Introduction
A reader told me this story recently. When he tried to log into the United Mileage Plus X app, he received an “Error 126.” He then emailed their customer support team and they told him it was due to a fraud check and he was supposed to wait 14 days to try again. Here is their email (bolding mine):
Accounts are reviewed every 2 weeks. It can take two weeks for the system to reset and unlock the account. This is set up for your protection. If you attempt to use the app within that 14 day time frame the system will recycle and begin counting the 14 days again. I have reviewed you account and see you have attempted to purchase everyday. We understand your frustration, but please refrain from using the MileagePlus X app for at least 14 days.
This was the 3rd or 4th email from them, and they took their sweet time to tell him that each time he tried to log in, it reset the 14 day clock.
United account blocked
After waiting a full 14 days from that last email, and a total of 30 days since the block, when he tried to log on, he got this screenshot:
It turns out United shut down his frequent flyer account due to “fraud.” I can assure you there was no fraud involved.
What led to the account closure?
I asked the reader more details and he told me he had created the United account back in August 2015 and has never flown or did anything with the account until this past April. That’s when he bought gift cards from MPX. He was buying about $1000 a day until one day he went up to $2,500. His last day was around mid-May. The next day, when he tried to use the app, that’s when he got the Error 126. In total, he had earned ~9,000 miles from MPX and had a total of 15K United miles.
Lessons Learned
He’s going to try to appeal the ‘fraud’ since there was no fraud. I think they assumed by him racking up so many miles in such a short time appeared to be fraud, especially on a new dormant account. I do know of 2 other people who are currently locked out of MPX due to the same issue, but they have seasoned accounts and have flown United. The lessons learned here are a) in this instance, the pigs do get fat and b) [new] dormant accounts that rack up a 5 figure miles in a span of a week may look fraudulent to United and they may shut down your loyalty account. Slow and steady is the play with MPX folks.
Mayby he found that gift card that process on mastecard network.
What is the play here with GCs bought through MPX?
card bonus + discount on MPX
So 3x on the card and 2-3 miles on MPX — how is that a play? For personal use, sure. But I cannot fathom a way to profit from this… Am I blind?
Don’t they sell discounted gift cards sometimes?
Not to my knowledge. That would be a factor, no doubt.
Maybe there’s a GC on there that you can’t easily get elsewhere for 5% off in scale…
That sucks.
haha that’s an understatement.