Plat, and inquired about my u/g chances. I was informed I'm not on u/g list, because the company used miles to bring me in for an interview.

My friend's company uses miles he accumulates while traveling to "buy" some of his and his colleague's flights.

Seems legit to me, I'm sure UA knows it's done.

EmailKid

dayone

Chances that there is more to this story than shared? 100%.

miikkak

Don't forget that company and the owner(s) are completely different entities from legal point of view. Whether money has been transferred etc is probably irrelevant as the company has received indirect benefits... Would be completely different if you had booked flights for friends and family (and you are able to prove this).

LilAbner

This is quite often the case on FT, however many will sympathize no matter what.

On a related note, it has been reported numerous times (on here) that mucho complaints to customer service, usually trying to get vouchers, etc., will get one uninvited to the MP club as they cannot please the person and tell them to also take a hike.

Push anything too far and it's hit the road!!!

cordelli

The obvious question, did you sell any miles or upgrades?

I would call back during normal business hours and try to get an explanation. Di they tall you the account was closed, or could you just not log in? It's possible if you could not log in it was something as simple as their fraud detection noticed something fishy and disabled logins.

I would hold off worrying until you get a reason as to why they did what they did.

LilAbner

Then again if one of the OP's "BUSINESS ASSOCIATES" happened to give the wrong answers when questioned by UA, he can also hold off worrying, because more likely than not he can just register for another airlines FF program instead of fretting.

If the OP is innocent then by all means he should pursue this and get answers.

zombietooth

His attitude was more that he was a good customer because he was a 1K/multi-million miler and that UA was treating him unfairly. He also didn't believe that they actually had proof, so that is why he protested so fiercely. I was somewhat skeptical of his story at the time because I found it hard to believe that they would ban a "good" customer like a 1K, but I did get to see the original letter and did anonymously call the phone number he was given to confirm it was a "fraud prevention" desk at WHQ.

Many people today seem to have a huge blind spot with regards to protecting their anonymity on the internet. Since everything one does on the web is tracked, it is really only a matter of how serious someone is about finding-out your identity. Especially sites like ebay, which regularly cooperate with corporations complaining about infringing copyright through unauthorized uses of intellectual property such as company photographs and/or sales of restricted items, by providing "confidential" user info for alleged improprieties.

KosherKimchee

Maybe United should impose some sort of "nominee" program like SQ's KF where you a fixed menu of people who you can sponsor and there are restrictions and/or costs to modifying the list.