theft of flight information?

[farmkid]

Has anyone heard of this happening before? Here's the deal: My wife went to California with our infant daughter for a few days to attend her brother's wedding. She is supposed to be flying home today. Well, this morning she went online to check in for her flight and her check in information didn't work. After a little more digging and a call to the airline, she found out that her confirmation number has already been used and according to their records, she flew home yesterday. Then, she goes to her email and there's a message from Priceline (sent 10 minutes after her flight opened for checkin):

We have received notification from your airline that your reservation has been changed according to your request, or has been cancelled due to day-of-travel flight cancellation or traveler no-show.

Because these changes have been made directly with or by the airline, any questions regarding your itinerary should be directed to the airline; we will be unable to address any questions or requests regarding this reservation. Please call Delta Air Lines directly at 1-800-221-1212, and reference the following Airline Confirmation number:...

So apparently, someone changed her flight, then never used the flight. They're going to try to get her home today, but I don't know when that might be. Maybe she'll get lucky and get on the same flight she was supposed to be on since there should be a seat available now. However, it was about full when we booked the flight 2 months ago, so that seat may be gone now.

Is this a scam that happens? Or is it more likely that Delta just screwed up somewhere?

 

[Lindley]

Curious. She should have the original confirmation available when trying to resolve the situation.

I'd be inclined to suspect incompetence before a scam. Especially with Delta.

 

[Captain Ice]

My first suspicion would be that Delta screwed up. It is Delta after all.

My first step would be to call the airline directly and tell them that this has happened and they need to fix it. Also, I would tell them that if they cannot get her on her original flight, they need to bump her to first class for the hassle.

 

[farmkid]

I talked to her a little while ago and she was at the counter talking to an agent. Apparently what happened is that someone with a very similar name checked in and somehow the two reservations got mixed up. It looks like they'll be able to get her on the right flight.

 

[scotpens]

^^ In a perverse way, it's almost refreshing that a simple screw-up like that can still happen in this electronic information age. I mean, mixing up the reservations of two people with similar names? That's the kind of thing that happened back in the pen-and-paper and teletype era.

 

[farmkid]

My wife's name is Diana. Apparently, a woman with the name Dian and the same last name checked in the day before and the agent somehow combined the two reservations. It's good for the other woman that my wife got it sorted out because the other woman still has to make her return flight. Before fixing the mixup, the other woman's flight showed as completed, so she would have also had problems when she tried to check in for her return flight. Oddly enough, the agent my wife talked to was the same one who talked to the other Dian the day before and caused the whole mixup in the first place.

In the end it turned out well for my wife. She got back fine and ended up in first class. As I mentioned, she was flying with our 3-month old baby. She was a lot more comfortable holding the baby with the extra room, and it was much easier for her to nurse the baby when she needed to (properly covered, of course). The other first class passengers gave her dirty looks when she sat down with a baby in first class, but it turned out fine.

 

[Mary Ann]

Ach, screw the other passengers. Your wife and baby have just as much right to travel first class as any other passenger. I'm glad to hear the problem was resolved and that they're home safe and sound.

 

[Holdfast]

You know, I've wondered about this kind of theft before. I mean, the security to access flight details, online check-in, etc. seems a lot looser than most internet accounts. For instance, BA just require your surname and a short booking code. You'd think that would be pretty simple to break into, but I guess not...

 

[Gov Kodos]

Another fine loop hole that the TSA either doesn't know about or doesn't care about, nail files and such being so much more important.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I'm betting this was a Delta screw-up.

It doesn't really made sense that someone would steal the reservation (to try and use it), because they would need a photo ID to get through airport security to get to the flight, which they could not produce. Plus, they would likely need a driver's license or credit card, just to check in at the kiosk. There would be no gain from stealing the reservation, therefore, unless they were able to get a reimbursement for an unused portion of the flight....but even that would be difficult because the airline would likely want to credit it back against the same credit card that was used to purchase it to begin with.

Yeah...I'm betting on a Delta screw-up.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

It doesn't really made sense that someone would steal the reservation (to try and use it), because they would need a photo ID to get through airport security to get to the flight, which they could not produce.

I was going to say, maybe it's just because I fly to the US a couple of times per year, and I've booked flights for authors coming to Polaris from the US, but I've always had to enter a passport number, which then gets checked against my reservation when I check in. It seems odd to me that a mixup like this could occur.

Mind you, I can only think of one time I've ever flown domestically (when I going to Winnipeg), and since I don't have a driver's license, I probably used my passport for ID then as well as I had no other valid photo ID. So I have no idea what normally happens for domestic flights.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

^ Well, in the US (at least at Hartsfield), when you check in at a kiosk, you have to either swipe a credit card or show a driver's license - that is to check in.

But after that, when you go through airport security, you have to show a photo ID with your ticket/boarding pass - both the names and the photo have to match before you can continue through security and onward to the gates.

It is this portion of the process in particular that would make it really pretty pointless to swipe someone's reservation for actual use.