Did I Really Win Two Free Tickets on "US Airlines"?

Yesterday, my husband Bill handed me a strange looking letter I had received in the mail. The letter had the appearance of a government document, the kind that come from agencies like the Internal Revenue Service. In order to open the letter, I had to tear two stubs on either side of the document and then unfold it. Bill had already told me that the letter appeared to be junk, but I noticed at the bottom of the document under my name, it read "Notice Urgency: EXTREME". I also noticed to the left, there was a small notice that read that the contents were not from the government. I was curious, so I went ahead and opened the the letter, which read:

"Dear Jennifer,

Enclosed is your airline ticket voucher. This voucher is good for a certificate for 2 round trip airline tickets to anywhere in the continental US from any major international US airport.

This voucher must be certified to be valid.

We have been tasked with notifying you of this award. We have attempted contacting you several times. Note that this award must be claimed by January 19th, 2011.

If you do not claim your award, it will be transferred to the alternate. This is a limited time offer and can be withdrawn at any time. Flights fill quickly.

This will be your last chance to respond.

Please reference your claim number XX-XXXXX

Note: This is not a timeshare or land sales offer.

Sincerely,
Awards Department"

At the bottom of the letter, there was a big notice to call a toll free number to claim my "2 round trip airline tickets worth up to $1400." Below that, there was a fake looking flight coupon for an outfit called US Airlines, which had a slogan that said "Fly the US Skies". I was immediately skeptical, of course, because I had never heard of US Airlines. I have, of course, heard of US Airways and American Airlines. And United Airlines has been used the familiar slogan, "Fly the friendly skies" for years. And the tone of the letter was high pressured, but vague.

My "baloney alarm" was sounding big time, but I was curious to find out what other people had to say about this mysterious letter, so off I went to Google.com, where I entered the search term "US Airlines". As I was typing, I got a suggestion for "US Airlines award notification". I clicked on that search term and came up with a whole list full of results. I clicked on the first one, which took me to a travel forum hosted by Fodors, a very respectable travel resource. Back in April 2010, a poster calling himself nimbus109 reported that he had received a letter very much like the one I got. He called the toll free number and was told that in order to claim the tickets, he needed to attend a 60 minute "meet and greet" session to "consider using a travel agent", and then he would get the tickets with "no strings attached".

A couple of other posters responded that they had signed up for the meeting. One poster said that his session was cancelled and the "awards department" had told him that they would let him know when another session was available. Another poster said that he had attended the spiel and it was for a travel club called DVI, while yet another poster said his presentation was given by an outfit known as Serenity Travel. Both posters indicated that the clubs required attendees to pay $7,000 to $10,000 to join and that by joining, they would get deep travel discounts. Reading these accounts immediately reminded me of an article I wrote for the Yahoo! Contributor Network about DirectBuy back in 2006.

I was still curious about US Airlines and the "travel clubs" that were alluded to on the Fodors forum. First, I searched for "DVI travel", and soon came up with yet another list of results indicating that DVI, which stands for Destination Vacations International, is affiliated with a number of so-called travel clubs, including Serenity Travel. I decided to poke around DVI's Web site, which I must admit is very attractive and looks legitimate. However, when I clicked on the tabs for vacation condos and cruises, I was taken to a log in screen, indicating that those sections were private "for members only". The secretive nature of the site also reminded me a bit of DirectBuy.

When I clicked on the Contact Us tab, I noted the following statement:

"DVI was founded on the principles of wholesale pricing. The officers of DVI have over 50 years experience in the travel industry. We have mastered a way for clients to stay in Four and Five Star accommodations for a week or longer at wholesale rates. With access to over 5000 resorts worldwide we are sure we will fulfill all of [sic] vacation needs. Simply let one of our trained agents book the vacation of your dreams!"

Aha! Yet another similarity to DirectBuy is the mention of wholesale pricing. You pay upfront for the privilege of getting goods at wholesale prices instead of having to pay retail.

I decided to do some more research into the mysterious US Airlines and found a blog written about the letter I had received. A number of people had commented on the enticing offer and there were even scanned versions of the exact letter I got in the mail. A poster named George said that he spoke to one of the representatives on the phone. The operator he spoke to told him that the "Awards Department" was marketing for a company called Universal Travel Vacations. George said that the operator promised him the plane tickets would be his "free and clear" if he attended a 90 minute presentation and paid $50 for "taxes".

I was curious about Universal Travel Vacations, so I let my fingers do the walking again and went looking for their Web site. Universal Travel Vacations' Web site was the first one that actually mentioned the presentation, and I have to admit, the information I gleaned was very interesting. When I clicked on a link called "About your appointment", I was taken to a page that read:

"The promotional gifts are highly valuable and it is important that we make sure that they are issued to the proper individuals so please remember to bring the proper identification as these locations are not open to the public and are by appointment only. Appropriate identification is a photo ID, such as a driver's license or state issued ID as well as a major credit card. Note credit cards are only utilized for identification confirmation and will never leave your possession."

The people running Universal Travel Vacations must realize that insisting on a credit card is a bit suspicious. That's why they reassure potential appointment attendees that the credit card will never leave their possession. Someone on the Fodors forum had mentioned that the operator he spoke to had told him he'd need "proper identification" when he showed up for his appointment. The poster said he offered a driver's license and a passport and was told that one form of identification must be a credit card or a checkbook. Oh, and if you're planning to use a debit card or an ATM card, don't bother. Universal Travel Vacations states on its Web site that neither of those two cards are acceptable. You must present a credit card.

Clicking on the "About us" tab on the Universal Travel Vacations tab will get you some very vague information about how the company is "the nation's leader in travel agency promotional appointments" and is growing, with more than 12 different locations. Given the information I unearthed about Destination Vacations International and Serenity Travel, my guess is that the other locations might be under those names.

You know the old saying... "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is..."

Full disclosure here. I did not call the number on the letter I received. To be honest, the reason I didn't call was because I had just read a scary article about how thieves use tricky measures to get personal information about people and commit credit card fraud. It didn't occur to me, at least at first, that getting that letter in the mail would lead to finding out about a travel club.

I don't know if anyone has actually signed up for this club and been satisfied with it. I have, however, found lots of evidence of people who have signed up and were very sorry. If you happen to get a letter that looks like the one pictured in this blog, I recommend proceeding with extreme caution.

Sources

http://brianmorristech.com/?p=453

http://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/us-airlines-award-notificationscam.cfm

Crouch, M. (January 13, 2011). "Secrets of a Former Credit Card Thief" Retrieved: http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111759/secrets-of-a-former-credit-card-thief?mod=bb-creditcards

Tolley, J. (November 12, 2006). "DirectBuy-- is it a Ticket to the House of Style or the Poorhouse? Retrieved: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/82832/directbuy_is_it_a_ticket_to_the_house.html?cat=30

www.mydvi.com

http://serenitytravelclub.com/

www.universaltravelvacations.com

Personal experience