It looks like a few frequent flyer programs have been seeing an increase in fraud lately, especially as it relates to last minute award tickets. Presumably this involves people either selling seats for last minute award travel, or otherwise people hacking into frequent flyer accounts in order to book last minute award tickets, when travel…
Continue reading: Delta SkyMiles Now Requires In-Person Award Ticketing For Some Countries Within 72 Hours
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Would the person in question need to be on Delta counter, or just its Skyteam partners (such as Garuda in Bali)? Is it possible to use power of attorney (by having someone else act on behalf of the mileholder) if the tickets need to be booked on Delta counter?
AA would never do this. They'd rather watch it happen and shut the brokers down completely afterwards 😉
Not sure, but I feel like many of these countries would have a return ticket requirement (or other proof of onward travel).
If it’s skymiles you can only book with delta therefore how can you show up at a China Southern counter in chengdu , Air France klm in Freetown or Delhi , garuda in Bali etc etc.
If you buy a ticket for a third party the member couldn’t present themselves ?
"It’s not like someone will hack into an account and then book an award for the person who owns the account."
At first glance, I agree with this. But perhaps this wouldn't catch impersonators trying to leave the country as the account holder? If you have to book in person, the airline rep could ask additional questions to confirm you are indeed the account holder (e.g. what were your last three flights on this airline?), whereas showing up with falsified documents (e.g. identification with your photo and someone else's name) would not get caught by pre-departure security?
Called Delta about this and was told if there is no Delta agent in the city you can’t get an award ticket within 72 hours and if you need to fly buy a revenue ticket.
does it have to be the airport of departure on that ticket? Say I'm in San Diego and want an award flight from LAX within 72 hrs. Can I go to the Delta counter at SAN to finalize the ticket?
This really makes no sense. A company can easily email/text/call you to verify that you booked an award ticket.
Is it surprising that they're taking a draconic measure to kill loyalty from members based in mainly non-Western countries?
it is not only about "members based in mainly non-western countries" but anybody who happens to want to fly out of such a country.
For example, KLM (FlyingBlue) has (or had) a similar policy, and although I am a based in the US, they insisted that I needed to visit their office to get a ticket issued out of Moscow for a flight within 48-hours. Of course I was nowhere near any KLM office and wouldnt be for another 24 hours.
The most ludicrous thing is exactly what Ben noted above: I was booking an award ticket in my own name, using a credit card to pay fees which I had used many times in the past with KLM... there was practically no risk for them.
As someone who frequently travels (sometimes on award tickets) to some of the countries listed above, if Delta really insists on this then I (as a PM) will make a scandal with them about it, because it is effectively a serious devaluation of the program because it demands something from me which is much more valuable than points: my time... I will spend 2-3 hours to visit their ticketing office... that is effectively increasing the price of such awards tickets by $300-500.
@ Andrew - intra is used to mean 'within' or 'on the inside'. The sentence in this article would read in a practical sense 'Specifically, award tickets for flights within Asia .........'