Airline Scam

[Rianne]

Last night I was reviewing our trip to Vancouver (Expedia) and I noticed our seats were not assigned from Vancouver to Dallas. The Expedia site said to contact American Airlines for any changes. I googled AA and a phone number popped up on Google. I pressed and got what I thought was an AA agent. I asked to assign the seats on the leg of the flight. Long story, bottom line they said this was a discounted airfare and purchased through a 3rd party, I'd have to pay to have seats assigned. The first offer, +$1000, I said no way, I can't afford that. Supervisor comes on, we can offer $300 per seat extra because this ticket was purchased through a 3rd party and there are no refunds. Scam! Be aware. It's happening on several airline sites. They had current flight information. DH and I figured it out eventually and hung up. I contacted Expedia and they resolved the seat issue. All good, but beware!

"Upon further investigation, Evers found that the Google listings for many major airlines were displaying fraudulent numbers."

"The scammers were able to do this via a local business listing for Delta customer service at JFK because Google allows members of the public to suggest edits to a company's contact information. This is done with the intention of providing people with the most relevant and up-to-date information, but some dishonest people try to use this feature to their advantage."

https://thepointsguy.com/news/airline-customer-service-scam/

 

[athena53]

Thanks for the warning. I typically try to avoid booking on Expedia and the others because when things go wrong each side blames the other. I did successfully use Orbitz once when they charged $300 less than the airline site for a Business Class flight to Europe so occasionally it's worth it.

 

[audreyh1]

I stopped booking through Expedia decades ago and one reason was difficulty with seat assignments.

Yeah, don’t Google phone numbers. Go to the airline site. Contact info will be there.

 

[Aerides]

So looks like two things here:

There is a scam operated by some unknown party putting fake numbers for airlines on Google - so you call that number and get some outrageous fee that would result in CC fraud and no seat in reality - lesson to always call the airline at the number on their actual website.

3rd party bookings can always result in things like no upgrades, no points, no seat assignments. You might have a lower price, but you will give up some nice-to-have stuff to get it. If you want a seat assignment, it's better to know your airline and book direct.

 

[athena53]

3rd party bookings can always result in things like no upgrades, no points, no seat assignments.

Yeah, I pretty much stopped using them to book hotels for that reason, unless the price difference was enough to justify it.

 

[BrianB]

Even worse, the entire web site can be taken over by scammers. Here's what happened to me a few months ago:

I was looking for an obscure part (wheel hanger bolts) for our van and found one auto supply company that carried them in stock. I ordered on line, but immediately things got sketchy.

1. I didn't receive an acknowledgement by email as the web site said I should.

2. The purchase showed up on our CC transactions as being in Belarus, not Kansas.

3. When I called the number on the web site it rang 6 times & then went to a full mailbox.

4. Within 24 hours I was getting notifications of attempted transactions in Belarus, Albania, and other East European countries.

I called the CC company and they were very helpful, sending out a new card that I got in 2 days and reversing all the scam transactions.

It turned out that the scammers had duplicated the entire company web site, put it on the web with a slightly different URL (easy to confuse), and changed the phone number and storefront to have contacts directed to their operations. It even showed up higher on the Google search list than the real company!

I called the actual company in Kansas and spoke with the advertising / marketing manager. At first he didn't believe what I was telling him but when he found the fake site he was shocked and said they would be getting it fixed immediately.

As always, caveat emptor.

BrianB

 

[Rianne]

I stopped booking through Expedia decades ago and one reason was difficulty with seat assignments.

Yeah, don’t Google phone numbers. Go to the airline site. Contact info will be there.

Expedia was great. They walked me through getting our seats for no charge. The CS agent was polite. I am a gold member of the OneKey points system. It's hotels.com/expedia/VRBO combined.

I did go to the AA website through Google. Typed AA.com and the fake number appeared on my screen. That number was in my recents after the call. I called it and again, scammers said they help senior citizens make changes to their flights. They have flight information. Again wanted CC to make changes.

 

[marko]

So looks like two things here:

There is a scam operated by some unknown party putting fake numbers for airlines on Google - so you call that number and get some outrageous fee that would result in CC fraud and no seat in reality - lesson to always call the airline at the number on their actual website.
.

I ALWAYS double check the URL when making a Google search. 90% of the time, the first result is not what I'm looking for and instead some alternate middleman "service"

Not necessarily a scam, but especially on hotel, restaurants and airlines, they try to intercept me from going directly.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, the Google search results are crowded with advertised links at the top and almost never what you want.

 

[Sunset]

Expedia was great. They walked me through getting our seats for no charge. The CS agent was polite. I am a gold member of the OneKey points system. It's hotels.com/expedia/VRBO combined.

I did go to the AA website through Google. Typed AA.com and the fake number appeared on my screen. That number was in my recents after the call. I called it and again, scammers said they help senior citizens make changes to their flights. They have flight information. Again wanted CC to make changes.

Sounds more like you searched with Google for AA.com and got fake results.
Perhaps confusing searching with going to the website directly (when you go directly you don't see a listing of various links).
This is not the same as going to the AA.com website, which you would have if you had typed into the URL bar of the browser "AA.com" without quotes.

Click on my link below and compare to what you saw with the fake phone number:

https://www.aa.com/

 

[Aerides]

Sounds more like you searched with Google for AA.com and got fake results.

Interesting. On the first page of google there is a american site with a .ie domain, that looks just like the .com site. Wonder if that's a fishing fake too?

 

[Librarian]

Yep, happened to me in July...got lucky

Last night I was reviewing our trip to Vancouver (Expedia) and I noticed our seats were not assigned from Vancouver to Dallas. The Expedia site said to contact American Airlines for any changes. I googled AA and a phone number popped up on Google. I pressed and got what I thought was an AA agent. I asked to assign the seats on the leg of the flight. Long story, bottom line they said this was a discounted airfare and purchased through a 3rd party, I'd have to pay to have seats assigned. The first offer, +$1000, I said no way, I can't afford that. Supervisor comes on, we can offer $300 per seat extra because this ticket was purchased through a 3rd party and there are no refunds. Scam! Be aware. It's happening on several airline sites. They had current flight information. DH and I figured it out eventually and hung up. I contacted Expedia and they resolved the seat issue. All good, but beware!

"Upon further investigation, Evers found that the Google listings for many major airlines were displaying fraudulent numbers."

"The scammers were able to do this via a local business listing for Delta customer service at JFK because Google allows members of the public to suggest edits to a company's contact information. This is done with the intention of providing people with the most relevant and up-to-date information, but some dishonest people try to use this feature to their advantage."

https://thepointsguy.com/news/airline-customer-service-scam/

Foolishly just Googled it (I should know better) & called to use a United credit.
The whole thing started to feel off...so I said I'm good...they KEPT CALLING ME!!
I finally texted & said all inquiries had to be on text (so I had a record) & suddenly they stopped.
They said it would cost several hundred $ to book but I said I have a credit so NO it should not.
Afterward I truly thought our credit was gone ($2400!), but THANK GOODNESS it wasn't & I did NOT give a CC number.

So PLEASE be SURE to go to the actual airline & look for their contact info.
Lesson learned--luckily not costly.

 

[audreyh1]

Sounds more like you searched with Google for AA.com and got fake results.
Perhaps confusing searching with going to the website directly (when you go directly you don't see a listing of various links).
This is not the same as going to the AA.com website, which you would have if you had typed into the URL bar of the browser "AA.com" without quotes.

Click on my link below and compare to what you saw with the fake phone number:

https://www.aa.com/

Yeah, a phone number does not appear on that first (home) page. You have to click on the Contact American link at the bottom and browse more levels from there.

 

[Librarian]

Yep

Interesting. On the first page of google there is a american site with a .ie domain, that looks just like the .com site. Wonder if that's a fishing fake too?

DO NOT just Google "xxx Airlines customer service phone number"

Go to your airlines website (ALWAYS double check the URL) & look for contact info.

 

[Sunset]

Yeah, a phone number does not appear on that first (home) page. You have to click on the Contact American link at the bottom and browse more levels from there.

I simply meant, when a person searches, they get a list of lots of choices... and have to click on a link to go to a site.

going to aa.com directly , means you don't have to click on a link to get there. Once you are there, sure a phone number might not be displayed as they want people to use the website.


I save all my links to places, example: Chase.com
I would never search for the site for Chase bank, as there are probably thousands of fake listings that could show up, just waiting for people who search, resulting in getting scammed. Just like the AA.com search does.

 

[audreyh1]

I simply meant, when a person searches, they get a list of lots of choices... and have to click on a link to go to a site.

going to aa.com directly , means you don't have to click on a link to get there. Once you are there, sure a phone number might not be displayed as they want people to use the website.


I save all my links to places, example: Chase.com
I would never search for the site for Chase bank, as there are probably thousands of fake listings that could show up, just waiting for people who search, resulting in getting scammed. Just like the AA.com search does.

I was also responding to what Riane posted earlier about the phone number being right there when she thought she had reached the AA.com site. Clearly she reached some other site.

 

[athena53]

Yeah, a phone number does not appear on that first (home) page. You have to click on the Contact American link at the bottom and browse more levels from there.

Yep. No airline offers up their phone number on the home page. They want you to use chatbots, text messages, the app...anything but a human.

 

[audreyh1]

Yep. No airline offers up their phone number on the home page. They want you to use chatbots, text messages, the app...anything but a human.

Exactly!

 

[Chuckanut]

FYI, something similar (though not a scam) can also happen with non airline Reservations.

I found out the hard way. It wasn't a scam, but it was a bit of a hassle. And it cost me 10% more for my room, their commission.

I thought I was dealing with a NP concessionaire. But, it was another service with a well thought out name that specialized in booking NP accommodations for people. I had two nights booked and decided to add a third. When I called the concessionaire, they informed me since I had used this service I needed to contact the service. I did and got my third night. And paid another 10% fee that is non-refundable. Lesson learned.

I don't consider it a scam since I did get the reservation that I requested. But, IMO, I do consider it a rather clever rip-off. Just my opinion since I can't see any additional value that they added versus using the Park concessionaire.

 

[Sunset]

FYI, something similar (though not a scam) can also happen with non airline Reservations.

I found out the hard way. It wasn't a scam, but it was a bit of a hassle. And it cost me 10% more for my room, their commission.

I thought I was dealing with a NP concessionaire. But, it was another service with a well thought out name that specialized in booking NP accommodations for people. I had two nights booked and decided to add a third. When I called the concessionaire, they informed me since I had used this service I needed to contact the service. I did and got my third night. And paid another 10% fee that is non-refundable. Lesson learned.

I don't consider it a scam since I did get the reservation that I requested. But, IMO, I do consider it a rather clever rip-off. Just my opinion since I can't see any additional value that they added versus using the Park concessionaire.

I've noticed this similar thing in ads for various lawsuits, they are simply sometimes a referral service (so must get a cut).

It's very complex as sometimes cruise companies offer a worse deal than some travel agent on the same trip.
So it's complex how can a referral service be cheaper than the original owner

 

[CardsFan]

The airline phone number scam must be the latest "thing". My neighbor had a similar problem with SW airlines. Though it was not really SW. He googled the phone number, and clicked on what came up.

Long story short, he was charged by the scammer but realized the mistake and got the charge reversed.

When he talked to the REAL SW, they told him this has been happening alot lately.

 

[audreyh1]

FYI, something similar (though not a scam) can also happen with non airline Reservations.

I found out the hard way. It wasn't a scam, but it was a bit of a hassle. And it cost me 10% more for my room, their commission.

I thought I was dealing with a NP concessionaire. But, it was another service with a well thought out name that specialized in booking NP accommodations for people. I had two nights booked and decided to add a third. When I called the concessionaire, they informed me since I had used this service I needed to contact the service. I did and got my third night. And paid another 10% fee that is non-refundable. Lesson learned.

I don't consider it a scam since I did get the reservation that I requested. But, IMO, I do consider it a rather clever rip-off. Just my opinion since I can't see any additional value that they added versus using the Park concessionaire.

Oh yeah, when searching for lodging I see lots of “middleman” sites trying to get in my way. Occasionally you have to hunt pretty hard to find the official site.