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US Airways' Mileage Mess
Charles Leocha · February 3, 2004

A "misinterpreted" internal memo circulated to the US Airways reservations staff may have cost frequent fliers tens of thousands of miles last week.

The error, which affected travelers booking premium award tickets, applied to reservations made between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2. An airline spokeswoman said reservations agents had been misinformed about an increase from 40,000 miles to 50,000 miles needed for a premium ticket.

According to the spokeswoman, the change in required miles is not supposed to come into effect until next year. US Airways hasn't made a decision yet about refunding miles overpaid by frequent fliers.

Don't wait for the airline to do something. Here's how I got my miles back:

I tried to make four reservations on Jan. 20, between Manchester, NH, and Tampa, Fla. I was told at that time that seats were available. However, each coach seat would require 50,000 miles since the 20,000-miles seats were unavailable. At that time, I said that I was under the impression that premium award tickets on US Airways flights were only 40,000 miles rather than 50,000.

I was informed that the rules changed as of January 27th.

Dismayed, I asked to have the seats put on hold. The reservation agent then informed me that said 50,000-mile tickets would only be available for elite members of Dividend Miles as of Friday morning. She suggested that I make the purchase of the tickets immediately. Otherwise, ticketing would not be allowed the following morning.

I approved the ticketing for a total of 200,000 miles.

That night, I was bothered by the change in mileage requirements. Something seemed amiss. Heck, I am a travel expert. How did this change slip past my radar screen?

The next morning, I went online to see how the Dividend Miles Agreement had been altered. To my surprise, there were no changes. The online requirements were only 40,000 miles, not the 50,000 miles being demanded by US Airways reservations agents.

I called the US Airways reservations number again.

Once again, the reservation agent insisted that 50,000 miles were required as of January 27th. I was just out of luck. I protested that the Web mileage requirements on the screen in front of me said only 40,000 miles were required. Again the reservation agent told me I was wrong.

She went on to explain that the US Airways Web operations have nothing to do with the US Airways telephone reservations. I was told to go back to the Web and make my reservations there.

I called back once more to see if perhaps another reservations agent might have another story. But, once again, 50,000 miles was quoted as the rule.

I then called the US Airways online support number and spoke with an agent. They assured me that 40,000 miles was still the rule.

So I made reservations for award tickets between Boston and Tampa on the Web for 40,000 miles and received printed confirmation that my seats were on hold for three days.

I again called US Airways -- twice. I explained that the Web was asking for 40,000 miles while they were insisting on 50,000 miles. They could see both reservations in the system. Both times the reservations agents expressed confusion but after several minutes of checking the rules and regulations, they concluded that 50,000 was the proper rule and said they couldn't figure out the Web rule.

I then asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor looked at both reservations and told me that she would cancel the 50,000-miles tickets from Manchester and annotate my record so that the Frequent Flier Service Center could redeposit my miles with no fees on Monday morning. (The service center closes at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Friday night and is not opened over the weekend.)

On Monday morning, the service center redeposited my miles and I went online and finished the ticketing for the Boston-Tampa flights.

I then called the US Airways corporate communications office and explained what had happened. They researched the matter and concluded that this was a case of miscommunication. They assured me that the matter was being remedied as were speaking.

I asked about reimbursing passengers who had been inadvertently charged 50,000 miles rather than 40,000. The answer from the US Airways spokesperson was, "We'll look into it."

When tens of thousands of frequent flier miles are in question, I suggest that frequent fliers keep close tabs on the airlines. Follow up with your complaints. Read the rules. Don't believe what the reservations agents say, if it is contrary to written rules.

Don't expect the airlines to be on your side and to make things right. This "miscommunication" should be investigated to ensure that passengers who had their pockets picked get their miles reimbursed.

Use your miles now. This crack in the US Airways information system tells frequent fliers, unequivocally, that plans are in the works to devalue your miles by raising mileage requirements.

Charles Leocha is a commentator based in Boston.