Originally Posted by Globaliser

But wouldn't you expect the method by which you paid for the ticket to be part of the booking record? It's the same if you turn up at check-in or the gate and you're asked for the card you used to pay for the booking as a security check (although that's now a relatively rare occurrence for established BAEC members, I think). The system can't easily do that either without being able to compare the number on the card to the number in the booking. I don't know whether the number in the booking is encrypted, but it surely can't be a surprise that it is stored in some form or other?