Was it an AC issued BP? If so (i.e. printed on the AC-type BP stock), they shouldn't have stuck it in the BP reader because there's no magnetic stripe for it to read in the first place. However, most airlines I've seen use mag stripe type BPs and the industry standard seems to be that they keep the big part, you get the small part. I've seen mag stripe readers that return the whole BP to you (AA's in the US) and ones that spit out only the small part (e.g. BA's in Europe).

FewMiles..

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