Originally Posted by
ernestnywang
If you didn't register an account and/or the account is not yours, that sounds like the exact fraud CX is trying to prevent here. Ames should be able to add your AS number for you, though I'm not sure if the override will be successful now that you've checked in.
I don’t necessarily think there was any fraud involved (maybe?). I would be surprised. I, much like probably many here, garden my reservations and look at them quite frequently (this particular Cathay one almost daily to check if they had switched away from an Aria configuration).
The reservation was FFP-less, up until the notification email Cathay sent me at T-48 hours to check in.
My Cathay number starts with a 15-, so I thought it was curious that a Cathay number now was showing up on my PNR.
I did not contact AMEX at all regarding this booking at anytime.
Originally Posted by
percysmith
Airport check-in desk should be able to replace a number. They were able to delete a number for my mother when I OLCIed her (I created a dummy AM number under her Doe, Ah Ma name for HKSAR to OLCI, had it deleted at HKG and BKK check-in desks and back-credited to her long-standing Smith, Ah Ma Doe AM (pre-AM MPO) account after travel last month)
(Not a wild assumption that if desks can delete a AM number at the desk, they can add some non-CX FFP as well)
What I don't get is why
bj27 had a AM number inserted. Not that I don't get of what happened (some "hacker" inserted a FFP directly into the system when
bj27 himself directly into was unable to), but why (had the fraud succeeded, the hacker would have access to an account with a few thousand AM, but there's no readily known method to consolidate (cf Qantas, BA household). And CX practices name matching (if they don't, I need not bother with creating a AM account for Doe, Ah Ma just to get access to OLCI). What is a hacker supposed to do with a new account with a few thousand AM?
See above. I’m quite new to Cathay (really this my first time flying them), but had read about not being able to change a FFN here, so I left the FFN field blank when I was booking through AMEX. AMEX also didn’t have an option to select AS as the program so I figured I would ask CX to add it later.
My guess - I could be totally wrong here, is that Cathay was name matching (apparently check-in at at T-48 hours is a “benefit” for AM members), didn’t find my name, and made me a new account. Is this plausible?
I did not try to login to this new AM account because I didn’t have access to the full number anyways.
Regardless, the agent at check-in in YVR was able to delete this AM number and add my AS number instead.
Any thoughts? My hypothesis on a new account generation was just because I know some other airlines do this (e.g., LATAM).