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2014 UA Issued Awards on Air China (CA) Are Mysteriously Being Canceled (Hacked?)

Old Apr 21, 2014, 11:37 am
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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:
  1. MikeMpls
  2. nihaoa
  3. lewende Reported 4 friends with this issue
  4. ordbkk
  5. twebst
  6. kb1992
  7. litesleeper
  8. zombietooth
  9. critten Reported 2/3 confirmations (3 people CA Business class) cancelled at the same time
  10. skyvanman Also 1 friend with the issue
  11. chris1234
  12. atiger29
  13. bubble o bill
  14. genemk2
  15. jefftiger
  16. CuddlyFlyer
  17. gpeso8
  18. imm2b
  19. acf1270
  20. dgxoxo
  21. ACM two passengers
Originally Posted by ordbkk
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

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.
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2014 UA Issued Awards on Air China (CA) Are Mysteriously Being Canceled (Hacked?)

Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:53 pm
  #211  
 
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Originally Posted by zhuzheng
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.
Speaking of leaked personal information... the new flights that United booked for us still have the original PNR. Granted if my original flight was canceled because somebody wanted our seats on Air China, my reservation won't interest them... but I find it a little odd that United would respond to my claims of a fraudulent cancellation with another reservation protected by the very same information that was leaked in the first place.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:54 pm
  #212  
 
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Originally Posted by ordbkk
Speaking of leaked personal information... the new flights that United booked for us still have the original PNR. Granted if my original flight was canceled because somebody wanted our seats on Air China, my reservation won't interest them... but I find it a little odd that United would respond to my claims of a fraudulent cancellation with another reservation protected by the very same information that was leaked in the first place.
Hahahahaha.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:55 pm
  #213  
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I'm not certain I wouldn't call back and ask to be speak to the fraud department - no matter what the CSR said.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:56 pm
  #214  
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Would it be possible to "lock" your reservation in such as way that it can only be cancelled by phone relaying personal information in excess of what is in the PNR?
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:57 pm
  #215  
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Originally Posted by ordbkk
We had plenty of plans that would have been lost had United not found award space on their own flights. So we are lucky there. However, rather than departing in the evening hours after work, the flights we are left with leave earlier in the morning so we both must take off additional time from work. That is equivalent to money lost in my eyes.

(There were other options in the evening, but on other carriers. United felt the only solution they could offer us was seats on their own planes)
OP, do you mind to reveal what CA flights you were originally booked?

This thing is scary. We have a long haul CA F in our Sept trip. So far the reservation seems intact per the Saudia site, except the first UA segment has a schedule change but the website prevents me to accept it because the schedule change notice (red message) is associated to the Waitlisted I segment, but not to the confirmed YN segment. My intention is to leave it along till August in vain hope that the I would clear by then.... so I could accept the schedule change online.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 1:57 pm
  #216  
 
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
Would it be possible to "lock" your reservation in such as way that it can only be cancelled by phone relaying personal information in excess of what is in the PNR?
I asked about that and was told it wasn't possible.

Originally Posted by Happy
OP, do you mind to reveal what CA flights you were originally booked?

This thing is scary. We have a long haul CA F in our Sept trip. So far the reservation seems intact, except the first UA segment has a schedule change but the website prevents me to accept it because the schedule change notice (red message) is associated to the Waitlisted I segment, but not to the confirmed YN segment. My intention is to leave it along till August in vain hope that the I would clear by then....
It was CA996, IAH-PEK. The idea was to fly their new 777-300 in first, where we could still share conversation.. there's not too many flat-bed first class offerings that make that easy.


Last edited by FlyinHawaiian; Apr 18, 2014 at 2:16 pm Reason: multi-quote
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 2:03 pm
  #217  
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Originally Posted by FlyerTom111
Im seeing a lot of threads of this based on Air China. Sounds like Smisek needs to call Air China's CEO to see what is going on. Sadly that won't happen. I say kick them out of Star Alliance.
While perhaps justified because UA does lower the service standards in Star quite a bit, its a bit harsh - United is the biggest airline, I doubt the other airlines will kick them out
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 2:16 pm
  #218  
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Originally Posted by rankourabu
While perhaps justified because UA does lower the service standards in Star quite a bit, its a bit harsh - United is the biggest airline, I doubt the other airlines will kick them out
I think that FlyerTom111 meant to kick CA out
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 2:19 pm
  #219  
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Originally Posted by tom911
Were you happy with the alternate flights (or do you have alternate flights in place yet)? UA really needs to step up and post a public statement on this. Maybe they can allocate a special phone number for those that are impacted so they can keep track of it all in one place.
UA just cancelled my F award and sent me a notice in Chinese.

Can't find any saver C/F on UA. It's June. I'm left out with no back up.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 2:31 pm
  #220  
 
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Originally Posted by nickab
Good point if it's only Air China. Mods -- feel free to delete my most recent post.
Only Air China and only Premium cabins.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 2:36 pm
  #221  
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Originally Posted by escapefromphl
Only Air China and only Premium cabins.
Correct.

I had 3 Air China F awards cancelled for June. LAX-PEK, SFO-PEK.

Received cancellation notice in Chinese from UA.

Zero F/C awards on Air China now.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 3:39 pm
  #222  
 
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Originally Posted by ordbkk
Speaking of leaked personal information... the new flights that United booked for us still have the original PNR. Granted if my original flight was canceled because somebody wanted our seats on Air China, my reservation won't interest them... but I find it a little odd that United would respond to my claims of a fraudulent cancellation with another reservation protected by the very same information that was leaked in the first place.
Your original reservation was canceled but miles were not redeposited so that any rebooked reservations would be put under the original PNR by default.

I don't think United has realized or believed that your information had been leaked, so they didn't take extra precautionary measures to protect your reservation. United could simply fix the loophole by requiring logging in with MileagePlus PIN/password before canceling any award booking online. They should also verify account details over the phone before making a cancellation.

I know two other victims who were also rebooked under the original PNR. I guess your new reservation would be find as long as it does not contain premium seats on CA international flights, but always be cautious.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 3:47 pm
  #223  
 
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Originally Posted by GordonGordon
Wait... I canceled numerous award reservations in the past but never received any email confirmation from UA that my reservations were canceled. Any FTers who live in China can confirm if an email will be sent to you by UA after award reservation is canceled?
I have done it multiple times - Every time I canceled a UA award booking, I immediately received an email. You don't need to "live in China" to receive the email in Chinese - I canceled two reservations through the United's Chinese website mentioned earlier and received confirmation emails in Chinese, even though my MileagePlus mailing address and credit card billing address are both in the USA.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 3:57 pm
  #224  
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Originally Posted by lewende
I also checked the first victim's CA flight information, lots of F and A availability - there is no point for CA to cancel an O seat to free up an F/A space.
If that's the case, what possible motive could anyone (CA or rogue TA) have for cancelling confirmed reservations using pilfered PNR codes? What's the point?

Originally Posted by bmwe92fan
I guess I am a little surprised that UA hasn't stepped up a bit more here - I mean I can understand if one person has a freak cancellation from china - but to have multiple on FT alone (which means likely MANY, MANY more are having the same problem) points to a much larger issue going on.

...I am underwhelmed with the "Sorry there is nothing we can do" response...
The first page of the UA service recovery playbook says: do nothing. Second: blame weather. As someone said upthread, UA resists doing anything for you until someone applies pressure, which is why DOT complaints, media alerts, or both might be advisable here.
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Old Apr 18, 2014, 4:09 pm
  #225  
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Originally Posted by zhuzheng
I have done it multiple times - Every time I canceled a UA award booking, I immediately received an email. You don't need to "live in China" to receive the email in Chinese - I canceled two reservations through the United's Chinese website mentioned earlier and received confirmation emails in Chinese, even though my MileagePlus mailing address and credit card billing address are both in the USA.
This is correct.

If you cancel a reservation, and re-book later, you'll get an email from UA.

If you cancel and redeposit miles, then no email.

Apparently CA decides to cancel our F/C awards.

No surprising that Air China Economy Awards are not canceled?
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