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 12, 2014, 6:31 pm
#61
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Again, this is not my issue but IMHO, enhancing web security features of .bomb will do no harms to us all.
That's horrible...
Such behavior is a criminal...
@UAinsider, please forward this message and improve necessary security verification when changing/cancelling tix...
For other ft folks, please pay attention to this.. If no such verification is improved, you may suffer pains when your tickets suddenly cancelled w/o your acknowledge and nothing can be returned...
Such behavior is a criminal...
@UAinsider, please forward this message and improve necessary security verification when changing/cancelling tix...
For other ft folks, please pay attention to this.. If no such verification is improved, you may suffer pains when your tickets suddenly cancelled w/o your acknowledge and nothing can be returned...
If UA cares about this, they could contact the 3 alleged victims directly, and verify with each of them that they did not cancel the tickets. They can also look through their server logs to see if there is any commonality between where the cancellation requests are coming from (e.g. all from China, or all from the same VPN service to mask the actual location). If the alleged happenings actually happened, UA could be fairly certain of it by doing the above, without relying on just the word of the OP.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...knowledge.html
Last edited by lewende; Apr 12, 2014 at 6:43 pm Reason: Typo
Apr 12, 2014, 6:33 pm
#62
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The fact that it's so trivial to cancel someone else's booking (award or revenue) is well-established. No other airline makes it so easy to mess with someone's booking. United (and Continental before that) has known about this for a long time, but has never cared about it because it only hurts the customer, and the customer is merely an inconvenience to the new United. (Note that the old United used to allow you to lock any PNR with a password to prevent changes.)
Apr 12, 2014, 6:52 pm
#63
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: SFO
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The fact that it's so trivial to cancel someone else's booking (award or revenue) is well-established. No other airline makes it so easy to mess with someone's booking. United (and Continental before that) has known about this for a long time, but has never cared about it because it only hurts the customer, and the customer is merely an inconvenience to the new United. (Note that the old United used to allow you to lock any PNR with a password to prevent changes.)
Do AA, DL, US require logging in to cancel award tickets? What about revenue tickets where the passenger does not have an FF account?
Apr 12, 2014, 7:15 pm
#64
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This really has nothing to do with awards. You can cancel a revenue booking with the same information.
Apr 12, 2014, 8:02 pm
#65
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After reading my post, an FTer sent me a PM informing me that her 016 stock ticket in July for CA984 (LAX-PEK) first class award just got cancelled today by someone in China (MP email sent in Chinese).
This is insane.
This is insane.
Apr 12, 2014, 8:40 pm
#67
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According to this news:
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00008&cid=1103
There are also reports of pax data leaks potentially thru either airlines or Travelsky and both sides deny any responsibility for the leakage.
Can hardly rely on Air China and TravelSky to realize and solve the issue, hopefully United can take some appropriate actions.
--It's not rocket science, just an easy fix.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-s...00008&cid=1103
There are also reports of pax data leaks potentially thru either airlines or Travelsky and both sides deny any responsibility for the leakage.
Can hardly rely on Air China and TravelSky to realize and solve the issue, hopefully United can take some appropriate actions.
--It's not rocket science, just an easy fix.
Last edited by Xyzzy; Apr 12, 2014 at 9:29 pm Reason: Removed copy of entire first post
Apr 12, 2014, 8:45 pm
#68
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I suggest that the afflicted Flyertalkers consider filing a complaint with the DOT and report the incidents as "criminal activity" to the FBI.
Apr 12, 2014, 8:47 pm
#69
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Apr 12, 2014, 8:58 pm
#71
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Apr 12, 2014, 9:00 pm
#73
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If OP's theory is accurate, the cancellations are neither Air China's fault nor responsibility. It seems that only tickets booked on United's 016 stock are at risk of being canceled in this way. Hence, OP's appeal to UA to fix the problem.
Apr 12, 2014, 9:02 pm
#74
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Complain to DOT?
Apr 12, 2014, 9:06 pm
#75
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[QUOTE=blug;22695348]In fairness, UA (and formerly CO) does have a wonderful award booking engine. Why it allows cancelling an award ticket without logging in, however, is totally beyond me.
Yes, and a real crap one in booking seats! How many *A carriers with available seating do not show up now? Seems like one a month gets "eliminated."
Yes, and a real crap one in booking seats! How many *A carriers with available seating do not show up now? Seems like one a month gets "eliminated."