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

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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?)

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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:07 pm
  #76  
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
Complain to DOT?
What DOT regulation has been violated? and by whom?
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:10 pm
  #77  
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Originally Posted by WineCountryUA
What DOT regulation has been violated? and by whom?
You tell me

"Breach of contract"? "Fraudulently canceling itinerary without consent"?
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:18 pm
  #78  
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
Then you do a suggestion.
I don't indulge in impossibilities.

Originally Posted by dieuwer2
You tell me

"Breach of contract"? "Fraudulently canceling itinerary without consent"?
How about "none"? It's not a DOT issue. It's not an FBI issue. United may have some culpability in making it so trivial, but I doubt there's anything that can be done besides not booking on United.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:18 pm
  #79  
 
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What motivation would these people have in cancelling the tickets? Cancelled award tickets do not automatically return to award inventory.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:21 pm
  #80  
 
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Originally Posted by 1353513636
Cancelled award tickets do not automatically return to award inventory.
Do you know for sure that's case for CA?
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:24 pm
  #81  
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Could this possibly be related to "HeartBleed"?
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:30 pm
  #82  
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Originally Posted by dieuwer2
Could this possibly be related to "HeartBleed"?
I would guess no, because this would be small potatoes for someone who could get that much information.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:31 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by lewende
Do you know for sure that's case for CA?
Which could explain why we haven't heard any reports of it happening for other partners.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:34 pm
  #84  
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I'd believe it an UA IT glitch before I'd believe it's some nefarious hacking scheme.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:35 pm
  #85  
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Originally Posted by Jaimito Cartero
I'd believe it an UA IT glitch before I'd believe it's some nefarious hacking scheme.
It sounds way too specific in this situation.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:36 pm
  #86  
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
It's not an FBI issue. United may have some culpability in making it so trivial, but I doubt there's anything that can be done besides not booking on United.
Actually, if the allegations are true, this would likely be a federal offense.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:38 pm
  #87  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
Actually, if the allegations are true, this would likely be a federal offense.
And if committed by people outside the U.S., which is part of the allegation, the FBI would still have no jurisdiction. And China certainly wouldn't do anything about it because it only damages an American company and that usually gets rewarded (if not condoned or supported) rather than punished.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:49 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by mahasamatman
And if committed by people outside the U.S., which is part of the allegation, the FBI would still have no jurisdiction. And China certainly wouldn't do anything about it because it only damages an American company and that usually gets rewarded (if not condoned or supported) rather than punished.
They are accessing UA systems. The FBI would absolutely have jurisdiction. Whether it could effectively take action is a different question.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 9:50 pm
  #89  
 
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I am victim 1. This is what I got from UA--"I can confirm, our system indicates someone logged in as a guest, canceled XXXXXX at 10:42pm and then canceled XXXXXX at 10:50pm".

Originally Posted by pjf66
Do you have any proof regarding this issue? It sounds like a doable theory but you cannot just point finger at someone and hoping UA to do something(actually I do think they will do anything) regarding your issue.
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Old Apr 12, 2014, 10:00 pm
  #90  
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Originally Posted by Steve M
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.
Except in one case they were told the IP said it was his home address.
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