A Warning Regarding Targeted Promotions

Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:25 am
  #1  
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A Warning Regarding Targeted Promotions

We just received a call here at the House of Miles from Dividend Miles management asking us to relay a message to FlyerTalk members.

The management at Dividend Miles is concerned about the sharing of targeted promotion codes and will "begin immediately enforcing the guidelines of the Dividend Miles program." In other words, Dividend Miles will be "deducting, freezing and possibly even terminating accounts" of all members who have earned miles through a targeted promotion that the member him/herself was not targeted to receive.

If you've violated program guidelines through the sharing and/or improper use of targeted promotional codes, we suggest you call Dividend Miles customer service immediately. According to Dividend Miles management, violators who call and admit their violation will have the improperly earned miles deducted from their accounts, but will not have their accounts frozen and/or their membership terminated. Dividend Miles will begin taking action on accounts in question today (10/15), so if you think your account might be one of those audited, call ASAP.

Again, we felt it important to pass this information along to our members immediately so that you could take the appropriate action. And please, before posting any information that could be deemed fraudulent, have another look at the FlyerTalk Rules and Guidelines, which state: "Posts that condone illegal activity (i.e., buying and selling of awards, direct fraud upon any program) will be removed without notice and accounts subject to deletion!"

FlyerTalk Administration

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Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:32 am
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Ummm... is this for real?

I can't believe that this is the method that DM is using to tell us all that they are going to crack down on improperly earned awards. Turn yourself in now or pay the price? What kind of an offer is that? I think a "we're onto what you are doing and have modified our computers to make it impossible to do it further" would be a much less harsh way to make a point. This just makes me mad.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not rushing to the phone.
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:40 am
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????

[This message has been edited by ITRADE (edited 10-15-2002).]
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:41 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by flyertalk:
Again, we felt it important to pass this information along to our members immediately so that you could take the appropriate action. And please, before posting any information that could be deemed fraudulent, have another look at the FlyerTalk Rules and Guidelines, which state: "Posts that condone illegal activity (i.e., buying and selling of awards, direct fraud upon any program) will be removed without notice and accounts subject to deletion!"

FlyerTalk Administration
</font>
Does the "Flyertalk Administration" think the sharing of targeted promos is fraud? Certainly the US Airways board is not the only one where such activity takes place ...
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:46 am
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If this is for real, would FT mind posting the name of the DM mgmt. person who made the call, so that I may seek his or her termination from US Airways?

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Old Oct 15, 2002, 11:51 am
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They have got to be kidding.
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:02 pm
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All I've got to say about the message in general, is it's about time US ... I was wondering when they'd crack-down on this and honestly can't believe it's taken this long ...

However, this:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by flyertalk:
In other words, Dividend Miles will be "deducting, freezing and possibly even terminating accounts" of all members who have earned miles through a targeted promotion that the member him/herself was not targeted to receive.</font>
Is a bit much ... I have no problem with deductions (though I'm sure I'm probably actually in the Flyertalk minority there) ... but freezing and terminating accounts of some of their most loyal customers seems like it might not be such a good idea ...
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:10 pm
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As if...

They should use the "crack down" technology to make sure people get the correct credit in the first place!

Bullies!
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:12 pm
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I'm guessing that the reason for this crackdown is that US wants to minimize the number of DM miles available for redemption on United's flights to Hawaii...

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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:17 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by flyertalk:
The management at Dividend Miles is concerned about the sharing of targeted promotion codes</font>
It seems to me that if US is so concerned about this, they should have taken the responsibility to track what promos each member was eligible for and only accept those codes and award those points. Since some promos are targeted, some are not, some people may have been targeted but not realized it, the bonus code thread serves a legitimate use. People should be able to attempt to register for any code, the airline with their IT staff and programmers should be able to configure their systems to accept or reject those attempts based on individual eligibility.

That said, once they realized their mistake, they should do what we all have to do when we make one, accept the consequences, make changes to assure it doesn't happen in the future and move on. If they feel that they need to back out some points, so be it, but don't blame us for the mistake. They should realize that wild threats to freeze accounts won't benefit them in any way.
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:20 pm
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They're bluffing. I wouldn't call the Dividend Miles service centre. Time to burn more miles before this stupid airline liquidates.
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:28 pm
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Oh Shiitake mushrooms!
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:35 pm
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I wonder if they are really dumb enough to do this? If they pulled the miles and or status and you had any choice why on earth would you fly US again? I mean if I had to start over without status I know my wife (who I have recently talking into pushing her biz travel to US, despite her having to fight with her corp travel over it) would rather fly UA or AA on direct flights most of the places we go, but is willing to put up with US for the bonuses.

If US had half a brain they would say "stop it with the bonuses *before* we have to crack down". I've already booked almost $2,000 in personal family travel in the next month or so, and was planing on some more. Now of course I'll have to wait and see if I should be giving it to AA. Dito for me and my better half's biz travel. Not to mention all the people who I basicly *push* to fly US.

So if DM management gives the House of Miles another call would you be so kind as to relay my response.

"If we lose any of our miles/status, US loses ALL of our $20,000-$50,0000 worth of travel each year."

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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:35 pm
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by djk7:
It seems to me that if US is so concerned about this, they should have taken the responsibility to track what promos each member was eligible for and only accept those codes and award those points.</font>
Agree- if you're going to run targeted promotions, I would argue that it's the company's responsibility to automatically enroll people or only accept codes from people who were targeted.

Note to US- the horses are out of the barn.

(I admit that I'm not familiar w/ the terms and conditions of US, so sorry if there are t+cs regarding being sworn to secrecy about promotion codes)
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Old Oct 15, 2002, 12:43 pm
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I think that they have no clue about who was targeted for what, and that's why they are doing it this way.

It's like being in grade school when the teachers don't know who did it: turn yourself in now and punishment will be less severe!
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