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BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

jandaspen
Explorer C

I have been a loyal customer for SW for a number of years.  I love the flights, the ease of booking and especially the employees.  SW takes the stress of flying down a lot of notches!!!  I am thankful that I discoverd this  airline years ago and the credit card points that I earn for my many trips!  Sadly, I just had a very upsetting experience with my rapid rewards account.  I realized someone got access to my RR account and booked 47,712 points from my account.  I only ever book on line so I had no idea how they accessed it.  When I called SW and reported it, they told me the persons name and how they got in.  All they needed was my CC number, rapid rewards number which is on my cc, birthday and mailing address!  There was NO password required to get into that account, but I quickly added that as soon as I knew that was even an option.  I didn't even know that you could book directly through them that way.  So this person got into my account and hacked all those points.  PLEASE ADD A PASSWORD TO YOUR ACCOUNT, to save you the aggrivation of having this happen to you!  The bottom line is SW will not reimburse my points, so I am now unable to book my family Thanksgiving trip as planned.  Sad for all, that we have criminals out there that get away with this.  SW said they can't approach this person, even though they have his info.  I don't understand but it is what it is.  I am posting this in hopes of saving someone else the grief.  I still love the airline and will continue to fly it primarily, I just wish they could have helped me with my points

20 REPLIES 20

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

dfwskier
Aviator A

Sorry to hear about your experience.

 

Here's what I'd do:

 

1) Write (call?) Southwest and firmly remind the company that you are the vicitim of theft.

 

2) Demand that Southwest refund the miles to your account (if the thief hasn't yet travelled, SW cn cancel the ticket)

 

3) Demand that Southwest reveal the identity of the thief. Tell them you plan to file a olice report.

 

4) File a police report and have the police go after hm/her.

 

You said he needed your credit card number and your RR number plus a few other things to get into your account. Did he charge the TS A fee to your credit card. If so protest the erroreous charge, and have your bank cancel the old card. Doing that atleast insures that the thief won't be able to do it again.

 

As a point of reference, someone withdrew several hundred dollars in Discover Card rewards from my card 7-8 years ago. When I noticed it, I called Discover, and the company reinstated the funds.

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Unfortunately, others have reported that in similar circumstances Southwest does not reinstate points. 😞

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

dfwskier
Aviator A

As I said earlier, I'd advise that you contact customer relations.

 

If they are no help, I'd advise writing to Gary Kelley. He probably won't see your letter, but his administrative assistant will, and that person will refer the inquiry to someone higher up in the company than customer service. At the very least, your inquiry will receive a meaningful reply instead of the standard rote reply.

 

I've done this several times with other companies, and have always been satisfied with the result.

 

If you don't ask, you don't get.

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Sounds like they've already had extended contact with Customer Relations.

 

As we've discussed before, in my opinion it's unlikely a letter sent to "Gary Kelly" would get anywhere near his office. 

 

That said, the OP has nothing to lose.

 

jandaspen: Please do come back and let us know if you try any of the suggested additional steps, and if Southwest does anything differently for you. Good luck!

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

jandaspen
Explorer C

I am happy to report that SW did the right thing by me.  I love, love, love this airline!! I only wish they flew to more of 'my destinations'!!!!! 

They are going to follow up on this person and see what can be done for possible punishment. Sadly, it is up to the HONEST people in this world to make it more difficult for the crooks to get away with their bad deeds!  

 

Thank you Southwest for keeping this long time customer happy!  

 

 

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

dfwskier
Aviator A

Southwest is a VERY ethical airline that does try to do the right thing for it's passengers.

 

You are just the most recent example.

 

Glad it worked out for you, and thanks for sharing your experience.

 

 

 

 

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

chgoflyer
Aviator A

That's fantastic news! I'm so glad to hear they did the right thing in this case.

 

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

bec102896
Aviator A

glad to hear that contacting southwest has helped. hopefully the crook will learn a lesson when it is all set and done. 

 

Blake 

Re: BE CAREFUL of your rapid rewards points

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

Southwest told you their name, but not the confirmation number? As one of the other posters mentioned, if they used your credit card for the fees, then you have the information needed to call back and have the flight canceled.

 

Or alternately, can you call back and try to get the confirmation number, if you are entitled to that information as owner of the points?

 

This situation (and other similar fraud cases) is so strange, I can see one aspect from Southwest's viewpoint is that the points aren't technically for sale between individuals, but they don't know what personal agreements might exist between people booking flights for others and they can't necessarily just cancel someone's flight in case the booking had been made in good faith.

 

Then for the person committing the fraud, it's not like it couldn't be proven if they use their real name and ID to fly that they used the points, or that it seems so likely to me that the truth would come out and the fraudulent flight would be canceled.

 

Good luck. Common sense seems to say that if the flight hasn't taken place yet, that things could be remdied, and if the flight did take place then a police report seems to be one of your options.

 

 

 

 

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