So I have to give United Airlines some props. I know that on occasion I bash these guys for dreadful service or just a bad experience, but yesterday they done good.

I’m OCD about looking at my account and looking to use my miles for some elaborate trip to somewhere, but it had been about a week since I had looked at my account. So when I got a call yesterday from someone at United Airlines security saying they had seen a discrepancy with my account I was leery. The number on my cell was Chicago, their corporate HQ, but I didn’t know the person. So when I went on the website and tried to log into my account, the number didn’t work. At this point it was way past 6 PM CST, I tried the number and got a voicemail for said person at UA, but I still was leery. At this point I hung up called UA at the number I know and asked for help. The great agent on the phone told me after verifying who I was that they had an issue with my account and it was temporarily suspended, but she didn’t know why. She said the notes on my account said that I needed to call the number I was given via voicemail, to get this resolved. If nothing else, I knew that the person who called was legit. I was now a bit worried, but at least they were trying to help me.

Fast forward to today, I called the number back and on two rings got the person on the phone. Wow, when was the last time you got a human on the phone that called you and when you called back they actually answered. Kind of amazing. She proceeded to thank me for my loyalty as 100k flier and also 1 million mile flier. I’m not sure the last time one of the UA agents had said that. She then told me they saw very odd activity and had intercepted someone using my miles to buy stuff to the tune of 200k air miles. She didn’t elaborate how they caught this person (I use that term lightly), nor did she tell me why they thought it was fraudulent activity, but nonetheless they caught it and wanted to make it right. After about a 10 minute call, she was able to reverse the miles and get me access to my account. All I had to do was change my security code, and a few more pieces of information. The weird part was the jerk who used my miles changed my profile email address to a different one, so when I went in to make changes I saw it. Now in my haste I didn’t write it down, but in the process I realized that my personal info was on my account so I can buy stuff. I don’t really know what to do about that, but at least I was able to change what needed to be changed and hopefully move on from this lovely experience.

All I can say is that this whole experience was very very creepy, but UA did their part and fixed it. I have no idea how they got my pin number and account number, but it just means I need to be more careful. Oh well at least United was super proactive and took care of me, thanks for doing that. It’s stuff like this that makes me want to continue to be a loyal UA flier.