09/04/2026
Here is a “scam” I just discovered happened to me. For obvious reasons, I’m not going to name the companies involved—at least not yet.
I have an expensive credit card that allows me to accumulate points. I can use those points through the credit card company’s travel portal to purchase things like airfare.
When an airline ticket is purchased through the portal, there is a 24-hour period during which the ticket can be canceled and the points refunded back into the account.
Got it so far?
For simplicity, let’s say that on Monday I use 1,000 points to purchase an airline ticket worth $1,000. The transaction goes through, 1,000 points are deducted from my account, and the airline issues my ticket. The reservation and ticket appear in my airline app.
Everything looks perfectly normal.
Now here is where it gets interesting.
Within that 24-hour cancellation period, the price of the exact same flight drops from $1,000 to $750.
Without my knowledge or approval, the credit card company cancels my original airline ticket and purchases a new ticket for the same flight at the lower $750 price.
But there’s another little detail.
The credit card company does not return the 250-point difference to my account.
In other words, I originally paid 1,000 points. They later obtained the ticket for 750 points’ worth of value, but my account was still charged the full 1,000 points.
That’s Part One of the story.
And I have two questions:
Is it appropriate for a credit card travel company to cancel and reissue my airline ticket without my knowledge or permission?
And even though I’m not particularly concerned about the 250-point difference itself, is it appropriate for the company to keep those points rather than returning them to my account?
How I discovered that this was happening is Part Two of the story.
And Part Two is much more interesting.
