Why is it so difficut to claim missing miles?

MH_fan

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Just needed to vent my frustration with the KF contact centre and wondering whether anyone else has faced similar issues...

Recently took some Air India flights in paid business class from MXP to DEL and then DEL to SYD. My KF number was in the booking and on the boarding passes. 3 days after the flights, I get a message from KF telling me that the miles couldn't be credited because there was a discrepancy between the names on my ticket and my KF account. The only difference being that my ticket has my middle names on it and that is not in my KF account. That's reasonable, so I use their portal to claim the missing miles. A few days later, I get another message, saying that the claim is declined because the flights have already been credited somewhere else! What?? How???! I reply back saying that's impossible because my KF number was on the booking and on my boarding passes. They reply back a few days later asking if I have any other frequent flyer numbers. I tell them there isn't any other FF number associated with this booking! They then ask for more details, a couple of days later, about the flights and ask that I provide the PNR and the e-ticket numbers (again)! I do that. They then reply back saying they need more information to check that my ticket and class of travel is eligible to earn miles and to provide a copy of the boarding passes in order to check that. Seriously?! I've already given them everything they need! Besides, all paid business class tickets on Air India are eligible to earn, so I don't understand what they're going on about. Anyway, I've done that and am now awaiting their response to that.

Crikey!! It's like they're trying so hard not to credit the miles and hoping that every step or request they ask for will result in me falling down and not being able to provide them with what they want so they have reason not to credit those miles! It's really starting to annoy me now and I have made that very clear in my last communication with them.
 
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Have you seen the threads and newspaper articles about dodgy staff changing the FF numbers on high value bookings and diverting points to accounts they control.
But... For this to actually work don't the pax name and FF account need to be a match? Can't have Mr Smith flying a ticket with FF account named Mr Adams for example.
 
But... For this to actually work don't the pax name and FF account need to be a match? Can't have Mr Smith flying a ticket with FF account named Mr Adams for example.
No - just PNR and Surname ...

(The crooks create a dodgy FF account with the same surname.)
 
It's been 10 days since my last communication with the KF service centre and still nothing... Really, how hard it difficult can it be?
 
Contacted KF again 2 weeks after my last communication with them and they're still investigating the retro claim.
Have others had such difficulty in this situation? You'd think it would be reasonably easy to sort this out!
 
Have others had such difficulty in this situation?
Yes I am still doing battle over a Copa flight that didn't credit back in March. I am expecting a request for a DNA swab soon to see if it matches any DNA collected from the seat.
 
Yes I am still doing battle over a Copa flight that didn't credit back in March. I am expecting a request for a DNA swab soon to see if it matches any DNA collected from the seat.
Or photographic evidence that you were actually on that flight!
 
It's now been 7 weeks since I took those flights and still nothing. I wrote to them 2 weeks ago to chase it up and they said they're still investigating. Surely it can't be that difficult!
 
Do you still have the boarding pass? Are your KrisFlyers number printed there?
Yes. And they are. The main difference is that my AI boarding passes had my full name and my KF account doesn't have my middle name.
 
Finally! After 2 months from when I first took my flights, the miles have been credited!! 🥳
I'm glad to hear that you finally got your miles!

My experience was quite an ordeal as well. Flights in January 2024 with Air Helvetica and Lufthansa in business class across two connected legs. I had actually originally booked with Swiss Air but Swiss Air cancelled their original flights and moved me.

I noticed they hadn't come through in January so I lodged a claim online for missing miles. I received within 24 hours a rejection saying the claim wasn't valid.

I called up the call centre then. They were quickly able to reject the Air Helvetica flight (not covered - unfortunately if Swiss Air hadn't rebooked us then both legs would have been covered). They told me they'd get back to me soon on the Lufthansa miles.

I won't bore you with the subsequent details but I called back at least every couple of months and each time they told me it was under investigation but they would get back to me soon. Each time nothing had progressed and they couldn't provide any further details.

I had basically given up on it but ten months later I've finally gotten my points!
 
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