Emirates Skywards' Overzealous Account Audits

Good report. Now I’m considering Singapore first FRA-JFK or Lufthansa first again instead of Emirates first MXP - JFK. I don’t like hassles.

Yep - I have a friend in exactly this position. Transferred in 130k points from his bank, then booked two business class seats on mxp-jfk - one for himself, and one for his boyfriend. Exactly as described, Emirates locked his account and stated they were “Auditing” it. He provided his passport scan and other details well over a month ago and still hasn’t heard back.

The credit card is in his name as well. Pretty ridiculous.

On point. I am a travel advisor and a client of ours is currently in the middle of an audit. So far, it's been 3 weeks with no further feedback. At least when client followed up, they responded that they are "still working on it" (gee, thanks!). Client opened an account under his name, transferred from Amex and booked a ticket for himself and his girlfriend. Now, clients have to refrain from booking and flying Emirates for -who knows how long. This seems extremely unfair and unreasonable and defeats makes me EXTREMELY skeptical to transfer from credit cards to EK. Hope some higher-ups can do something to improve this (flawed) process soon.

I was going to transfer points in myself after opening an account w/ the Expo2020 bonus, but now going to pass. This is ridiculous what they're doing.

You mean, Emirates runs their loyalty program like how UAE runs their country? Great when things are going well, but when you're randomly targeted, you find yourself with no due process and little recourse.

It is nice how auditors, people who have something to do with information security ask to respond with passport scan attached to email.

Emirates used to be my airline of choice, but now I refuse to fly them. Their service, food, pretty much much everything has gone down the drain. The last straw was forcing me to throw out my duty free shopping at Dubai airport during my connection because they re-weighed my carry on, and the combined duty free bag weight was a few pounds over the carry on allowance.

My career is Information Security and this smells of a data breach that has gone yet undisclosed. For every breach you read about in the news, there are at least a dozen that are never disclosed.

Mark my words: Someone hacked into the Emirates system and ran away with all the account information. This is their attempt at trying to stop hackers from now selling tickets to the public -- that were booked with miles from innocent customers -- for-profit on the dark web or through online travel agencies. I'm 98% sure.

I transferred my points from prestige card to Emirates. All names matched. I didn't even book a ticket and I got audited, they are claiming fraud and won't open my account. I spent years accumulating miles and then they just block the account. It's criminal

Well I can always purchase a one way economy ticket outbound on Emirates from jfk to mxp and then use points to fly first on the return. I’m giving them business. Sorted.

Avoid dealing with Singapore/SIA and Krisflyer. In my experience they play dirty. I had a valid ticket booked with soon to expire miles. When weather caused the need to rebook on a different flight they promised they had to return the miles to my account and then rebook. The instant the miles were refunded they were erased as past the deadline. What was really dirty is that, when I complained, the phoned me at 3 AM every other night for the duration of my concern. My sanity required that I drop the complaint but they are, in my opinion dishonest and abusive.

I really appreciate this heads up. I was shortly going to book a trip for my father and myself to the UAE and Oman by transferring his Amex points to an EK account in his name, that I probably would have signed him up for day of transfer. Now I need to rethink this plan! Or at least register him for Skywards right now and do the transfer later.

Think amex and chase would have something to say about this

Unrelated, but hey, I know you're into boarding music and Etihad just got a new one, thought you might be interested :
https://youtu.be/XNUoM_OQZTU

Can someone advise if Qantas FF program is still affiliated with Emirates. I am hoping to book a ticket for 6months time using points.

I really don't disagree with you. While not as confident as you, this does seem like there's some cybersec issue that hasn't been disclosed. I still think they might be responding overzealously but I can't know without knowing what (if any) attack/breach occurred.

However, my reply is because you sounded like a riff on the meme "THIS LOOKS SHOPPED / I CAN TELL FROM SOME OF THE PIXELS AND FROM SEEING QUITE A FEW SHOPS IN MY TIME."

Hope you get the reference. I chuckled.

yep, same thing here. points transferred in from american express. bookings totally legit. all information provided. audit found we did something wrong but there was nothing that violated any rules. and now, we're left having to buy tix. not sure if we should file suit, contact amex, what we should do.

This post is almost exactly the same as it happened to me. I have collected my Skywards Miles over many years and then transferred them to a Skywards account created on the Amex website. Then I booked a flight for a total of 4 friends. I wanted to book a ticket for myself because my miles weren't enough for all of us.

One day later, an audit with a mountain of documents was required. Everything taught to get the mail again one day later. At the end there would be "activities in your account which are in violation of the Emirates Skywards Program Rules."

There were no activities whatsoever on my account except for the transfer of miles and the booking.

This is simply criminal

wondering if you opened the account the same day you transferred points and that's what triggered the audit? if you used a company that helps you use your own frequent flyer miles to book the ticket/travel agent and that's what triggered the audit? either way none of these is grounds for account to be held in some sort of purgatory! i'm going to contact american express. this is ridiculous.

I got the audit email today, transferred in about 500k points from Amex and citi prestige. Booked 2 award tix, 1 in F for myself and another in J for myself plus 2 other pax. Hoping they reply to my docs soon since I have a third award on hold, this is definitely overzealous.

Has anyone gone through this process, can you share if it is ever done in a reasonable amount of time?

My point redemption transaction got canceled when I tried booking my girlfriend's ticket after mine, and then my account got locked. It keeps telling me to reset the password, but that doesn't gain me access. Talked with a cs rep, and she basically said I have no power other than making a manual reservation for you, talk to the guys in the back office, who can't be called directly for some reasons so I have to initiate a live chat session and ask them to get me in touch with the "back office." Got an email address of [email protected] (seems consistent with the post), and was told to attach a copy of my passport (also consistent with the post) and hopefully they'll get off their ass and restore access to my account so I can book my ticket.

I transfer my points from my Amex account and booked ticket for myself. They put my account under audit. I sent them documents they asked but they have not opened my account. I did not book ticket for anyone other than myself from account but they still put my account on hold. I sent few emails after sending in documents but they don’t seem to care. Do not transfer your points in to emirates as they can just lock your account without any explanation. They are thieves. I would choose another airline.

Exactly same happened with me...its very irritating not to have anyone to speak to and just wait "forever" for the email reply

Just happened to me for my recent booking to my Family in Dubai. We had a ticket book with miles using a family account and miles used various family members to get a reservation done. The Fraud department flagged the reservation and denied the reservation with no clear explanation of why other than a suspicion of a violation. They don't take the time to ask detailed questions nor offer alternative options to resolve the issue.

I believe this situation should have been handled much better than it was with a direct cancellation of tickets. Here are some better ways I believe the department should have handled it:

1. Have a conversation over the phone with an agent to discuss the conditions and explain the problems to the customer and give them a chance to provide further information regarding the violation to help clear up the violation
2. Offer alternatives to keep the ticket and possible reverse the violation if it was done mistakenly and 1st time offender that is not aware of all the terms.
3. Once the cancellation of the tickets the taxes and fees should be returned automatically as the tickets have been cancelled and the taxes will not apply. Explain possible alternatives to keep the existing miles and explain clearly how the accounting was done for the miles restored.

This would offer a more equitable way of resolution and transparency to the process. This is a sure shot way to lose faith with genuine customers who have been travelling with Emirates for many years. I am not sure if Emirates would be my 1st choice to travel to Dubai anymore. I have to now find an alternative to fly to enjoy my holidays with my family. They certainly ruined it.

Emirates put my Skywards account into “Audit” today. I had opened the account, converted American Express Bonvoy Points to Skywards miles, and booked flights in my name and my spouse’s (different) name all within a week’s time. I am happy to report that Emirates resolved the audit status within 12 hours (I sent them a photo of my passport) and I am booked, ticketed, and ready to fly! I am pleased to give them high marks for customer service (both in booking my flights with holds while my points transferred, and promptly resolving the audit status). Hopefully the audit issue’s discussed in this article are a thing of the past.

I opened an account, transferred points to upgrade my flight
Now im audited...
I cant even access my flight to cancel is and its in days... this is BS... I dont want this flight without the upgrade, the miles upgrade is available but I cant login... do I just eat the ticket now??? Wtf its 4k usd
Such BS ... I already hate Emirates and just want to cancel everything and get my money back
I called on hold for 2 hrs

did they resolve the issue? if yes, how quick?