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Monday, November 23, 2015

Strange nominee in my Krisflyer account

I stumbled upon a strange nominee in my Singapore
 Airlines' Krisflyer account early last month. Apparently
the name had been in my account since 2001 and I had
spotted it only by accident.
      Curious to know how it could have happened, I wrote
to SIA to ask for an investigation. I also wanted to know
 whether my Krisflyer  miles had been used without
authorisation.
       More than a week later, the airline replied through
one of its customer service executives (CSE).  I found the
response hilarious if one was able to ignore the
seriousness of the matter.
       Without a word of apology, she said that it was not
able to "determine on the info as it was created in another
earlier database."
        However, strangely, she was able to state categorically
 that as the nominee was in my account for 14 years,
no redemption of tickets or Krisflyer miles were redeemed
for that passenger.
        To me, it sounded like speaking through two sides of
the mouth.
         But that's not all.  The CSE went on to advise me to
update my nominations "to avoid any unwanted nominee
or misuse of the Krisflyer miles".
        Amazing! Why would I want to update my nominations
when there is no need to!!! And how is it possible
 to misuse the Krisflyer miles when no one is authorised
to do so, except by those SIA staff who are authorised.
        The CSE also explained to me how to go about
deleting unwanted nominees online. But there is a price
to pay.
        The applicable fee for successfully removing a
nominee is US$30 or 3,000 Krisflyer points.
         Wow! Why are they penalising me for
something that is not my fault? Unusual customer service,
indeed! Maybe it's their way of deterring customers
 from giving feedback.
         What takes the cake was how the CSE ended her
email: "In view to (sic) this, we are offering you 1000
 Krisflyer miles for the inconvenience caused."
         The story, of course, didn't end there.  I wrote back to
say how amazing -- and amusing -- I found its reply.
          More than a week later, the matter was escalated to a
customer service manager who called to explain
 and to acknowledge that its response was wrong.
         She promised to investigate further. When she called
 me again, she did not have any good news, except to stress
that they had checked thoroughly and still could not
 determine how the intrusion into my account had taken
 place.
         I accepted her explanation but also told her that it was
a serious matter of security, especially for an airline.
        Another week later, she wrote to say that the strange
name in my account had been deleted.  But there was still
not a word of apology or anything to show that the airline
 had taken matter seriously.
         I decided that I should respond to drive home my
concern and to put it on record.
        The following are parts of my email:

       "I...do not sense that there is a
recognition of the seriousness of this
whole thing by your senior management.
 I am not sure whether you have surfaced
this to them. If not, may I ask that you do
 so urgently.

       "Please tell them that they are running
an airline and safety should be their top priority.
For something like this to happen, it must
mean that the safety of your system has been compromised. It does not matter that this
 happened many years ago. The fact is,
someone or some people were able to get into
 the system and fiddle with it.

       "If I were in your management, I would
 want to find out who this "strange nominee"
 is and perhaps this person could help to give
you some clues in your investigation.

       "I dread to think of worse things
happening if other areas of your
airline operation were to be compromised."