On Saturday I wrote about my displeasure with US Airway's handling of their botched email promising many of their Dividend Miles members 1,000 points.
Well, today I decided to call and ask a phone rep for the miles, because I heard some people had success doing just that.
I called 800-428-4322 and then hit 3 for Dividend Miles. I entered my Dividend Miles number and zip code when prompted by Alan, their chipper automated machine. I then hit 0 when they started rattling off my account information and was immediately transferred to a phone rep.
Me: "Hi there. I got an email from US Airways recently promising me 1,000 free miles and they still haven't showed up in my account."
Rep: "Oh really? When did you get this email?"
Me: "I think it was Tuesday - it said miles would be waiting in my account, but I checked all week and they still aren't there."
Rep: "Please verify your account number, address and phone number"
Me: Provides details.
Rep: "Sir, thank you so much for your patience. I've just added the 1,000 points to your account so your new balance is xxx,xxx. Have a great day"
Me: "Thanks, you too!"
Lo and behold my account already shows the new "Customer appreciation bonus" miles. I am not elite with US Airways, so I was surprised I got the miles. If you have a couple minutes, it might behoove you to give them a ring and ask for the miles. As much as people say this isn't a PR nightmare - I agree, it's not a nightmare - it sure isn't good. I don't know whether this manual addition of the miles is a new directive, but I imagine it has something to do with the bad press generated like this, this and this.
Either way, get your free miles while the phone trick works. Please report your success/failure with this method below.
