I bet the name mismatch is the reason. I have a very common surname and so I always add my middle intial to my tickets. On my boarding pass this adds an "R" to the end of my first name creating an odd but plausible new name.

I mailed in my request (3 LAX-HKG roundtrips) because to credit for the Aug typhoon chaos post was recommended. Didn't have any difficulty in getting approval, it's just a pain.