mrwunrfl

What would you do if you found that your FF program did not charge you the miles for an award ticket? This is the second time that something like this has happened to me.

In the beginning of October I got a United Mileage Plus award ticket. The ticket is a Star Alliance Award for coach travel between Japan and North Asia costing 20,000 miles. This is a good use of miles, btw, because the airfares that I was looking at were $400 and up.

When I booked the first ticket, I am sure that the mileage got subtracted from my account immediately when I made the reservations. I think that the the miles were gone before the reservation phone call was completed (a couple days before I got it ticketed). The travel was for the beginning of January, outbound from Japan on United and return on Asiana.

I got a second ticket in December when I changed my travel plans. This was also a Star Alliance Award between Japan and North Asia. I used 30,000 United MP miles to get a business class ticket. Same travel dates, but different return cities on the open jaw from the first ticket and it was Asiana both ways.

I cancelled the reservations for the coach ticket 6 or 7 days in advance. I flew using the business class tickets.

When I got back home to the U.S. a week later I saw (and still see) that MP had not debited my FF account the 30,000 miles for the BC award. I will be sending the coach ticket to United along with a check for $100 to get the 20,000 miles redeposited.

Back in 1994, TWA made a mistake and credited me 70,000 miles for a returned ticket when they should not have. Those miles finally got spent last year.

Flyboy

Interesting. I've never had the situation come up, but I guess I wouldn't necessarily see it as an obligation on the part of the purchaser to police the seller's half of the deal in this situation. I don't see it the same as, say, getting change for a $20 after handing the clerk a $10 for example. It will be interesting to see how others view this.

sandi

As my mom once said to me when I found my bank showed an extra $550 in my account "don't spend it all in one place, at one time; the bank will eventually find it and you'll have to give it back." The bank found their error within 3-months... and it was gone from my account.

I'd do nothing re the FF miles for the time being, but if UA doesn't correct it within a year... you might be free and clear.

P_M

One time I redeemed points for a FF economy ticket to Europe. They deducted the correct amount of points from my account for an economy ticket, but they made a serious misprint on the ticket for my return. It was a complete surprise when I walked up to the counter and they handed me a boarding pass for business class. Then a few days after I got home, I checked my FF account and saw that they issued airline points for that flight. So this misprint on my ticket reflected not only business class, but they thought it was a revenue ticket, so that's why I got points for this free flight. That was in November 2000, and I never heard anything about it, nor did I complain about this error.

abram

I'd call and correct the situation because, for me, that would seem like the right thing to do.

What would you do if the error wasn't in your favor?

Pat2003

I am with Abram on this one.

What would you do if the error wasn't in your favor?

mrwunrfl

Here is what happened in 1994 and what I did about it.

At the beginning of 1994, I made FF award reservations for a business class trip departing in May. TWA sent me the tickets. Had to change the travel dates so I called TWA. I didn't have enough miles (70,000) to get a second ticket. The agent said that there was not enough time for sending the ticket back, getting it credited to my account, and issuing the ticket and getting it to me. So, she told me that she would issue a second ticket and that I should go ahead and send in the old ticket. On receipt of the old ticket, she said, they would call it even (meaning not putting the miles back into my account). I sent the ticket in.

It was a great trip. Outbound with a stopover in Paris to Tel Aviv. Open-jaw return from Cairo with a stopover in Athens.

In November, I got my mileage statement showing that 70,000 miles had been credited to my account. I asked several people what I should do and they all said some version of "do nothing and wait". Except for my brother who said that I should call and straighten it out. That was what I new I had to do all along, so I called.

I explained to the ticket agent what happened. That I had changed plans, sent the ticket in to call it even, taken the trip, etc. She listened and then said "ok, let me see, yes 70,000 miles was credited, this was for a returned ff award ticket, we apologize for taking so long to credit the miles back into your account". I tried to explain again: "... changed plans ... took the trip ...".

The agent raised her voice and said "No sir, you don't understand!". 'Everything is ok'. I think that she thought that I was trying to squeeze out some bonus miles from them for taking so long to credit my account. I don't think that she was winking on the other end of the phone.

I replied "thank you very much, goodbye".

rkkwan

Not saying what you should do, but I'd just do nothing. It's almost too complicated to explain to the FF desk agents, and they may just screw things up even more.

If they eventually figured it out, then fine. If not, then I'll call myself lucky.

Travelermebe

I'm with Abram on this one. I guess it is just the way I was raised. My dad used to say that "no one can take your integrity. You have to give it away yourself."

clevelandbrown

I would notify them, even if it didn't work with the first instance. Phone workers are probably not trained to deal with this, so I would just write them a letter, or even an email, explaining what happened. If they choose to let it stand, I would not press it any further.

mrwunrfl

I think I may have confused the issue here by explaining what happened 10 years ago in a similar, but more complicated, situation. In that older case, I tried to set it right by explaining, twice, on the phone.

The current situation is that I booked an award trip, got the ticket, took the trip, and see that the mileage was not deducted from my account. I haven't called or contacted the airline at all about this.

I still have to send in the coach ticket and the $100 to get those miles put back into the account. My plan is to wait until those miles are credited before I decide what to do about the 30,000 miles not being debited.

Thanks for your input.