Frequent flier gets miles back

By NANCY PARADIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 16, 2000

On Dec. 21, 1998, I used frequent flier miles toward purchasing two tickets on American Airlines for a flight from Tampa to Frankfurt, Germany, on March 21, returning April 11. Three days before departure, I had emergency surgery to repair a leaking aorta aneurysm, and my wife phoned and canceled the reservations. She was told by the reservationist that the tickets would be valid for one year for use only from Oct. 15, 1999, to May 15, 2000. The reservationist never mentioned the date of issuance as being the cutoff date for using the tickets.

I called the airline at the end of February to make reservations and was told the tickets were invalid. Naturally, if I had not planned on using them, I certainly would have taken the $70 penalty and saved the frequent flier miles for future use. I was told to write to an address in Dallas, which I did, twice. To date I have had no response, which is the most frustrating part of this situation.

I had saved these frequent flier miles for more than three years for this trip. If we had known the tickets would be good for only one year from date of issuance, we would, of course, have made use of them. Thomas Mayo

Response: Darla Payrot with American Airlines' executive office in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport said she reviewed the airline's records and those of the AAdvantage department, and there is no record of previous correspondence from you. An award is valid for one year from the date of issue unless otherwise stated. After being converted to ticket form, the ticket is also valid for one year from the date of issue. AAdvantage policy normally requires that any request for reinstatement of an award be in progress before the award's expiration date. In your case, that would have been Dec. 21. Since your trip was canceled because of a medical emergency, Payrot said, an exception has been made and the awards in question reinstated to your account. A total of 3,482 miles were expired, but the remaining 56,518 miles are now available. This should be reflected on this month's statement.

Claim paid

We had our health insurance through Foundation Health for approximately two years. During this time, it repeatedly denied claims for payment even though we had the necessary referrals. I have had to write up to a dozen letters recently for myself, my husband and our son in order to get these claims paid. I am ready to pull my hair out!

I hope you can help me with the enclosed bill from an ambulance service. My husband's employer has called Foundation twice about it and was told the original was coded incorrectly and once it was corrected, the bill would be paid. As you can see, this has not happened.

My husband was transported to the hospital on May 3, 1999, where he was admitted, and it is my understanding that in such cases, the transport should be fully covered. Wendy Berg

Response: Michael Comerford, compliance manager of legal and regulatory affairs for Foundation Health in Sunrise, said that the point of service, or POS, plan your husband's employer selected allows members to receive care from providers within or outside the plan's approved provider network. POS members who receive care outside the network do so at a higher cost to them. Under these circumstances, the plan pays 80 percent of charges and the member the remaining 20 percent.

The claim in question was submitted by Pasco Fire Rescue, which is not part of the network. The bill was for non-emergency transportation and was reimbursed by the plan as such. Foundation Health paid $244, or 80 percent, of the $305 charge, leaving a balance of $61.

Comerford said it is against federal and state insurance laws to change the coding on any bill submitted by providers, and no one from the insurance company would have told you otherwise. A provider may, at its discretion, submit a revised/corrected claim to the plan for review and processing.

Comerford initially told us that in this case, if the claim originally submitted was correct, then the balance would be your husband's responsibility. If the claim was incorrect and was resubmitted, then the balance would be paid by the plan. Had you disagreed with this, he said, you could have filed a formal grievance with the plan's grievance and appeals department.

In the meantime, Comerford reviewed this claim with the grievance and appeals department, and the decision was made to pay the balance. The check to Pasco County Fire Rescue should go out within the week. You owe nothing.

Comerford said he reviewed all other claims on file for your husband and found no discrepancies in the plan's payment or denial of any of them.

Action solves problems and gets answers for you. If you have a question, or your own attempts to resolve a consumer complaint have failed, write Times Action, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or call your Action number, 893-8171, or, outside of Pinellas, (800) 333-7505, ext. 8171, to leave a recorded request.

Requests will be accepted only by mail or voice mail; calls cannot be returned. We will not be responsible for personal documents, so please send only photocopies. If your complaint concerns merchandise ordered by mail, we need copies of both sides of your canceled check.

We may require additional information or prefer to reply by mail; therefore, readers must provide a full mailing address, including ZIP code. Names of letter writers will not be omitted except in unusual circumstances. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

@0987$temp$

$STPT ID: +

Paper: Date: 7/16/00 +

Page: 1E Section: FLORIDIAN +

Byline: ERIC DEGGANS

Notes:

PASADENA, Calif. -- A year ago, it was all about playing defense

Reeling from disclosures that up to 50 member stations had swapped lists of donors with political groups, PBS officials faced journalists last year at the Television Critics Association's summertime press tour in damage control mode -- insisting that any problems had been solved and the crisis was over.

A few months later, president and CEO Ervin S. Duggan was out. He left in October amid rumors that his aloof and arrogant style, combined with the donor list controversy, had undone him after more than five years in the top spot.

So when new president and CEO Pat Mitchell stood before TV critics here last week, barely five months into her tenure, she faced an obvious question.

What now?

"First of all, we're not a dysfunctional family," said Mitchell, a former Today show correspondent and talk show host who came to PBS from an executive job at Turner Broadcasting.

"I got so tired of hearing that word and reading that word in describing public television that I banned it," added the executive, who keeps a jar on her desk filled with coins from employees who made the mistake of using that phrase to describe PBS' relationship with its stations. "We're a membership organization...(that needs to be) more live, more relevant and more vital."

In many ways, PBS is a study in contrasts. Hailed as the largest network of broadcast stations in the country, it's also a loose collective with a history of stations acting independently.

Home to a host of quality programming, it's also perpetually underfunded, putting it constantly at the mercy of corporate underwriters and public officials. Founded as a network of the people, PBS has been accused of elitism and disconnection, avoiding controversial programming while focusing on Euro-centric dramas, comedies and documentaries.

So it only makes sense that PBS's latest initiative to shake up programing seems, on its face, a little schizophrenic. Seven stations nationwide, including WMFE-TV in Orlando, are agreeing to air a new primetime lineup that shuffles longtime series -- some for the first time in 25 years.

Under the new pilot program, shows such as Masterpiece Theater, The American Exerience and Mystery! will move to new nights, with extra repeats of signature series such as Antiques Roadshow and Nova airing during the week. Feedback from the test, scheduled to last from October to March, will help in planning a revamped nationwide schedule for April.

For Mitchell, who spent years developing shows for CNN, TBS and other cable outlets, it's all about learning from what may be PBS' biggest competitor.

"Cable shows the value in repeating programing in a way that increases the audience's awareness of your shows," said Mitchell, acknowledging that cable outlets such as A&E, The History Channel and Discovery Channel have built businesses on the type of shows pioneered by PBS. "We don't have the marketing dollars to compete with them. So I see them as potential collaborators."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.