I cancelled my US Airways Visa card in July of 2005. At that time I was told that any air miles I had three year in which to use the frequent flyer miles. On March 4 2007 I called US Airways to make a reservation for my husband intending ot use his frequent flyer miles. I was told I couldn't use them because his account had been placed on inactive status. I the had them check my account to find the same result, inactive status. I asked the reservationist at the dividend miles service center to put the account back to active for the both of us. I was told the only way to do that was, 1. Pay US Airways $200.00/account or 2. Get a US Airways MasterCard and charge a $200.00 flight on US Air or one of their partner airlines. I was floored. I asked when the accounts had "gone inactive" and was told March 1, 2007....three days earlier! I told her that we had never received any notification of the changes to be made to the accounts. She replied that it had been in the news and a lot of newspapers. US Airways has both our home address and our e-mail address. And we were never notified of this.
The next day I phoned Customer relations only to be put on hold for two and a half hours. aawhen someone finally did answer I explained what had transpired between myself and the Dividend Miles Service Center. She offered to reconnect me with them! I explained that the Dividend miles center was who I was calling to complain about. So I requested to speak with a supervisor...I was put on hold for another 20 minutes then hung up on. March 5th I wrote to the Customer relations Dept. and explained it all again to a Stephanie Hebard. After corrosponding 7-9 times she asked for my account numbers, our names as thy appear on the accounts and our address all of which I sent to her. On a return letter she informs me that the Consumer relations dept can't resore the accounts for me but she sent all the info to senior management so it could be used as a tool for reviewing where and how they can make changes to benifit everyone. Then I received e-mail froma Fritzie Estimond which goes as follows: "I regret that you were not aware that miles are subject to forfeiture.
We have been communicating our mileage policy to former Dividend Miles
members since December 1999 through news releases, statements and on
usairways.com. We did not start enforcing our policy until we completed
the integration of the Dividend Miles and FlightFund programs in the
summer of 2006.
With the Mileage Reactivation Policy, miles are subject to forfeiture if the member has not had activity within 18 months. Your account shows
that your last activity date was 08/30/2005 and 27,329 miles were
forfeited. Your last activity date was
Members have three options to reinstate forfeited miles.
1. Pay $200 for your husband and reactivation fee which is based on the
number of miles being reinstated.
2. Earn miles with one of our credit card partners.
3. Purchase and fly a First Class or Envoy trip on US Airways / America
West in fare codes A. F, C, D or Z. (GoFirst, GoEnvoy, GoSleeper
upgrades are not valid to reinstate forfeited miles.)
These options are time sensitive. The timeframe during which you may
reinstate forfeited miles may vary, depending on your last activity date at the time you forfeited your miles and which option you choose. If you choose the option to earn miles with one of the credit cards or to fly,
allow sufficient time for the activity to post to your account as the
miles must post within 36 months of the above activity date. After that deadline, there is no option to reinstate the miles because miles are
permanently forfeited after 36 months of inactivity.
To reinstate forfeited miles, contact the Dividend Miles Service Center
at 1-800-428-4322. " I wrote back.."I regret that you were not aware that miles are subject to forfeiture.
We have been communicating our mileage policy to former Dividend Miles
members since December 1999 through news releases, statements and on
usairways.com. We did not start enforcing our policy until we completed
the integration of the Dividend Miles and FlightFund programs in the
summer of 2006.
With the Mileage Reactivation Policy, miles are subject to forfeiture if the member has not had activity within 18 months. Your account shows
that your last activity date was 08/30/2005 and 27,329 miles were
forfeited. Your last activity date was
Members have three options to reinstate forfeited miles.
1. Pay $200 for your husband and reactivation fee which is based on the
number of miles being reinstated.
2. Earn miles with one of our credit card partners.
3. Purchase and fly a First Class or Envoy trip on US Airways / America
West in fare codes A. F, C, D or Z. (GoFirst, GoEnvoy, GoSleeper
upgrades are not valid to reinstate forfeited miles.)
These options are time sensitive. The timeframe during which you may
reinstate forfeited miles may vary, depending on your last activity date at the time you forfeited your miles and which option you choose. If you choose the option to earn miles with one of the credit cards or to fly,
allow sufficient time for the activity to post to your account as the
miles must post within 36 months of the above activity date. After that deadline, there is no option to reinstate the miles because miles are
permanently forfeited after 36 months of inactivity.
To reinstate forfeited miles, contact the Dividend Miles Service Center
at 1-800-428-4322. I wrote her back saying.."I regret that you were not aware that miles are subject to forfeiture.
We have been communicating our mileage policy to former Dividend Miles
members since December 1999 through news releases, statements and on
usairways.com. We did not start enforcing our policy until we completed
the integration of the Dividend Miles and FlightFund programs in the
summer of 2006.
With the Mileage Reactivation Policy, miles are subject to forfeiture if the member has not had activity within 18 months. Your account shows
that your last activity date was 08/30/2005 and 27,329 miles were
forfeited. Your last activity date was
Members have three options to reinstate forfeited miles.
1. Pay $200 for your husband and reactivation fee which is based on the
number of miles being reinstated.
2. Earn miles with one of our credit card partners.
3. Purchase and fly a First Class or Envoy trip on US Airways / America
West in fare codes A. F, C, D or Z. (GoFirst, GoEnvoy, GoSleeper
upgrades are not valid to reinstate forfeited miles.)
These options are time sensitive. The timeframe during which you may
reinstate forfeited miles may vary, depending on your last activity date at the time you forfeited your miles and which option you choose. If you choose the option to earn miles with one of the credit cards or to fly,
allow sufficient time for the activity to post to your account as the
miles must post within 36 months of the above activity date. After that deadline, there is no option to reinstate the miles because miles are
permanently forfeited after 36 months of inactivity.
To reinstate forfeited miles, contact the Dividend Miles Service Center
at 1-800-428-4322. I wrote her back saying.."Dear Fritzie Estimond,
As I stated earlier, we were never made aware of the "time sensitivity" of our air miles. We were never contacted by mail or e-mail. You have both address' on file. Again I don't see how you can take away something we earned by purchase. My husband has taken USAir flights at least twice since Aug of 2005. We can prove that with his American Express end of year account statement. Would that satisfy your requirements? Sincerely, Mrs. Charlene Henderson They then passed off to Dinisse who responded.."Mrs. Henderson,
Thank you for contacting US Airways.
I regret that you were not aware that miles are subject to forfeiture.
We have been communicating our mileage policy to former Dividend Miles
members since 1999 through news releases, membership guides,
e-statements and on usairways.com.
We appreciate your continued patronage of US Airways.
Denisse Villatoro
Dividend Miles Service Center
Well now you know the story. We have been going around and around and getting no where fast. In my last letter to them I wrote the following.."Denisse Villatoro,
Although I thank you for your reply to my e-mail, my questions still have not been answered. Will you be restoring my and my husbands Frequent flyer miles accounts to active status? I assure you that we never received any notification of these changes and we have flown on US Air since these changes were made. I know this because my husband flew to Pittsburgh on US Air just last year on a ticket he purchased because no frequent flyer seats were available. I find it very disconcerting that a company as large as yours and who claims to want to have good relations with your customers would try to extort $200.00 dollars from us when we paid approximately $55,000.00 to accumulate these miles! We own those miles and since we were never told, written, called or mailed any information to the contrary we deserve those miles reinstated. If this is not resolved soon I will be writing the newspapers, my congressman, the SC Bar Association and the Consumer Affairs office of SC. The Webster's dictionary definition of extort is as follows: "To get (money,etc.) from someone by violence, threats, misuse of authority, etc." I feel you are threatening to take mine and my husband's air miles from us unless we pay you
$200.00. Anxiously awaiting to have this problem resolved to my satisfaction. Mrs. Charlene Henderson. I really do feel like we're being squeezed by them, but I don't know what to do.