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TWA Frequent Flyer Award Travel - A Legal Remedy?

I have been trying since July 1999 to obtain confirmed seats on TWA using frequent flyer award certificates Awards available in TWA’s original Frequent Flyer Bonus (FFB) program included two free first class tickets to Europe from the U.S. for 90,000 “equity miles.” Equity miles were meant to provide some award recognition (and protection) of early mileage acumulations. I joined the program in 1981. TWA’s original Frequent Flyer Bonus program was changed to the Aviators program. Under TWA Aviators, the equity miles are not lost, but it now will take 160,000 miles for the same award! Being aware of this difference, I obviously claimed certificates at the 90,000 mile amount. I began the process to redeem the first set of certificates in July 1999. On a regular monthly basis since that time, per request of TWA’s frequent flyer agents, I checked in to find out if my submitted itinerary had yet cleared and had assigned, confirmed seats. With each call, we learned from TWA that confirmed seats had not yet cleared, and were asked to please call back again in a month. In many of these contacts with TWA, I had learned that there are PLENTY of open seats available (obviously for paying fare passengers), but the airline had not yet released those seats for frequent flyer award travel. The agents I spoke with have expressed much unhappiness with the airline’s decision to not release the available seats, and I have duly noted their comments. The agents always been accommodating and professional in working with us. However the process TWA uses to release seats is not. Here’s the rub: About two weeks ago I again made my monthly call and the TWA agent again stated that my request had not yet been cleared, and that I did not have confirmed seats. But the agent did say that confirmed frequent flyer award reservations could be made immediately for a redeemed mileage amount of 160,000 miles! During this 1 1/2 hour conversation, it was made clear to the agent that my certificates were, indeed, valid. But the agent stated that it was not yet possible to confirm reservations against my “equity mile” certificates. In other words, NEW miles (160,000) would work, but OLD miles (90,000) acknowledged by certificates would not work - even though these OLD “equity miles” are still promoted as available for use. Approximately six weeks ago, I sent a certified letter to TWA’s Vice-President of Customer Relations in which I expressed my dismay with respect to shattering the loyalty of customers by an airline marketing policy that promises to deliver, and then doesn’t make good on those promises. In that letter, I included the itinerary (with flexible alternatives) that I have consistently pursued with the frequent flyer program. Their reply was a non-specific “form letter” blow-off response. The first disturbing part of this experience is that TWA’s frequent flyer program can make the kinds of marketing promises that it does, but in reality those promises are unrealized. The second disturbing part of this experience is that the management of the airline is demonstrating indifference to some of its most loyal customers by manipulating the promised awards that can be obtained by controlling the number of award seats released. And all the information I’ve obtained from TWA itself consistently pointed to seats being available in abundance. With a frequent flyer program in place, TWA advertising/marketing material promises service to passengers who sign up for the program. It seems to me that an implied contract exists which states that awards WILL be made available for those accumulating miles in their program by flying with them. Our experience with attempting to claim awards that have been openly published shows that this implied contract is being violated. If you have read this far, and I certainly hope that you have, I would be interested in seeing replies to this post that: 1. Relate similar stories of dissatisfaction and demonstrate willingness to join in a class- action. 2. Identify legal representatives who would be willing to discuss the merits of a possible violation of public trust or other similar legal condition related to the one involved with TWA frequent flyer program awards. 3. Provide suggestions of various consumer reporters/consumer action groups who might be interested in shining additional light on the subject.

It is important that we post legitimate complaints, such as this one, in a public forum. It enables others viewing the topic to see the magnitude of the problem, and that can translate into ACTION! Some of my research is showing that there are a significant number of people unhappy with not being able to claim entitled free travel awards, and collectively we CAN make a difference by speaking out about it.

I can feel your pain...presidential humor:-) I whole heartedly agree you are being given the shaft. And also agree that the only way to make a change is to: 1 Get alot of people on your side 2 Be willing to walk away from a company Having said that, I dont believe you will get far legaly...a few years ago a US district court judge made it clear that American Airlines, and any other ailines, frequent flyer programs are bonues or "free". Therefore they may change or ditch the system entirely without giving you so much as a "Thank you for flying" letter. Sad thing these airline bullies!! They have their cake and eat it to!

One more reason why TWA stands for The Worst Airline.

Perhaps an e-mail to TWA Customer Relations to alert them of the warnings their "customers" are issuing about them? Bad PR on a travel site visited by thousands may interest them. Thanks for the heads up Mark, and for sharing your experience. We will never join TWA's frequent flyer group after reading about your dealings with them.

Now I know why I don't fly TWA, but for the record, I'm having difficulty with American as well. Imagine if the airline industry was the gas company, phone company or even an Internet provider! There'd be hell to pay, but as long a we let them get away with this and continue to fly with them, they will continue this policy. Do they know we talk?? Let's make sure they do.

I'm not sure Mark is gonna have much luck with TWA, unfortunately. I've heard stories in the past about poor award redemption opportunities with them, and TWA continues to downsize by eliminating the "fun" routes to Hawaii, Europe, etc. For what it's worth, Continental has done right by me each and every time. This morning I booked New Orleans-London for the summer...Delta and Northwest both laughed since I was so "late," yet Continental gave me flight choices and couldn't have been nicer.

Kam, If you don't mind my asking, what kind of problem with American? I'd heard their program was the best last year, in regard to awarding FF seats. Therefore, it's the one I've joined; hope it wasn't a mistake! Thanks, and good luck, Mark!

Message: Mark -- If you go to a newsstand and pick up a copy of Conde Nast Traveller magazine and look in the table of contents, you will see that they have a terrific monthly column called "The Ombudsman." This is a column wherein people write in to complain of various bad treatment they have experienced (with documentation where possible), and the Ombudsman intervenes with the airline, hotel, cruise line, etc. to get a remedy for the customer. I highly recommend that you write in and see if they can help you. I bet they can -- I've seen many cases where people hit brick walls until Ombudsman intervened. Evidently airlines, hotels, and other travel-related businesses do not relish having it publicized that they treat their customers badly, and will go the extra mile to fix the problem when threatened with the publicity. Good luck.

Mark, if your letter to TWA was as clear and direct as your post, and if it was blown off with a form response by the folks at TWA's customer service operation, then there is an excellent chance that you are never going to see those tickets to Europe. How you proceed from here has to be determined by what you want to accomplish: a) get the ticket to which you feel you are entitled; or b) "punish" TWA. Punishment options include the following: You asked if there is a legal remedy. Probably, but frequent flyer programs are caveated thirteen ways from tomorrow. You are, after all, dealing with an airline, and airlines are well acquainted with liability and things legal. Your best bet lies with consumer reporters who, as you say, "might be interested in shining additional light on the subject." The most receptive will be with a local television station. Call them: the worst they can do is say "no." If what you really want are your tickets then, given your investment in time, you want to place a call to the TWA VP to whom you wrote that letter. Invest a few more hours in the process. Copy the letter to a few others in the chain of command, including an update that customer relations blew you off. Such letters actually get read (occasionally) by the people to whom they are sent. Just don't insult them by sending a "To whom it may concern." Web sites and laser printers make it possible to send a customized letter to a dozen people as readily as to one. What you're counting on is someone, somewhere in the TWA organization picking up the phone, calling the customer relations officer and saying, "issue the damn tickets." The best of luck. Let us know how it comes out.

To Ruth, Not trouble using AA advantage miles although sometimes connections are very bad from the West Coast to the East. For instance, I am connecting through Dallas next week from Pittsburgh to San Jose. It will take 3 hours from Pgh. to Dallas and then almost 4 hours to get to San Jose. Additionally, I have 45 minutes to connect in that very busy airport, so I expect to miss that flight and have to be very delayed to San Jose or fly into SFO, which is a disaster on its own. (the UA trip is one hour to Chicago and then 4 to San Jose) The first agent who took my reservation was so very helpful and said a confirmation would be faxed. No fax so I called again with locator number in hand. However, no such record of any of the reservations at all--actually was told some nonexistent flights!! Had to start all over again. No fax the second time. Called and told that it would be coming immediately. No such luck. Called again and was told that in fact it was a real paper ticket and would be coming in the mail. After 13 days of no ticket in the mail, went to AA ticket office (thank God we have one) signed a vocher for a lost ticket and got an eticket. We'll see next week. It's just a lot of little inefficiencies--and of course, now I'm in the center seat all the way across and back. The full fare value of the ticket is about $700 and I figure I could probably get to somewhere really wonderful for that, not Pittsburgh! Gripe, gripe, gripe, someone will probably tell me. Just double check on them all the time--especially when they say your AA number is in the computer--often it's not. I think UA is very slightly better but not enough to worry about. Good luck.

I sympathize with your plight in terms of frequent flier seats (as I am sure tons of other people do). My family is enrolled in just about every program (Except TWA) and combined we fly about 600,000 miles a year. We often have trouble getting award seats on every program except COntinental, which is willing to help you find a seat up until the last minute. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that we now reside in a resort area that is only serviced by prop plans. Anyway, I can also tell you that you have no legal claim against the airlines. If you read the fine print, you okayed a "contract" between the two of you that said the airline is a voluntary participant that can do just about anything that it wants. It can even take away all of your miles tomorrow, even if you have millions of them. Of course, they should honor your reservations. BUt when they changed the program, they probably limited the amount of seats, or the way in which you could get seats, with those awards. Normally they do this by giving you a period in which you can use the certificates for guaranteed seats and then a longer period where they honor the certificates but then don't guarantee seats right off the bat. Believe me, this is all legal. airlines are allowed to set aside only one or two seats per flight if they wish. If you do get the seats, you will be incredibly lucky, especially during the high summer travel season.

Mark, Neal is right. I am an executive secretary, and I can tell you that any customer letter received at the executive level of our corporation is handled immediately. The letter is usually forwarded to the proper regional manager and that manager is expected to provide a resolution for the customer. The manager must then call our office and report the outcome, and I create small briefings for the execs. They DO care. If a customer takes the time to learn the name of the president of an organization and directs a letter to that president, in my experience, they always receive a swift resolution to their problem. Good luck.

For the best award availability, fly Southwest. They don't have international destinations, but they also have almost no restrictions on their domestic award seats. If you're holding a free-flight coupon, the seat is yours if one is vacant. Twelve friends and I (yes, 12) are on the same flight to Florida next month and we're all using SW free tickets. I know of no other carrier which would allow 10% of the aircraft's seats to be booked by frequent fliers. The Southwest program is easy too...no miles but flight credits instead. Eight roundtrips gets you a free one. Book on the 'net and it's four roundtrips gets you a free one. Darn good deal!!!

For Suzy who replied on 5/11/2000: I wholeheartedly agree that additional followup with TWA is in order...and it's gonna happen! For others who might not be aware, there is a Web Page containing email links to virtually all of the major carriers, and the first one on the list is one to the U.S. Department of Protection's Consumer Protection Division. That Web address for the list is: http://www.onetravel.com/airfarerepo...ws2.cfm?id=117 I have also obtained the address and phone number for TWA's vice-president of customer relations. Unfortunately, I don't think the name Susan Ahl is correct for the person currently holding the position. However the Edgar-Online listing produces a nice list of the company's officers.

Hi Mark: Did a little research for you! The president and CEO of TWA is William F. Compton. The corporate headquarters is based in St. Louis and the phone number there is (314) 589-3000. If you call and obtain the address for corporate headquarters, you can send a letter directly to the president of TWA, bypassing all the PR and Customer Relations departments. Good luck, and if you do this, please let us know how it turns out!

For Suzy who replied on 5/12/2000: Thank you for confirming William F. Compton as the TWA president. I have also confirmed that the name Susan Ahl is the current staff vice president of customer relations...supposedly at 1-314-589-3600. That is one of those annoying phone numbers that never allows connection to a real person. So when it becomes time to try reaching a real person, it'll be on 1-315-589-3000!

For John ([email protected]) who replied on 5/11/2000. I've seen much of what you are saying about Continental's responsiveness to their frequent flyers. Could that be one reason why they came out as #1 on the JD Power survey, and with TWA as a distant second? The manner in which TWA is treating equity miles rewards seems to be a matter of policy. The equity miles are not regarded as important as miles earned later on in their program. This seems to be part of what is keeping seats from being released for assignment using equity miles. Check http://messages.yahoo.com/?action=q&board=TWA and then go to message 39306 for an example. It's sad that TWA is doing this to it's longest-running customers.

For Lisa who wrote on 5/11/2000: First, did anyone elso notice that the email address of the author has suddenly disappeared today? Just for the record, my email address is: [email protected] and I'm checking it frequently. I went straight to the public library right after you mentioned Conde' Nast Traveler Ombudsman, Lisa. I think that's an EXCELLENT approach, and have drafted a letter, along with documentation, that is going to be mailed to Ombudsman fairly soon. THANK YOU! I'll have more to post later on. In continuing my research, I'm finding a lot of unhappy TWA frequent flyers in very similar conditions to mine. Only difficulty is that they are spread too thinly among various Web sites. Seems like it's highly possible to link all those Web addresses here for a better picture.