There’s something at least kind of funny about this. Earlier in the week US Airways sent out an email to a lot of Dividend Miles members which read as follows:
“We know you love award travel…and we love seeing you happy! So, we added 1,000 bonus miles to your account.* We hope these miles get you a little closer to your next award trip. Keep flying and using Dividend Miles partners and you’ll be on your way in no time”
How nice, right? When’s the last time an airline actually loved seeing us happy? Apparently it has been a long time, since tonight US Airways sent out an email to most people that received the previous email, with the following text:
Earlier this week, we inadvertently delivered an email message to many of our Dividend Miles members’ email accounts. Unfortunately, one of those accounts was yours. Worse, this email incorrectly stated that we posted 1,000 Dividend Miles into your account. This was not accurate and the email message was sent in error.
We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you and appreciate your understanding.
I’m curious to hear what you guys think. On one hand it was an entirely unsolicited offer, so it’s like anyone jumped through any hoops to get the 1,000 miles. So no one lost anything. At the same time, they offered a gift and then took it back several days later. This wouldn’t have been all that expensive for them to honor, and if anything might generate buzz and more interest in their miles.
It’s kind of interesting to compare this to the recent British Midland incident, whereby they offered Silver status to new Diamond Club members, only to demote people from Silver several days later, claiming it was targeted (though their “oops” email was phrased a bit more harshly).
So I’m curious, which do you guys think is worse — directly offering someone 1,000 miles and then taking them back, or signing up for a frequent flyer program with the expectation of Silver status, only to be told you weren’t targeted for the promotion?
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