Emirates wants my passport

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Behodar

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#64418 15-Jul-2010 09:19

Hi everyone,

As some of you are aware, I recently took a trip overseas with Emirates. I've now noticed that I didn't get my frequent flyer points and apparently this is because the name on my tickets and the name on my frequent flyer account don't match (they're the same name but one's a shorter version). Emirates has offered to correct this but wants a copy of my passport.

This is where I'm a bit worried. I don't mind handing over my passport at checkin because I can see that they're simply checking my name and photo and then handing it straight back. But if I send a scan of my passport in, I have no idea what they're going to do with it, and no assurance that it's safe. Once it's in an electronic format it can of course be easily duplicated and there's the potential that hackers or even a malicious employee could get their hands on it.

Should I refuse to supply a scan of my passport or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks :)

freitasm

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#351727 15-Jul-2010 09:27

You should fix the name in your account. And if you don't want to part from a copy of your passport then say by to the points you want to claim.

They wouldn't have other way to confirm your identity. Now, except for the scan of the passport itself, what information on the passport don't they have already?

Name, date of birth, passport number - it's all in their systems anyway.

Yes, there's a risk of this getting somewhere else, but you probably already handed this information to the travel agents before for booking (if you haven't booked online).

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magu

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#351729 15-Jul-2010 09:32

The chances of someone at Emirates being able to do anything with a scan of your passport (especially if you do it in black and white) are slim.

As Mauricio pointed above, you should fix your FF account name.

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freitasm

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#351736 15-Jul-2010 09:34

I had problems like this before when flying to Australia - not about points, but when landing there. They immigration services was a pain because my middle name was topo long to fit in the ticket.

So I walked to the DIA and made a Name Change, paid for a new passport and now my name is shorter. Never had a problem again.

Interesting the American immigration service never bothered with that problem.

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#351743 15-Jul-2010 09:42

freitasm: I had problems like this before when flying to Australia - not about points, but when landing there. They immigration services was a pain because my middle name was topo long to fit in the ticket.

every time i leave/return from NZ i put down my occupation as "COMPUTER CON" due to the limitations of the form. They're obviously not interested in high tech crime though, as no-one ever followed up on it..

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#351744 15-Jul-2010 09:43

My occupation is "Systems Dev"... It fills perfectly.

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Behodar

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#351746 15-Jul-2010 09:46

You're right, of course, Emirates has this information already (well, not my photo, but pretty much everything else), which hadn't crossed my mind until now. I'll see whether I can update the name on my account myself or whether I have to jump through hoops for that.

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freitasm

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#351747 15-Jul-2010 09:46

You will have to submit a copy of the passport to change the name in the account. They have to match.

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heavenlywild

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#351751 15-Jul-2010 09:51

freitasm: My occupation is "Systems Dev"... It fills perfectly.

I'm the type that doesn't conform to the grids - I fill in every single letter:p

mentalinc

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#352127 15-Jul-2010 21:49

Behodar: You're right, of course, Emirates has this information already (well, not my photo, but pretty much everything else), which hadn't crossed my mind until now. I'll see whether I can update the name on my account myself or whether I have to jump through hoops for that.

which begs the question... why do they need to see the passport information if they already have it?

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LennonNZ

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#352138 15-Jul-2010 22:15

Yes 12 letters for an occupation is a little small.

proctologists are ok and so are psychologists but what if you are a paleontologist or a cytotechnologist ? they get missed out ? if I put unemployed is it going to make any difference?

anyway.. what is all the information used for? They already know 99% of the information on the forms I have to fill out each time as its on my passport!

freitasm

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#352141 15-Jul-2010 22:24

mentalinc:
Behodar: You're right, of course, Emirates has this information already (well, not my photo, but pretty much everything else), which hadn't crossed my mind until now. I'll see whether I can update the name on my account myself or whether I have to jump through hoops for that.

which begs the question... why do they need to see the passport information if they already have it?

They have the passport information in the ticket. They have his name in the mileage program. These names are different and they (possibly) don't have the passport information in the mileage program database (I know, dumb, but old systems...)

So to confirm the person flying is the same person in the mileage program they might need to match it to make sure it's not someone with a similar name trying to get the points.

Again, dumb, but it seems a lot of system designers are...

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Behodar

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#352188 16-Jul-2010 07:32

freitasm: So to confirm the person flying is the same person in the mileage program they might need to match it to make sure it's not someone with a similar name trying to get the points.

Again, dumb, but it seems a lot of system designers are...

The same last name, the same address, the same date of birth... it is dumb but it doesn't seem that I have much of a choice. I haven't sent it in yet (I don't keep the passport at my house) but it looks like it'll solve the problem.

I've seen worse systems though!