US Airlines tickets: Real deal or scam?

Published On: Jun 18 2013 07:56:39 PM EDT

People all across the country are getting the letter. It says, “You have qualified for an award of two roundtrip airline tickets.”

Carol Byers of Manheim Township got one. She reads, “The retail value of this award is up to $1,198.”

The envelope seemed to be handwritten and the letterhead has the name of an airline that doesn’t even exist.

“But then as I looked at it, there’s no such thing as US Airlines; it’s US Airways,” said Byers.

In the last week, dozens of viewers have contacted News 8 to explain the letter, asking if it’s a scam.

No one had actually called the number on the letter, so News 8’s Brian Roche did. He spoke to a woman named Dusty who would only tell me she worked for a marketing firm in Arizona.

“Dusty, just let me clarify--these are two free airline tickets?” asked Brian Roche.

She told him the tickets were not free, they were complimentary, as long as he went to a presentation for a travel agency. Roche then asked Dusty, “So the bottom line is that this doesn’t cost me anything to go to this?”

Dusty made an appointment for Roche to attend the presentation at 52 Grumbacher Road in York.

So News 8 went to the address and found an empty parking lot and an unmarked building. But inside, there is evidence that it is where you go for the travel deals.

Before this recent wave of letters, local consumers were receiving travel check vouchers also with the name of the fictitious US Airlines.

News 8 learned that anyone responding to this would get the same sales pitch to attend a presentation at the address in York.

One viewer who did attend told News 8 that she and her husband were asked to join a travel club and pay more than $11,000. As they tried to leave, the price dropped below $1,500.

While it may be easy to call this a scam, News 8 is going to stop just short of that. What it really seems to be is a promotional campaign designed to get people to join a travel club. No one who has contacted News 8 has reported spending or losing any money after getting one of the letters or travel vouchers.

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