This widow lost 610,000 American miles to a hacker — TPG helped her get them back

30.07.2024 - 14:59 / thepointsguy.com

The last trip Gail and Andy Goldberg planned together was supposed to be an exciting adventure to Brazil. Andy redeemed a whopping 610,000 American Airlines miles for round-trip business-class seats for their journey. They would fly from Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) to Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) via Miami International Airport (MIA).

But Andy was later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, forcing the Goldbergs to cancel their trip. American Airlines redeposited the miles into his account, and the couple hoped to be able to travel again after he recovered.

Sadly, though, Andy died several months later.

Gail says within 30 days of her husband's death, a thief hacked into his AAdvantage account and stole all those American Airlines miles, but no one told her. So a year later, when she felt ready to travel again, she was shocked when she logged into his account and found the miles were gone.

After unsuccessfully pleading her case with American Airlines over the phone and via email, Goldberg asked TPG for help. She hoped we could guide her in this mission to reclaim the miles Andy earned as a loyal AAdvantage member.

However, this theft had happened over a year ago, and American Airlines has a strict 90-day reporting policy for stolen miles.

Goldberg faced another roadblock, too: According to the terms and conditions of the AAdvantage program, the miles weren't even hers to reclaim.

This case is a cautionary one for anyone whose spouse or partner has died. It's essential to act quickly and request a transfer of any unused loyalty points. If you don't, thieves trolling obituary notices might just swoop in and steal the miles for themselves instead.

Here's what happened to Gail Goldberg.

In early 2022, the Goldbergs realized they had a hoard of American Airlines miles to spend.

"Andy was a longtime AAdvantage member and earned some of those points through travel," Gail Goldberg told me. "But primarily those American Airlines miles came through our use of a Citi AAdvantage Mastercard for nearly all of our credit card purchases through the years." (Goldberg was an additional cardmember on her husband's account.)

With pandemic-related travel restrictions finally subsiding, the couple began making plans for a trip to Brazil. Checking for points redemption availability on the American Airlines site, they were happy to see award tickets available on their preferred dates, albeit for a very large number of miles.

Redeeming the 610,000 AAdvantage miles for travel to South America was easy, and the Goldbergs soon had their confirmed business-class flights. They knew it was a lot of miles, but they had so many and wanted to take this trip so badly that it was worth it to them. Once the