narvik

Translation for non-Spanish speakers: "Removed my MileagePlus membership very fast. Painful. Thanks much for nothing."

nomad420

Ohhhh, harsh! FT abounds with stories of even GS members getting all MP membership/status/miles pulled. One guy was getting an attorney. Just stay away, far away, from selling. Besides, I can't even gift them away to family. I have posted numerous times at my frustration with that. Most family members have little to no status with UA so they never (almost) clear them. It is at time embarrassing, I just tell them it is how the game is played with UA.

zombietooth

Heard about a new scam on eBay that a client's corporation was victimized by:

Positive eBay feedback is easy to buy, so scam sellers with good feedback scores were/are offering GPUs as "Travel Advice". When you win the auction, the seller sends you an email after you pay (and they have all of your info) , threatening to send your info to UA corporate security, whereupon you will lose your account, unless you pay them an additional fee in Bitcoin or cash card numbers. They also threaten that if you give them bad feedback, they will follow through on their threat.

Play this game at your own risk.

Kacee

Report that to the FBI. It's extortion.

JetAway

I've had colleagues who didn't know they were 1Ks (from work travel) and didn't even know what it is. They thought the travel office was somehow getting them upgrades.

tarheelnj

I've had some luck gifting them to young relatives who are early in their career and really appreciate when one clears. I've taught them how to look for R space, the need to have a W+ fare for international, etc., It's a great feeling and they're very appreciative, even when it (usually) doesn't clear - much more valuable than any $$$ I could earn selling them. I like that ua.com lets you go into their reservation and apply the instruments directly.

eng3

Too bad getting your membership/status/vouchers stripped is all electronic. If someone could get a viral video of UA physically taking a GS card and voucher cards away, he would just need a good lawyer and he'd be golden

I often strike up a conversation with a seatmate and he tells me how he has dozens of GPU's that he can't use. Sometimes I joke that I'll be happy to take them. Sometimes they actually offer to give them to me but then I explain you can't actually give them away, you have to apply them once I've made a booking and that becomes too much of a hassle. I do wonder what would happen if someone really did offer to apply one of their GPU's to a booking, if it would trigger an investigation.
It's certainly a game. UA claims they are losing thousands of dollars (equiv of a full fare J seat) on a GPU, but they don't mention how difficult they are to actually use, you've already paid for a Y seat, you may have paid a copay "W fare", you've given them $12k+ of your business, you might be filling a seat that would have gone out empty, you might be opening up a Y seat they can now sell and make additional revenue, etc.

Same here, I've never met a GS that didnt know he was a GS though.

jsloan

Nonsense. The courts have repeatedly refused to intervene in airline status / frequent flyer cases. UA would (successfully) claim that the card and voucher aren't the traveler's property. The law would be the same in either case.


If so, it's a game where UA is allowed to set the rules, and the traveler's rights are to play by those rules or to take their business elsewhere.

zombietooth

The requested amounts were small enough, and the threat of exposure high enough, that the victimized executives wanted to take no further action other than warning their corporate travel department, who informed my client.

HNLbasedFlyer

Where has UA made that claim? I've not seen them make that statement.

The claim is sale or barter of these instruments is expressly prohibited.

cesco.g

I hope the perpetrators will face stiffest consequences!
Such activities jeopardize the u/g programs of all airlines and its loyal, ruleabiding customers !!!

ani90

This is not totally correct. Nothing stops you from giving away a GPU (though is a hassle as you infer) and GPUs can be applied after a booking.

eng3

When PR is involved, the law is irrelevant and they'll just settle rather than let it make it to court. And yes, I agree, its still a game they're playing

If I could find the thread for years ago, I'd post it

But I'll try to get back on topic...

I'm not sure where my statement is incorrect. You can't give a GPU to someone. I cant take one of my GPU's and transfer it to someone else's account for them to use as they please. I can only "apply" a GPU after one has made a booking. If I walk down the street and see a bum on the street, I can give him a dollar and its no big deal to me. If he instead says, "come back with that dollar in a few hours/days/weeks when I need to spend it", I probably will not give him the dollar. It's just another way that makes GPU's harder to use.

zombietooth

This brings back some fond memories for me:

Many years ago, when I first started doing some major business with a San Francisco real estate magnate, he found out that I was an international (PE at the time) UA flyer and opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of paper SWUs and told me how they worked. He told me that I should be able to upgrade any international flight, and it was just as easy as he said. For many years, until I made 1K myself, I flew business on almost every international flight courtesy of my business associate. Every now and then, a RA, TA or GA would ask me how I got the SWUs and, once I told them, everything was fine. In those days, the agents were very proactive in giving me advice on how to find flights with UG space, but it was also far easier to UG then.

He also gave me bunches of Hyatt certificates (suite UGs and free nights) that got me hooked on Hyatt until the recent devaluation.

Aussienarelle

@zombietooth hope you paid it forward. ...