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Thread: United Airlines accidentally "sold" trips to Hong Kong for 4 frequent flier miles -- then canceled it

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    United Airlines accidentally "sold" trips to Hong Kong for 4 frequent flier miles -- then canceled it

    Interesting story:

    http://www.frequentflier.com/blog/ab...t-flyer-miles/

    Basically, United fucked up and accidentally offered a trip to Hong Kong for 4 miles (worth about 12 cents) plus a $40 processing fee.

    Upon realizing what they did, United contacted the purchasers and told them that the offer was retroactively canceled, and their money/miles were being refunded.

    People got pissed and filed a complaint with the Dept of Transportation, who ruled for the airline.

    I am usually hard on companies when they do shit like this, but I'm actually on United's side on this one.

    It's one thing when a company offers a misleading promotion and then doesn't want to pay out what people thought they were getting, but this was clearly a mistake.

    I don't fault fliers for trying to take advantage of this, but they also have to accept the fact that United caught the mistake and fixed it within a very short time. (It's not like they canceled people's flights the day they were flying!)

    The law varies on this from state to state, but generally the law states that egregious, obvious mistakes on special offers are NOT the responsibility of the company to cover, unless it appears to be intentional or reasonable. By "reasonable", I mean that it's something that the average consumer could legitimately believe is a real offer, rather than an obvious mistake.

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    What a non Jew opinion. Kind of proud of you here druff. But I side with the consumer.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spookygook View Post
    What a non Jew opinion. Kind of proud of you here druff. But I side with the consumer.
    I believe in getting what you pay for, not defrauding companies.

    I don't mind people who attempt to get what they can out of the airlines (I admit -- I would have signed up for the 4 mile promotion too), but you can't bitch when the airline catches the mistake and takes it away, as long as it's within a reasonable amount of time.

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    Gold anonamoose's Avatar
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    I hate flying united, but they have one of the best reward programs out of all the US based mileage programs.

    Cashing in on several ipad mini's once they are up in the store.

    Edit: I usually fly air canada and give them my star alliance number which goes to my united.

    pro-tip: Bitch about your service every single flight and you'll get at least double miles.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by anonamoose View Post
    I hate flying united, but they have one of the best reward programs out of all the US based mileage programs.

    Cashing in on several ipad mini's once they are up in the store.
    I have like 150k United Miles, and always assumed that their store is a terrible value compared to using the miles for flights.

    Am I wrong?

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    Gold anonamoose's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by anonamoose View Post
    I hate flying united, but they have one of the best reward programs out of all the US based mileage programs.

    Cashing in on several ipad mini's once they are up in the store.
    I have like 150k United Miles, and always assumed that their store is a terrible value compared to using the miles for flights.

    Am I wrong?
    No you are correct. The best value for your miles is first/business class saver ticket for international flights. You will get around 3-4 cents per mile for them and sometimes as high as 5-6 cents. Domestic it falls anywhere between 1-2 cents per mile and as far down as a 1/2 cent.

    The store will vary depending on what level you are. You start to get discounts on the store based off of how high a level you are. At a basic level or standard membership it's almost not worth it, but if you hit 1K or global services, the store is pretty bank and you can get 1-2 cents per mile.

    What I meant though when I said best is they offer the most reward flights, and significant amounts of rewards to their members. Once you hit platinum level (75000 award miles in a year) they will actually pay for the global entry which is the skip straight to the front card at US immigration (this is pretty sweet to have if you don't already have it because they are going to start doing TSA pre-security scans where you essentially do a quick check without taking off the shoes and removing all that crap and then you skip over security).

    United might be the worst service, but their rewards programs offer a lot.

    Compared to Air Canada or Delta there just isn't as much offered and it is actually more costly most of the time.

    However, Air Canada flights are much more pleasant, business class tickets are first class tickets on international flights, and it's usually cheaper than most US airlines I've flown. This is where the Star Alliance really is awesome because I don't need an Aeroplan (Air Canada rewards) and can go straight to my United miles without any fees.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Spookygook View Post
    What a non Jew opinion. Kind of proud of you here druff. But I side with the consumer.
    I believe in getting what you pay for, not defrauding companies.

    I don't mind people who attempt to get what they can out of the airlines (I admit -- I would have signed up for the 4 mile promotion too), but you can't bitch when the airline catches the mistake and takes it away, as long as it's within a reasonable amount of time.
    Not trying to go back and forth on this, I hate airlines. If this was a retard selling roses for a dime on the dollar there would be no recourse. Since a mega million company puts out a negative value sale they get to re-neg because govt. is on their side. Fuck that

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    Plutonium sonatine's Avatar
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    Pretty sure there is a ton of case law that states clearly that a misprint in an ad doesnt have to be honored.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sonatine View Post
    Pretty sure there is a ton of case law that states clearly that a misprint in an ad doesnt have to be honored.
    Yup, as long as the "misprint" is not something that could be rationally believed to be a real price.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Spookygook View Post
    What a non Jew opinion. Kind of proud of you here druff. But I side with the consumer.
    I believe in getting what you pay for, not defrauding companies.

    I don't mind people who attempt to get what they can out of the airlines (I admit -- I would have signed up for the 4 mile promotion too), but you can't bitch when the airline catches the mistake and takes it away, as long as it's within a reasonable amount of time.

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    Bronze SilkRoad's Avatar
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    how do you even come across "news" like this?

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    Diamond Hockey Guy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SilkRoad View Post
    how do you even come across "news" like this?
    This was the talk of the travel forums a few months back.
    (•_•) ..
    ∫\ \___( •_•)
    _∫∫ _∫∫ɯ \ \

    Quote Originally Posted by Hockey Guy
    I'd say good luck in the freeroll but I'm pretty sure you'll go on a bender to self-sabotage yourself & miss it completely or use it as the excuse of why you didn't cash.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hockey Guy View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by SilkRoad View Post
    how do you even come across "news" like this?
    This was the talk of the travel forums a few months back.
    I think the decision from the DOT just came down about 2 weeks ago, which renewed interest in the story.

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