Originally Posted by
dmitriy55
I guess, assuming that it's the correct FF number that's there in the reservation system and on the ticket, at the time of the flight, how does it actually happen that the "wrong" FF program gets credited?
Even if only one FFP number/status appears on your boarding pass -
and clearly a boarding pass is designed to only show one single FFP number/programme - there is no such restriction on airline reservations. The boarding pass may show only the most recent number added, but the reservation can - and does - remember all previous iterations of any other numbers previously entered into the field.
Don't assume that just because a new number is associated with a booking, that the previous number is bumped off.
In many cases, all previous numbers remain associated with the booking.
And, of course, in such cases the miles may go to any of those other programmes.
Apologies for the blurriness of the image - I posted this many years ago on a different thread, but the image is no longer hosted by TinyPic and I could only grab this blurry copy from a Google cache - but here is an example of a KLM reservation, as viewed on the Garuda site, showing that 3 separate FFP numbers were associated with the reservation. An AZ number (listed twice; at the time, AZ was my main programme, and there were issues with successfully adding Alitalia numbers on the KLM website. The KLM website would complain that the number was incorrect/badly formatted/didn't exist, but viewing the reservation elsewhere - at the time Garuda was the place to do so - showed that each entry that was outwardly rejected by the KLM website, and which
did not appear at all to have been associated with the booking when looking at it on the KLM website, had in fact been associated with the reservation.
(In the above, the last line reads: "frequent flyer(s): AZ XXXXXXXX, KL XXXXXXXXXX, AZ XXXXXXXXXX. In those days, it sometimes was necessary to use leading zeroes when using 8-digit AZ numbers on AF/KL, explaining why the number was entered as both an 8-digit and 10-digit variant; in desperation at not having the AZ number added by the KL website (though in actuality, it had added them), I then also added my FB number. Hence the 3 "separate" frequent flyer programmes listed).
Don't even ask me, at this remove, where the miles ended up.
Don't make the mistake that when you "update" the FFP number - or ask an agent to
remove and replace an FFP number - that all trace of the previous number(s) has/have been expunged, and that the miles will go to the only number you think is in the reservation.
It doesn't mean that at all.
The answer:
Observe complete and total "hygiene" when dealing with reservations. Do not look at one reservation, bearing a "good" number, when logged in using the FFP account/airline account of a different number. Do not rely on the ability to "replace" a number. Refrain from adding any number to your reservation - and yes, this means booking without being logged into your airline/FFP account - until you know for certain which airline/FFP you want to earn those miles in