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?)
Aug 21, 2014, 10:28 am
#916
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Houston
Programs: UA LT GS 4.2 MM, AA Gold 1MM, HH Lifetime Diamond, Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 394
Aug 21, 2014, 11:43 am
#917
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Houston
Programs: UA GS 2.6MM & Lifetime UC, Qantas Platinum, Hilton Lifetime Diamond, Bonvoy Platinum, HawaiianMiles
Posts: 8,700
Yup, screwed up my trip, since I was leaving on a Thursday... $%*&!Welp, at least now I don't hafta worry about my CA flights mysteriously disappearing! Rebooked on UA, losing an afternoon...
Last edited by kirkwoodj; Aug 21, 2014 at 4:11 pm Reason: addendum
Aug 29, 2014, 7:47 am
#918
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: SFO
Posts: 218
Does anyone know if this is still an issue or if it's still possible for CA reservations made with UA to be "hacked"?
I just tried to access my reservation without logging in and while it doesn't provide a "cancel" option anymore, it does provide a "change" flight option. If it still provides the option to "change" a flight, you would think malicious person that has access to my last name and UA record locator still change my reservation to some random flight/route that would essentially "cancel" my current reservation.
I just tried to access my reservation without logging in and while it doesn't provide a "cancel" option anymore, it does provide a "change" flight option. If it still provides the option to "change" a flight, you would think malicious person that has access to my last name and UA record locator still change my reservation to some random flight/route that would essentially "cancel" my current reservation.
Aug 30, 2014, 4:59 pm
#919
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: DCA, ex-IAH
Programs: nada
Posts: 1,368
Data point: "Just" got off of IAH-PEK in J about 24 hours ago. Reservation was a-ok and the only real issues I had were that I was showing as being unpaid for my 3rd bag because they didn't have my *G FF on the ticket and the transfer desk took about a year to open to get my second boarding pass (ok. I think it was only 100-120 minutes of wait, plus the impact of going through the transfer customs that much later in the morning.)
Nov 15, 2014, 3:27 pm
#920
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
2014 UA Issued Awards on Air China (CA) Are Mysteriously Being Canceled (Hacked?)
Data Point: no problem completing my HKG-PEK J flight a week ago.
Nov 15, 2014, 11:12 pm
#921
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,068
Data point: My CA tickets for Dec/Jan appeared fine on the UA side, but when I called CA to get seats a couple weeks ago, they said one of us was fine, the other was cancelled by UA. No email was received, and the UA side looked fine on both.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
Nov 16, 2014, 4:48 am
#922
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K1.75MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,172
Data point: My CA tickets for Dec/Jan appeared fine on the UA side, but when I called CA to get seats a couple weeks ago, they said one of us was fine, the other was cancelled by UA. No email was received, and the UA side looked fine on both.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
Nov 16, 2014, 11:47 am
#923
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Data point: My CA tickets for Dec/Jan appeared fine on the UA side, but when I called CA to get seats a couple weeks ago, they said one of us was fine, the other was cancelled by UA. No email was received, and the UA side looked fine on both.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
I've asked UA Insider for help, and he's been working with CA. Hoping they can get us fixed up.
No notice is sent because CA thinks UA would have sent the notice.
I still don't see what their game is, though, unless it's simply to get a seat when the class is full.
Nov 19, 2014, 11:20 am
#924
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Daly City, CA
Programs: UA 1K, SPG Plat, Turkish Gold, Marriott Gold, HH Gold
Posts: 186
Heard from a friend who has connection in Air China saying they'll get seats for higher officials in China even if it's booked by someone else. Be careful when redeeming flights on Air China metal
Dec 15, 2014, 10:24 am
#925
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,620
Do not trust Air China
What a mess.
Last week i booked and TICKETED an award IAD-PEK (UA global F) -RGN (Air China business) using MP miles for 2 ppl.
Called UA to get Air China record locator to get seats today and was told that Air China 'rejected' the award booking. Despite the fact that I had a ticketed reservation!
Got supervisor, she called Air China and they confirmed that they have plenty of seats for sale, but they decided to not release any award seats on that flight.
The supervisor was flummoxed. This is for travel next week, so the super set to work finding us a way there, and ended up forcing F space IAD-NRT-SIN-RGN with an overnight in SIN.
As the supervisor told me: thank GOD I called to check for seats. Otherwise we would have been denied boarding in PEK.
Lesson learned: DO NOT TRUST AIR CHINA.
Last week i booked and TICKETED an award IAD-PEK (UA global F) -RGN (Air China business) using MP miles for 2 ppl.
Called UA to get Air China record locator to get seats today and was told that Air China 'rejected' the award booking. Despite the fact that I had a ticketed reservation!
Got supervisor, she called Air China and they confirmed that they have plenty of seats for sale, but they decided to not release any award seats on that flight.
The supervisor was flummoxed. This is for travel next week, so the super set to work finding us a way there, and ended up forcing F space IAD-NRT-SIN-RGN with an overnight in SIN.
As the supervisor told me: thank GOD I called to check for seats. Otherwise we would have been denied boarding in PEK.
Lesson learned: DO NOT TRUST AIR CHINA.
Jan 1, 2015, 8:26 pm
#926
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: UA Premier 1K, Hyatt Diamond, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 59
Tried to book an UA-CA-TG-OZ award with an Air China leg on PEK-CNX in economy in November. The flight leg still shows availability in both Business and Economy.
Thought something was fishy when the itinerary ticketed almost instantly, but no partner PNR came back on united.com, so I called the partner airlines to confirm the reservations... Thai and Asiana legs looked fine, but the Air China rep could see the UA ticket but no corresponding reservation in the CA system.
So I called the 1K desk today, the agent tried for about an hour to reissue the ticket and get a CA reservation to go through, but after working with a supervisor finally concluded that UA and CA's systems were not properly communicating, and that they'd escalated and I should call back Monday after the holiday week.
The timing of the CA direct flight is really ideal, but I'm kind of terrified to commit to this CA leg, especially with the phantom cancellation issue potentially impacting my TG-OZ return leg in business, which no longer has availability. I'm tempted to route PEK-BKK-CNX to avoid AC all together, even though the timing basically causes us to lose a half day in Beijing.
Anybody have any thoughts or recommendations? I'd hate to lose the PEK-CNX leg and be SOL if the TG availability dries up -- and even worse, if there are still phantom CA cancellations being reported.
Thought something was fishy when the itinerary ticketed almost instantly, but no partner PNR came back on united.com, so I called the partner airlines to confirm the reservations... Thai and Asiana legs looked fine, but the Air China rep could see the UA ticket but no corresponding reservation in the CA system.
So I called the 1K desk today, the agent tried for about an hour to reissue the ticket and get a CA reservation to go through, but after working with a supervisor finally concluded that UA and CA's systems were not properly communicating, and that they'd escalated and I should call back Monday after the holiday week.
The timing of the CA direct flight is really ideal, but I'm kind of terrified to commit to this CA leg, especially with the phantom cancellation issue potentially impacting my TG-OZ return leg in business, which no longer has availability. I'm tempted to route PEK-BKK-CNX to avoid AC all together, even though the timing basically causes us to lose a half day in Beijing.
Anybody have any thoughts or recommendations? I'd hate to lose the PEK-CNX leg and be SOL if the TG availability dries up -- and even worse, if there are still phantom CA cancellations being reported.