United Airlines’ status match system is a scammer’s dream – even our website went gold instantly!
About six months ago, United introduced a new status matching system. It automates the process of reviewing the credentials a member uses to request a match. It looks at your existing status and decides whether it appears valid, and regularly approves status matches immediately.
However, it seems that this new system doesn’t actually verify that what you submitted as proof of status on another airline is genuine. It just checks “that the format of the electronic card is correct.” And scammers, especially from China, simply make fake cards in the correct format to match United.
Generating a fake United status is quick and easy
In a way, it’s like my fake ID in high school. For $40, I had my real driver’s license signed over – new name and address, new date of birth. Suddenly I could buy alcohol with no problem. The format of my ID was correct!
Chinese have developed sophisticated electronic card generation systems where one only needs to enter a name, a fake membership number and an expiration date to create a card that qualifies for UA Gold, Platinum or 1K status. The approval rate for these applications is 100%. …Most of these people do not actually fly with UA, but use their status for benefits on other Star Alliance airlines such as Air China.
As one reader told me, “These sellers have created templates for dozens of other airlines and developed a tool that automatically generates various airline membership cards by simply entering a name. Their tool can also generate flight records and they even provide fake foreign address proofs (like fake utility bills) and fake passport photos.”
This website now has United Gold status
A reader pointed out to me how absurd United’s status match system is. He created a MileagePlus account on this website and upgraded it to Gold status. Needless to say, I have an airline status to compare, View from the wing not. This is the account he created so United could match someone named Viewfrom Thewing:
Obtain this status for collaboration with partners
United only grants temporary test status upon match, which may not be recognized by partner airlines. As a result, there is now also a fake United app “in which the ‘TEST’ status is replaced with a one-year validity period, effectively fooling ground staff.”
Instant Status Matching Seems Unstoppable
If you grant real-time status matches and match with fake credentials, it is impossible to prevent fake matches.
- United tries to close suspicious accounts, but this takes time
- And since these status matches immediately people submit them at the airport directly before check-in.
These individuals can create new UA Gold or Platinum cards in minutes, starting the vicious cycle. Some even register new UA accounts and reconcile status just before boarding a plane, making this fraud almost impossible to detect and prevent.
These status matches are costly for United and its partners
United has attempted to replace the manual, labor-intensive process of processing status matches – which takes forever and is a negative customer experience – with an automated process that lets people create their own status.
- They often use it with partner airlines (like Air China!).
- You get lounge access, which is expensive for United, and free checked bags, which means less revenue for the airlines
Mark Ross-Smith, whose Status Match (Loyalty Status Co) operates status match programs on behalf of 15 major airlines, explains:
We’ve seen a rise in Status Matching scams over the last year, but this isn’t about people Photoshopping fake Gold cards. It’s about users being matched with airlines that operate internal systems that have little to no protections beyond “does this screenshot look right?”
These users are assigned (without protection) to the respective airline and then one of two things usually happens.
Either this status is sold to third parties who then fly and do not have to pay for seats or baggage, but receive priority access, lounge access and additional miles and in many cases pass the burden of unrelated ancillary revenue onto their partner/alliance airlines.
The second result is that the user tries to transfer their newly acquired status (the so-called “insurance”) to another airline. If that other airline does not have the appropriate protections in place, they will see that the status is being transferred from one airline to another. The vicious cycle continues and the airlines continue to get ripped off by missing out on ancillary revenue.
United actually shared member information with competitors to combat status matching fraud. The airlines would tell each other whether someone “really” had status when they submitted information to them, and would deny status when people photoshopped their credentials. The airline has almost completely circumvented such efforts.
Their current approach seemed like a reasonable idea a year ago. Status match requests to United increased “dramatically” after Delta announced drastic changes to the SkyMiles elite program, and they had to do something to handle the volume. But this turned out not to be a good idea.
