Is this a scam? “US Airlines” is offering me two roundtrip airline tickets

Close, but no such airline.

The offer looked legit to Richard Clarke — well, almost.

There was the company — “US Airlines” — and the familiar logo. The offer appeared to be pretty realistic, too. It informed him he’d won “2 roundtrip tickets” worth $1,298.

It was postmarked in Phoenix, Ariz., which is where an airline with a similar name is based.

But he’s skeptical. “Is this a scam?” he asked me.

If you look closely you’ll spot a few red flags flapping in the wind.

• There is no airline called US Airlines. There is a US Airways based in the Phoenix area.

• The logo is nowhere close to US Airways’ logo, but it looks like an airline logo.

• The sales verbiage is scammy. Here’s the full offer.

NOTE: You must respond no later than April 18th, 2012.

I am pleased to inform you that you have qualified for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. The retail value of this award is up to $1,298.00. Certain restrictions apply.

We have attempted contacting you several times without success. This is our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate.

Please call me today at 1-866-765-5334.

Forcing you to respond quickly can be a bad sign. Also “certain restrictions” is a code word for “many restrictions” and the final paragraph, which applies even more pressure — that’s an even worse sign.

I ought to know. They sent one of these letters to me on Friday.

In fact, the only thing awaiting you when you call appears to be a high-pressure sales presentation for a travel club that offers travel “discounts” after you sign up for an expensive membership.

I have yet to find a travel club that is legitimate.

Here’s a blogger who took “US Airlines” up on its offer. Forward to the 2:00 marker for the call.

This pitch is not new. It rears its head every few years.

Here’s a first-person account of someone who actually attended the sales presentation. And here’s another blogger who traced this offer to a company called Membership Travel Services.

Has anyone ever received a “free” ticket? It’s difficult to say. If they did, it’s a safe bet they sat through a long presentation, endured a high-pressure sales pitch, and ended up paying a steep price for the vouchers.

Update (3/2/13): From a reader –

I’m sure you’re already aware of this, but I just got an updated scam letter in the mail. Apparently they have updated themselves, preparing for US Air to go away after the merger. Their new scam airlines is “United Airways” with a generic airline-like logo next to it.

AND, the envelopes are hand written and the letter inside is hand signed (can feel the pen marks through the paper).

Thanks for the warning. So noted.

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  • blah2

    what a douche the caller in that video is. The company might be disingenious in its sales practices – but it sounded to me like the company was fairly upfront what he’d have to do, and that he’d be responsible for taxes/fees and have to watch a presentation. I didn’t catch the company trying to put anything over on him. It is a scam well not really its more of a high pressure sales technique much like they use at resorts for timeshares.

  • Margaret

    It’s funny despite of so much information out there how many people fall for it. You are probable calling some place in Africa where USA don’t have any jurisdiction, all they need a an English fluent speaker to make you fall for it. Please to all of you reading, always google things first even if it looks coming from your mother. Stay safe and out of trouble.

  • Margaret

    It’s funny despite of so much information out there how many people fall for it. You are probable calling some place in Africa where USA don’t have any jurisdiction, all they need a an English fluent speaker to make you fall for it. Please to all of you reading, always google things first even if it looks coming from your mother. Stay safe and out of trouble.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cynthia.h.davis.3 Cynthia Honey Badger Davis

    A letter closely matching this description (the “U S Air Promotions” is most assuredly nowhere near professional quality letterhead, but rather simply larger font type than that of the text within the body of the letter) has just arrived in today’s mail delivery. Given the voluminous amount of similar scam mail in my Father’s mailbox, I fear this is the first of many more to come directed toward their “gullible old person” list, to which I’ve now evidently been afforded the unique privilege to have been included.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cynthia.h.davis.3 Cynthia Honey Badger Davis

    A letter closely matching this description (the “U S Air Promotions” is most assuredly nowhere near professional quality letterhead, but rather simply larger font type than that of the text within the body of the letter) has just arrived in today’s mail delivery. Given the voluminous amount of similar scam mail in my Father’s mailbox, I fear this is the first of many more to come directed toward their “gullible old person” list, to which I’ve now evidently been afforded the unique privilege to have been included.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cynthia.h.davis.3 Cynthia Honey Badger Davis

    My Vice President is “Sue Dali.” My hunch is these are the actual names of the stay-at-home Moms who believed the “GUARANTEED! Work At Home & Get Paid up to $1872.00 EVERY Week, Just Like Me!!!” advertisement thumbtacked to the laundromat bulletin board and are likely not even receiving enough money from stuffing envelopes to recoup the $46 they’ve paid for each roll of 100 postage stamps. On the off-chance they get a mark, perhaps the phone bank boiler room slave will ask the victim to identify the “Vice President’s” name to confirm the validity of their letter so they can direct the $25 commission to the correct stay-at-home Mom.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cynthia.h.davis.3 Cynthia Honey Badger Davis

    My Vice President is “Sue Dali.” My hunch is these are the actual names of the stay-at-home Moms who believed the “GUARANTEED! Work At Home & Get Paid up to $1872.00 EVERY Week, Just Like Me!!!” advertisement thumbtacked to the laundromat bulletin board and are likely not even receiving enough money from stuffing envelopes to recoup the $46 they’ve paid for each roll of 100 postage stamps. On the off-chance they get a mark, perhaps the phone bank boiler room slave will ask the victim to identify the “Vice President’s” name to confirm the validity of their letter so they can direct the $25 commission to the correct stay-at-home Mom.

  • Bill

    You people are all mistaken. These are promotions and not contests. If you read the letter or listen to the retard in the video its says “you have qualified to receive two round trip airline tickets” That letter doesn’t say “free” or “won” or “contest” anywhere. If you go to the promotion you receive the vouchers, its pretty simple. They are another from of a rebate, you pay a processing fee and your taxes and you get the face value of the ticket covered.

    Think about it. Why would a company spend money to mail you something, pay for someone to field your call, give you the address to where they are located and then schedule a time for you to meet them if it was a scam? So you can show up and argue with them? Anyone who hasn’t gone to one of these promotions needs to consider the fact that marketing promotions are real. Companies pay thousands of dollars to purchase incentive and pay marketing companies to get you through their door so they can earn your business.

    When you get something like this in the mail just ask the person on the phone two things. Will this cost me any money and am i guaranteed to receive my gift if I participate? If the answer is yes it should be a pleasant experience. If for any reason they tell you its a drawing, a contest or you need to give them payment information then its a scam.

    Don’t knock it till you try it, I’ve gotten airline tickets, cruises, and travel gift cards before simply for attending a promotion. Everything comes at a price (processing fees, just like a rebate) but you will get a deal in the end.

  • http://www.facebook.com/CarverFarrow Carver Clark Farrow

    ROTFLMAO

  • Idiots

    Your an idiot and half those offers don’t say you “won” anything, Learn how to read.

  • Idiots

    No where on that letter does it say you “won” anything.

  • Giveitachance

    The fact you idiots get off calling people and wasting time at their jobs is pathetic. Get a life or a real job. These promotional offers work and there is no reason to make someones job harder because you believe all the shit you read on the internet.

    Read the letter carefully. No where on there does it say “won”, “free” or “contest”.

    Before you talk shit and jump on the bandwagon you should give it a chance.

  • Kay

    Yep, got my letter today from “United Airways”. I knew it was junk because of the way they spelled my name. They must buy mailing lists from other companies. My name was misspelled through a Comast Cable account and was never corrected, so obviously the cable companies sell your addresses.

  • http://www.facebook.com/donnanz Donna Nickerson-Ziegler

    Just got this in the mail today. Thanks for putting this info out there. Knew it couldn’t be true.

  • Molekricket

    I just got my US Airlines scam offer the other day! I am pretty concerned who was it that sold my info to them to begin with! …or where did they get it from in the first place?!

  • bill

    I just got one. It had a new number 1-866-324-4880. I have till May 1St. The two tickets are supposedly worth $1,350.00.

    Red flags: no return address other then post mark of Phoenix ,AZ. They have the vice president of US airlines signature. I looked up the name of the VP of us airlines and they got it wrong.

  • LadyBug

    My mailing is a fold over letter open along the perferation….no ‘real signature’ to feel….. There is a sucker born every minute.

  • CartierBesson

    he sounds like an indian

  • http://twitter.com/Aloha_Analytics Aloha Analytics

    There’s more to this. This is a front by debt collection agencies to try to collect more information.

  • mzglorybe

    The same offer is coming this month of May 2013, from a company now called USA Airlines. They actually send you what looks like a check with a logo that says “fly the US skies.” and the bank they use for their check is our of Port Orange FL

    I did not call the toll free number. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

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