I manage several Frequent Flyer accounts and book flights for a group of people. This year I booked 11 round trip tickets from Seattle to Nairobi Kenya. I always include the Delta SkyMiles number. On 8 of those tickets someone at the KLM ticket office in Nairobi changed the Frequent Flyer Number to a random FlyingBlue number.

It happened at the ticket office in Nairobi and during checkin and when tickets had to be reissued because of cancellations. All those flyers received full Delta mileage outbound and no SkyMiles on the return. Once a FlyingBlue number is entered the Delta and KLM website won’t let me, the travel coordinator, or anyone else change it back to the original SkyMiles number. I get the message “Frequent Flyer Number can’t be changed once flights have commenced” even when the return flight has not begann.

So I called Delta and was told that the frequent Flyer number can’t be changed after first outbound flight has commenced. And the Delta person told me they can’t change it back once KLM people changed it. The agent said it looks like someone is fraudulently changing Numbers. But the Delta agent said once Flying Blue Miles are posted it can’t be reversed. But we also have had no access to that fraudulently created Flying Blue Accounts.

Next I contacted KLM. I was told they would check into it but have not done anything. They offered to cancel the FlyingBlue account but would not rectify the SkyMiles account. Now those people loosing valuable MQMs would have higher Medallion Status (9000+ MQMs each way makes a difference).

Now I have filed a complaint with the US Department of Transport and hope they help. In the meantime I have cancelled every flight I had booked on KLM asking for a full refund (luckily they cancelled enough segments on my tickets that they had to refund fully). Delta has been very good to me during 2020 but I will never set a foot on KLM. If they would have just rectified the issue I would have been fine. They had changed a frequent Flyer number while I was monitoring the checkin process on my computer at home and immediately contacted them but I was being ignored.

Maybe someone here on FT can give any advice. Sorry for the rant.