tommyleo

I've been practically screaming exactly that on this forum for weeks!!!

But I can't believe US would come up with bogus reasons to shut down accounts just to prevent redemption of miles. Or did US actually believe that we would use all our miles on US metal only?

BoeingBoy

Hope springs eternal, I guess...

Actually, I suspect those fancy international business/first award ticket redemptions are finally showing up in big enough numbers to change the result shown by the spreadsheet.

Jim

USFreak

So glad I am done with this rolling nightmare of an airline....I am sorry for the good employees that keep the ship afloat and I am sorry for all of you who are forced to fly'em......

kingbear

Thanks so much to everyone who gave some great suggestions. I would still like to wait for some others on the forum here who have also had their accounts shut down and their miles confiscated so that we can work on this together.

But what many of you said is absolutely correct. If US even smells the slightest thing out of order, they will simply shut down the account and tell you they are not responding to your emails anymore. And they claim they have a right to do it since part of their T&C's state that it is at "their" discretion whether an account was used improperly. So when you scream and even prove that you did nothing wrong, all they need to tell you is that they feel you did do something wrong and it's their decision.

The madness has got to stop.

Again, anyone with any info that can help me retrieve my hundreds of thousands of miles, and the millions of miles taken from other users, would be greatly appreciated.

SS255

Why didn't US think of that before they started this promo? (Sorry if that was a rhetorical question. ) They should not be punishing customers who followed the rules.......even if the rules turned out to be ill-conceived, and cost US more in the long run.

dcpatti

I'm very curious to hear from others who have had accounts suspended and awards cancelled. We've got now 2 stories and one 1 question about how to avoid being flagged as "suspicious" which does represent a very small percentage of those of us who have taken advantage of every promo but is still 2 more reports and 1 more query than we had about 2 weeks ago. Enough of a trend to be at least worthy of raising an eyebrow.

The commonality between the two posters who have lost miles over that seems to be the very large number of miles acquired during the promos and redeemed shortly thereafter for award tickets. I know I've capped all my promo activity at 100k miles, simply because I don't like laying out that much cash unless I already have a use planned for the miles. So far, no problems with my award tickets either.

So what I am curious about: how many miles in one transaction, how many miles for the life of the promo, how many award tickets in how many names, and what status (if any) the affected folks have with US. I've got to think having low/no activity with US before the promo, then racking up a half million miles just to drain the account a week later, has got to raise some red flags. How much does your activity history with US factor in Again, just curious.

I don't like how heavy-handed US seems to be in all of this--- it would be nice (and much more customer-oriented) if you went under audit, that US would first ask you to explain your transactions, prove relationships, etc before they just froze your accounts. I guess they're more interested with stopping the bad guys even if some totally legit people get caught up in the net.

Sparrow_Hawk

I'm still thinking it's worth consulting an attorney from a civil tort perspective as in defamation of character as by shuttering your account implies you're a rule breaker! Someone who cannot be trusted. Someone with no Credibility. In theory having your DM account closed could effect your employment and Job satisfaction. That's defamation to me! Civilly in the eyes of the law? No Idea, but if I was you I'd find out like yesterday.

What do you have to lose? Worst thing that will happen is I'll be full of the Blue Lav Juice! However what if I'm right? US certainly has the Deep Pockets our friends in the legal community love and if there is money to be made some landshark will pursue it for and it won't cost you a dime.

This whole thing reeks of the typical customer be damned approach of US Airways and SOMEBODY needs to step up. Right now it looks like that person would be the OP!

kingbear

Some posts on the other related thread mentioned that perhaps the Audit Dept at US isn't aware of the promo's, and therefore sees a ton of miles coming in and simply shuts down the account. While I would love for that to be true, it is most definitely not. The audit dept knows good and well about the TIB promo. They just feel that if they have any reason to believe that maybe there's a slight chance that I somehow profited from booking those tickets for my relatives, that somehow gives them a right to shut down my account with no further need for an investigation.

And then they have the audacity to email me saying that they completed their "thorough" investigation of the matter and they assure me that the matter has been given every consideration, they are confident in their findings, and the matter is now closed.

What "findings"?

Jim_F

Out of curiosity, how many award tickets did you book and for how many people? Were they Y or F awards? Domestic or International? I'm interested to know what US "smelled" that caused them to do this in the first place.

dcpatti

And how many DM miles did you have before the TIB promo and how many did you rack up during the promo? Any status or activity history with US before the TIB promo? Very curious!

slocouple

My husband and I are very small holders of miles (like 38K), with sporadic activity, and were each thinking of purchasing some of these miles (100K each) SOLELY with the intention of using them for a trip. (Now isn't that what everyone would want to do...holding miles seems like an invitation for a devaluation), and am curious as to whether that would trigger a shutdown of our accounts...so details would be appreciated. Thanks.

mybagfits

so just to be clear...for those that have spent the time reading the T+C's.

We as us airways div miles members ARE ALLOWED???? to use our miles for friends/family...or I suppose even people who aren't friends as long as we don't profit from it??

I will have a non business trip coming up and want to use miles to help a friend go with me. I always thought this was ok

just trying to understand this completely as I think it through.

with the current promo-it would seem like a better value for us to gift miles to someone else with the promo rather than simply book a ticket in their name.

Sparrow_Hawk

Personally, at minimum I think everyone who has been caught up in the snare of deception by US Airways start wallpapering the metaphorical Sh*thouse with e-mails, for mal complaints to any and all government agencies even remotely associated with Aviation and when they get done with that drag the States AG's office in your home state and Arizona into your e-mail war. Don't forget the travel sites/blogs, Consumer blogs.

These turds in the Sand Castle get away with this scam and you wait and see what comes next. This needs to be addressed right here, RIGHT NOW

kingbear

2 award tickets for a husband and wife, international - Business Class. None of the flights were on US metal.

So here's the thing. I had absolutely no miles in my DM account before doing this whole thing. I joined DM a little over a month before my first Holiday Bonus "Purchase". No status, no history. Initial miles get deposited about mid January...a few weeks later I make the offer to my relatives to help them with their tickets...they agree...I need more miles in the account so I buy miles with the 100% bonus...book the tickets...and the next day the account goes under audit.

I can certainly understand why it would raise some red flags, so by all means, let them do their research. But after finding that I did absolutely nothing wrong, they should be reinstating my account! Not simply saying "The matter is closed please stop e-mailing us".

Ludicrous!

kingbear

From what I always understood, if you wanted to take a buddy along with you on a vacation and he couldn't afford it, you could certainly book a mileage ticket for him using your miles. They are your miles and you can book for whomever you would like.

Why would you gift miles to someone else if you are using your own miles for his ticket? Just book the ticket out of your account. Gifting the miles to him will run you 1.0-1.5cpm and there's no reason for that (unless I'm missing something, or unless you're nervous that US will come after you for hooking a buddy up, which is definitely a valid consideration.)