Spouse passed away--FF Miles transfer:-(

It has been almost a year since my husband passed away and I am now just starting to merge our FF accts. All the airlines have been so helpful with no problems until I tried to deal with NW. They wanted to charge me like a typical transfer which the other airlines have not done. I spoke to a customer service rep and a supervisor. The supervisor said that now that he is deceased they would note it on his account and their policy is just to wipe his miles out. I was floored! I told her she better not do that and I got her first name and where she worked. Do I have any recourse? She said when Delta does the final take-over they will probably continue with the policy that NW has! I felt like they were rubbing salt into a tremendous wound.
Jan

You might want to go on FlyerTalk.com with this issue. Perhaps someone there can help?

There may be a procedure under your state's inheritance laws by which you can obtain a court order directing that his FF account be turned over to you, without going thru formal probate.

When a B-I-L of mine died with only a TS in his name, becuz his estate was so small, his widow was able to get a court order distributing the "asset" to her, without formal probate.

Such an order cannot imbue the account with survivorship rights, if NWA's rules say there are none. But if presented with such an order, NWA might simply cave.

miles

The response from NW I would have thought was the norm. I have talked to people on FT and that is what they said to expect. After all, if he had been alive you would not have been able to use them. He was the frequent flyer not you. I am also surprised that you expected them to transfer them too. I am interested to know which airlines allowed you to transfer them to your account. Airlines are not that sympathetic- they have all but done away with any kind of bearevement fare. Also dealing with Delta/NWA, should also be a red flag. If there is a consumer unfriendly airline- they are it. I know hindsight is 20-20, but what I would have done (and I have directed my wife to do) is simply to book flights in her name with my miles and never notify the airlines. They would never know if you do this on line.

Jimster said:

... but what I would have done (and I have directed my wife to do) is simply to book flights in her name with my miles and never notify the airlines. They would never know if you do this on line.

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Wow... I never thought of that. I'm going to leave my FF #s and passwords in a file with my important papers and instruct my DD to do the very same.

Thanks for the tip.

Also -- I think I read somewhere once that if you mention in your will, by name, items like FF accounts, unused Disney tickets, etc., then they have to honor the transfers. I sometimes have a bad habit of buying timeshares and art (my vices). My attorney said I can do an addendum-type thing to my will with specific bequests (e.g., I'm leaving my Equivest Points to Festiva!) without doing full updates. I'm moving soon so have to get a new will (not always necessary but safest to have a will drawn up in your state of residence). I'll ask about it then and provide an update.

jerseygirl said:

I'm going to leave my FF #s and passwords in a file with my important papers and instruct my DD to do the very same...

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I have a document that I keep in password protected MS Word file with about 70 online account #'s, their passwords, and those pesky security questions. I keep a hard copy in my safe with my will, among other things.

The are some nont-transferrable accounts in which its not possible to act "as if." I'm thnking, gym memberships, library cards, Costoco/Sam's Club, where someone might notice that you don't resemble the name on the account.

So sorry to hear of your loss and your aggravation. I lost my Dad a year and a half ago and I can commiserate with how some of the institutions could care less about making things easier for my Mom and myself. We spent 3 hours in the bank the other day taking care of something that should have taken 10 minutes, if anyone at that bank had a brain. As our attorney (who very fortunately was in and intervened with several phone calls) said some of the stuff is written in language that a fifth grader should be able to understand- but that doesn't mean they will.

American was great and charged a $50 transfer fee and allowed my Mom to transfer miles to herself or whomever she wanted. They had a form that you could fax back with a copy of the death certificate, and since they accepted faxes you could even avoid the $10 charge for each certified certificate. They were easy and accommodating.

You might try linking the NW and Delta accounts and transfer all the miles from nw to delta. You would need to do this online so would need his password to sign in.

security

Well first of all, I never keep any password information on my computer. I used to but then i found that even though it was a secured file that it could be hacked and then where would I be? Also I have traded computers several times-that kind of stuff never goes away-even with overwrite programs. Your only recourse is to take a sledge hammer to your hard drive. Also there are several worm type programs that can eat up your passwords and then spew them out to some hacker. What i do now, is to keep the same type of files but only in a master book. I know. Someone could open the book and have access to the info but i keep it secure.

As for the issue of the will and the ff miles, I would say that I have a real question as to whether they are inheritable. Just because you possess them at time of death doesnt mean that you can inherit them. I have a rented water softner too, but you don't get to inherit that if I die. I believe most ff mile programs specifically state they are NOT inheritable and it would take a whopping amount of points for me to consider challenging that language in court (and I am an attorney). Also the rule for intestate succession in most states would say that if those points are inheritable (which I doubt) they would have to be split and dispersed to the heirs at law which would include any children. If the original poster has children and there is no will, then she doesnt have a right to ALL the ff miles anyway.

As for having an updated list of bequests, I believe that is possible given the correct procedures and precautions to update your will without a complete rewrite. Yes, your will should be reviewed in its entirety ever so often and after life changing events like marrriages, divorces, births and deaths. The Michael Jackson will might be instructive as to this.

Would a state like California with community property laws have the same end result of losing a dead spouse's ffmiles?

The other 2 airlines that just asked for a copy of the death cert. with no charge is Continental and Delta. So with NW that's what I got for being an honest person. So if you have the FF # and pin---don't report it. Lesson for everyone out there............Jan

I'm sorry that you're having a difficult time with this, but it sure has opened my eyes. My husband would be lost if anything happened to me as far as travel and stuff like that goes. We have details of all our insurance, assets, etc. along with our wills, but I never really thought about FF accounts, or even my RCI and Interval password info.

On my to do list.

Bev

FF miles

you may want to check the rules for the account. You may not be entitled to them. And leaving them in his will I don't think makes a difference.

Not that this is necessarily accurate, but here's where I read that it's best to specify the transfer in your will:

http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/inherit-miles-from-deceased.html?id=16629

"..... Before addressing the specific procedure for transferring the miles, let's consider the airlines' official rules governing the inheritance of miles, as that's what most consumers first encounter when they begin the process. The policy of American, the world's largest carrier, is typical. Here's what the airline has to say concerning the miles of deceased program members:

"Mileage credit is not transferable and may not be combined among AAdvantage members, their estates, successors, and assigns. Neither accrued mileage nor award tickets are transferable by the member (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter, or (iii) otherwise by operation of law."

If you were to stop reading at this point—and many do—you'd be left assuming the worst. But having shut the door, American then proceeds to open it just a crack with the following statement: "American Airlines, in its sole discretion, may credit accrued mileage to persons specifically identified in court-approved divorce decrees and wills upon receipt of documentation satisfactory to American Airlines and upon payment of any applicable fees."

I never would have thought about putting them in a will. However a few years back I added my son's name to our Interval Acct and took my husbands name off the RCI acct and added my son. My husband never did the trades but gave me his imput. Jan

World Perks

Here is the excerpt from their website. I read the other 4 or 5 pages and it is only mentioned in 1 spot. From their point of view, they and only they own the miles. They are really never yours except when you get to the award level, and then only for tickets or upgrades.

Except as otherwise explained below, mileage credit is not transferable and may not be combined among WorldPerks members or conveyed by any means to anyone, including through a member's estate, and may not pass to members's; successors and assigns. Accrued mileage credit and award certificates and award tickets do not constitute property of the member. Neither accrued mileage, award certificates nor tickets are transferable by the member (i) upon death, (ii) as part of a domestic relations matter or (iii) otherwise. Mileage earned from another frequent flyer program cannot be transferred to the WorldPerks program.

His account may be flagged by now, but it's worth a shot at creating a Delta account and simply transferring the miles into that account. Then you can either call back and ask them to be transferred into your account, or you can wait for another 100% transfer bonus promo. Yes, it'll cost you the transfer fee but you'll end up with 200% of his miles.

And, of course, Jimster is correct. Airlines would have no way of knowing a person is deceased unless they were notified. It's far easy to just use the miles to book awards in your name than to try to transfer them into your name and risk having the account closed.

Jan, I'm so very sorry for your loss. I'm also sorry that NWA is hassling you over this. Poor form.

First of all Jan, I am so sorry for your loss. It is a long and painful journey, complicated by all of the obstacles in the way of claiming what is rightfullly yours. My husband passed away six months ago, and I have not even thought about his FF miles as I have been inundated with all of the other issues, filing probate, etc. I did get something from Northwest yesterday offering magazine subscriptions....he only had 19,000 miles on NW. Think I will just go ahead and order some mag's for myself and kids. As if losing your better half is not enough, you are forced to deal with all of this stuff. And if they come and revoke the subscriptions...who cares....

When my MIL died, I continued to use her ff account on AA. She was close to 25k so I added some miles via shopping and then booked a ticket to wipe it out. I didn't realize that any airline would refuse to transfer the miles. I just didn't want my FIL to have to deal with it.

Deb

Keep it simple, ........

You know the old saying, Keep it simple, stupid. No offense to anyone.

I lost my husband 5 years ago and I am still using his ff miles.
I book a ticket in my name using his miles.
Since the airlines started expiring miles recently I transfer miles or points from AX rewards (1.000) into his acct and that keeps it active.

He earned the miles... they weren't free.

Actually I have to give American credit.... when he died in Hawaii he was on a first class ff ticket. Obviously he didn't use his return ticket so when I called AA to tell them they returned the miles for his return ticket into his acct.