Unauthorized flight reservation change made by someone else
 

i booked 2 tickets on united with 140k miles, and while in the middle of the trip, someone who was not the passengers (who are 18 years old) nor myself who made the reservation, changed the flight reservation to cut the trip short without permission from the passengers or myself.

This is a fraudulent change and I would like some reimbursement from United for allowing fradulent activity. has anyone experienced anything like this?

any suggestions? thanks.

Can you elaborate on what changes were made and how drastic they were?

Assume UA is unwilling to restore the original return flights.

Have you gotten any info from UA on when and how (phone, online, ...) this change was made?

For instance, if done online, and they had the account number and password, the issue would be is how UA is to know it was fraudulent.

Did the kids fly back in accordance with the change that shortened the trip? If so, that suggests that they agreed to it. If they didn't agree to it, why didn't they or you just change it back?

It's hard to shorten someone else's trip without them going along with it.

the 2 passengers were scheduled to return on jan 3 and an unhappy relative with the confirmation information logged on and paid to change the reservation to return jan 1st. there is documentation of the credit card info. the change was done online and lists the last 4 digits of the credit card which doesnt belong to the passengers or myself.

united tells me that anyone with confirmation information and name of passengers can change flight reservations! that seems insane to me and this feels like fraudulent activity. thanks for any help.

the point is that someone who was not the passengers or the person who made the reservations was able to change the reservation. for example, i feel violated and this is fraudulant activity. the kids will fly back accordingly in order to keep peace with the family, but it should not have been allowed by United without permission of the passengers (and some evidence of this) or by the person who made the reservation, otherwise, any stranger could just go around change everyone's flight if they found a sheet of paper in the garbage.

You provided the reservation info that the relative used to make the change. No chance in the world that UA will provide any reimbursement.
If you told a relative your credit card number and CVV, do you think the credit card company would reimburse you if that relative used it to make purchases that you didn't approve of?

And you have no idea who this "someone" could be?

the change was made online and the only info needed was the confirmation number and name of passengers, united says passengers should keep this 'confidential' so that others dont have this info and make unwanted changes. but there is a paper trail because of the change fee and the credit card used to pay for the fee which does belong to the passengers or myself.

i just want reimbursement for the mileage...or maybe sue them to change their policy, what a gapping hole.

I don't see how you can get compensation for this. Otherwise anybody could call a friend and say "use your credit card to change my ticket and I'll fly back on a different day and then I'll complain to the airline that it was unauthorized."

If you give someone your confirmation information, and they pay to change your flight, and they tell you that they have changed your flight, and you then get on the plane and fly back in accordance with the change, I don't see a basis for complaining.

I think you would have better luck trying to get it changed back to Jan. 3rd without a fee.

Sounds like a family issue and not something United should be held accountable for.

i know exactly who the 'someone' is, its the point that someone unhappy can just randomly logon with a confirmation number and passenger names and change a flight.

yes it is a family issue...but it also highlights how poor the united policy is that a third party with your confirmation number and name can change your flight, and i think its a poor policy and i should get my mileage back.

This is why you don't give the confirmation number to people who don't need to know it. @:-)
If you told a relative your credit card number and CVV, do you think the credit card company would reimburse you if that relative used it to make purchases that you didn't approve of?

Silence is golden.

Never provide the info to anyone, I guess. Alway easier to just email the confirmation email which has the PNR, but you have run across someone who will abuse that info.

I think it does likely constitute fraud by the person who altered the reservation, but you would likely be forced to seek civil penalties as no one would bother to prosecute.

At least they paid the charges :D