Apr 21, 2014, 11:37 am
Last edit by: Pat89339
A number of folks with award flights booked on CA (Air China) found their reservations cancelled. The only notification of cancellation appears to be an email in from UA written in chinese. UA reps confirmed that cancellations were made online and CA award space was no longer available. UA can rebook on other flights when award space is available.
It is plausible that a third party with access to PNR and pax name on the flight can fraudulently cancel an existing itinerary and book the reopened award seat.
Affected FlyerTalk members — with links to where in this discussion they posted their experiences — include:
It is plausible that a third party with access to PNR and pax name on the flight can fraudulently cancel an existing itinerary and book the reopened award seat.
Affected FlyerTalk members — with links to where in this discussion they posted their experiences — include:
- MikeMpls
- nihaoa
- lewende Reported 4 friends with this issue
- ordbkk
- twebst
- kb1992
- litesleeper
- zombietooth
- critten Reported 2/3 confirmations (3 people CA Business class) cancelled at the same time
- skyvanman Also 1 friend with the issue
- chris1234
- atiger29
- bubble o bill
- genemk2
- jefftiger
- CuddlyFlyer
- gpeso8
- imm2b
- acf1270
- dgxoxo
- ACM two passengers
It seems everybody wants to see the message.. here was mine:
united.com 通知 - 航班预订取消
2014年4月17日 (星期四)
united.com | 优惠促销 | 预订 | 赢取前程万里 (MileagePlus®) 奖励里程 | 我的帐户
先生 ORDBKK
您的预订 MYRES123 已取消，我们已收到您的退款申请。申请信用卡退款需 7 个工作日。如果信用卡退款未在一个付款周期内寄出，请联系信用卡公司。对于包括现金退款在内的 所有其他形式 的付款，需要 20 个工作日。
如需详细信息或查看退款的状态，请访问 united.com 并提供您的机票号码。
感谢您使用 united.com
电子邮件信息
请不要使用“回复”地址回复此邮件。
此电子邮件中的信息仅供原接收人使用。
如果您遇到技术问题，请通过电子邮件或电话联系 united.com 服务支持。
通知：机票取消确认
电子邮件地址: ORDBKK@MYEMAIL
2014年4月17日 (星期四)
united.com | 优惠促销 | 预订 | 赢取前程万里 (MileagePlus®) 奖励里程 | 我的帐户
先生 ORDBKK
您的预订 MYRES123 已取消，我们已收到您的退款申请。申请信用卡退款需 7 个工作日。如果信用卡退款未在一个付款周期内寄出，请联系信用卡公司。对于包括现金退款在内的 所有其他形式 的付款，需要 20 个工作日。
如需详细信息或查看退款的状态，请访问 united.com 并提供您的机票号码。
感谢您使用 united.com
电子邮件信息
请不要使用“回复”地址回复此邮件。
此电子邮件中的信息仅供原接收人使用。
如果您遇到技术问题，请通过电子邮件或电话联系 united.com 服务支持。
通知：机票取消确认
电子邮件地址: ORDBKK@MYEMAIL
Originally Posted by ordbkk View Post
For tracking purposes, I went through the 27 pages of this thread and compiled a list of those affected:
MikeMpls
nihaoa
lewende (reported 4 friends with this issue)
ordbkk
twebst
kb1992
litesleeper
zombietooth
critten
skyvanman (also 1 friend with the issue)
jefftiger (but, happened during October 2013)
So we're at 13 people affected, although some like critten have had multiple trips canceled.
From what I understand, all of these occurred in the last 3 weeks.
For tracking purposes, I went through the 27 pages of this thread and compiled a list of those affected:
MikeMpls
nihaoa
lewende (reported 4 friends with this issue)
ordbkk
twebst
kb1992
litesleeper
zombietooth
critten
skyvanman (also 1 friend with the issue)
jefftiger (but, happened during October 2013)
So we're at 13 people affected, although some like critten have had multiple trips canceled.
From what I understand, all of these occurred in the last 3 weeks.
2014 UA Issued Awards on Air China (CA) Are Mysteriously Being Canceled (Hacked?)
Apr 18, 2014, 10:31 am
#166
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,867
Apr 18, 2014, 10:33 am
#167
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,068
If Air China intentionally canceled this reservation, they could make the cancellation directly through their internal system (Travelsky) and pass the information to UA. In addition, Air China could not cancel the ANA segment in the reservation. However, the fact was that the OP received a Chinese cancellation email from United and UA agents thought the whole reservation was canceled by the OP/passenger, which proved the reservation was actually canceled through United's Chinese website (https://www.united.com/web/zh-CN/default.aspx) by accessing the reservation with the PNR and last name.
There have been several similar "incidents" reported in Chinese forums recently. All the canceled award tickets were issued by UA and contained CA flight(s). Award tickets issued by every other *A carrier remained intact (including those issued by CA itself). This is not a coincidence since only United.com (among *A carriers) allows anyone to cancel an award booking online by simply entering the PNR and passenger's last name.
There have been several similar "incidents" reported in Chinese forums recently. All the canceled award tickets were issued by UA and contained CA flight(s). Award tickets issued by every other *A carrier remained intact (including those issued by CA itself). This is not a coincidence since only United.com (among *A carriers) allows anyone to cancel an award booking online by simply entering the PNR and passenger's last name.
If people are hacking UA reservations, we'd see cancellations everywhere, across other carriers.
There has to be some technical issue between CO and CA.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:34 am
#168
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: None - previously UA
Posts: 4,867
Apr 18, 2014, 10:35 am
#169
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 83
I agree, SHARES has its problems but this does not sound like a glitch to me. This ticket was booked 3 months ago. The online/web department at United has confirmed that my ticket was canceled through a United website. The email I received in Chinese said the same. Do you believe United cannot determine if a ticket was canceled by a passenger vs. something internal?
Apr 18, 2014, 10:39 am
#170
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 83
I don't know how anyone can determine if this was Air China company policy or just individuals acting alone. In any case, if it truly is the United PNR/Name cancellation "feature" being exploited here, I feel the blame should be shared.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:39 am
#171
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Jersey Shore/YYZ
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Plat, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 12,521
Also not clear how you can prove (not that it is even relevant) how UA benefits on their own flights (losing actual revenue) versus paying other *A carriers (internal equivalents) for the award ticket.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:42 am
#172
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,068
This is some sort of bug.
The time when when ticket was booked has no bearing -- it could be a round of schedule changes by CA, who knows.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:55 am
#173
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 83
Update: My call with United just ended. The agent (who was patient) and her supervisor feel they have exhausted all of their options with Air China to no avail. They are simply refusing to reinstate my tickets. They are also refusing to convert revenue tickets into award space. And United won't eat the cost of revenue tickets.
The United agent declined to contact ANA and ask for those segments to be reinstated, claiming it was not even worth the call because there was zero chance of cooperation there either.
So at this point, United has given us a mix of first & business seats on United flights, and we are grateful for that. However, due to the timing of the United flights we will require additional time off from work, on top of missing out on experiencing the foreign carriers which was our reason for booking.
Surprisingly, they wanted to charge us the new redemption rates. This took another supervisor escalation and we were granted a one-time reprieve.
At the end of the call, I asked to be transferred to the fraud department and the agent told me it was not necessary because her supervisor just informed her my experience was very common and they are receiving "many, many" calls about this exact same issue and it's something United is well aware of.
The United agent declined to contact ANA and ask for those segments to be reinstated, claiming it was not even worth the call because there was zero chance of cooperation there either.
So at this point, United has given us a mix of first & business seats on United flights, and we are grateful for that. However, due to the timing of the United flights we will require additional time off from work, on top of missing out on experiencing the foreign carriers which was our reason for booking.
Surprisingly, they wanted to charge us the new redemption rates. This took another supervisor escalation and we were granted a one-time reprieve.
At the end of the call, I asked to be transferred to the fraud department and the agent told me it was not necessary because her supervisor just informed her my experience was very common and they are receiving "many, many" calls about this exact same issue and it's something United is well aware of.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:57 am
#174
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AC Elite
Posts: 95
Many travel agencies in China have legal access to (view) ALL reservations, including those not originally booked through them, in the Travelsky system, a Chinese GDS/CRS used by most Chinese carriers including CA, CZ, MU... It's widely known in China that personal reservation information has been leaked from some agencies. Although the agencies cannot directly cancel the reservations booked from elsewhere, they can find those with 016- ticket numbers and easily cancel them by visiting united.com.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:58 am
#175
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 10
In this case I think all CA can see is that UA cancelled the booking. I'm not saying CA is not responsible for all these crap (and I believe it was CA who leaked the pax info), but it was UA who cancelled the ticket, and people should ask UA for the logs that show the origination of the cancellation.
Apr 18, 2014, 10:58 am
#176
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA 1k
Posts: 83
Because something in the Air China reservation system is exposing the Name/PNR combo necessary to make this happen?
Apr 18, 2014, 11:01 am
#177
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.997MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,859
....At the end of the call, I asked to be transferred to the fraud department and the agent told me it was not necessary because her supervisor just informed her my experience was very common and they are receiving "many, many" calls about this exact same issue and it's something United is well aware of. ....
Apr 18, 2014, 11:06 am
#178
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 8,634
If this is so common, there should be a dedicated group to talk to about it, rather than having to reinvent the wheel with an agent and his/her supervisor.
Apr 18, 2014, 11:16 am
#179
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Indianapolis
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Gold, HH Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 383
\At the end of the call, I asked to be transferred to the fraud department and the agent told me it was not necessary because her supervisor just informed her my experience was very common and they are receiving "many, many" calls about this exact same issue and it's something United is well aware of.
Apr 18, 2014, 11:18 am
#180
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AC Elite
Posts: 95
I believe that these cancellations were made by someone (Chinese travel agents) who had access to all the reservations in the Travelsky system.
United could fix the loophole by requiring logging-in with PIN/password before canceling an award reservation.
Last edited by FlyZ46; Apr 18, 2014 at 11:26 am