If there’s one thing you need in the miles & points hobby, it’s patience and persistence. When it comes to airline issues, I’d like to think that I have the patience of a saint — I mean, I spent half of my late teens and early 20s on hold with Air Canada Aeroplan and US Airways Dividend Miles (“have gelato on the Spanish Steps…!”), and that takes patience.
However, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands is on the verge of making me lose my mind. What complicated task am I trying to complete? Well, I just need to know what my EVA Air Infinity MileageLands number is!!!
In this post:
What is my EVA Air Infinity MileageLands number?
I recently wrote about the value of the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands program. EVA Air makes more business class award seats available to members of its own program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs. Given the lack of transpacific business class award space, that’s incredibly valuable nowadays.
As I warned at the time, though, “the bad news is that the process of booking through Infinity MileageLands might make you wish that you never even heard of the program.”
Let me share my trials and tribulations of just trying to figure out my EVA Air Infinity MileageLands number. For over a decade, I’ve received monthly emails from EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, as I’m a member of the program. However, I hadn’t logged into the program for a long time — I didn’t write down my account number, and no email from the program ever contained my account number.
Okay, I figured this would be easy. I’d just go to EVA Air’s website and click the link for those who forgot their log-in details. Like any other airline website, I assumed I would just enter my email address, and then I’d receive an email containing my account number. Nope. If you want to recover your Infinity MileageLands number, you’ll have to provide your full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, and phone number. Only then will EVA Air email you this info.
I spent a good 15 minutes trying every possible combination of these details, including pulling up all my old passport numbers (since I’ve been a member for well over 10 years).
But unfortunately no matter what I entered, I got a message saying “Card Number Inquiry Failed.”
Okay, no biggie, I’ll just sign up for a new account, right? Well, when I do that, I consistently get a message saying “You are our member already!!” I tried altering some of the details, but unless I change the name or date of birth, I get the same error message.
I don’t want to change any of those key details, since EVA Air only lets you book award tickets for members of Infinity MileageLands, and given how strict the airline is, I could see having issues if my account has the wrong date of birth.
The joys of trying to contact EVA Air
I know what you’re thinking — “stop being such a drama queen, just call EVA Air, like the message says!” So yeah, I did that. EVA Air’s US offices are open Monday through Friday, 11:30AM until 8:30PM Eastern time (go figure I started the process of trying to figure out my account details on Saturday morning).
I’ve probably called a dozen times (including literally the minute the call center is supposed to open), and each time I get the message saying “all lines are currently busy, we appreciate your patience, please call back later.” There’s no option to hold, no option to have a callback, etc.
So I then called the Taiwan number, and was told that I’d have to call the US number for help with my account, since that’s where my account is registered.
Bottom line
If it’s this much of a hassle to just figure out what your membership number is, could you imagine what a pain it is to book a ticket or deal with a schedule change? I’m honestly at a loss here, so if anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them!
This whole thing is the perfect example of why I always say there’s value in dealing with “easy” programs, even if you pay more miles when booking that way. In fairness, EVA Air’s program does have unique value, since it’s not even about getting the lowest award pricing, but rather this is the only way to secure EVA Air business class award space. Now I’m starting to think that I might just be better off staying at home…
Has anyone else had a similar situation with EVA Air?
I also have a simple request to change my email registered with EVA and over many months of trying to call many of their numbers I have never been able to get a hold of a human. Always that all lines are busy call back later. At a loss as to how to talk to an Infinity Miles rep in the US.
Ben try emailing [email protected]. I emailed [email protected] (I believe that's their LAX ticketing office) about an Inifinity Mileage question and they emailed [email protected] to assist me. Hope this helps!
So, I feel your frustration. Having flown EVA multiple times, I would like to actually get my air miles. I went through the entire process you just listed, with the same results, numerous times. I *finally* had success using my membership number that had been emailed to me when I first added an email account, plus my password with my email account login.
I was able to see my card and status. but that's...
So, I feel your frustration. Having flown EVA multiple times, I would like to actually get my air miles. I went through the entire process you just listed, with the same results, numerous times. I *finally* had success using my membership number that had been emailed to me when I first added an email account, plus my password with my email account login.
I was able to see my card and status. but that's about where I got stuck again. I cant seem to add my flights to the card. So, I hope that's one less hurdle that I can help you with. But their system is definitely far from perfect. Not to mention, the call system is impossible.
You have to enter your passport number to get your Infinity number. I basically had to reregister from scratch and put the number in (I got a probably unusable 500 mile bonus for doing so).
BTW, canceling a US-booked award reservation is a special slice of hell, since their IT system doesn't support it and they straight don't answer the phone. (You can't call Taiwan, you have to call the US numbers.)
Recommendation: go...
You have to enter your passport number to get your Infinity number. I basically had to reregister from scratch and put the number in (I got a probably unusable 500 mile bonus for doing so).
BTW, canceling a US-booked award reservation is a special slice of hell, since their IT system doesn't support it and they straight don't answer the phone. (You can't call Taiwan, you have to call the US numbers.)
Recommendation: go into a physical office. Got it done in 10 minutes today.
Hey Ben, just saw this tweet that may be of help to you if you're still struggling to resolve your problem: https://twitter.com/erinhale/status/1681078488630009857
I think you are used to dealing with the major loyalty programs and not that of some of the smaller airlines. Difficulty getting in touch with customer service and loyalty is common. Even for some of the smaller airlines in the big alliances it is a common issue. May be you should just open a new account with a different email address. Perhaps when you do fly the airline there is a loyalty desk you...
I think you are used to dealing with the major loyalty programs and not that of some of the smaller airlines. Difficulty getting in touch with customer service and loyalty is common. Even for some of the smaller airlines in the big alliances it is a common issue. May be you should just open a new account with a different email address. Perhaps when you do fly the airline there is a loyalty desk you can see someone in person about your issues. This happens to you once and it requires a whole article. For many of us it happens more.
Just book EVA through Aeroplan like I always do…so easy!
From the article: "EVA Air makes more business class award seats available to members of its own program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs. Given the lack of transpacific business class award space, that’s incredibly valuable nowadays." Sounds like that's (sometimes) not an option unfortunately, at least for those seats.
I've flown on EVA many times and never had a bad experience. The cabin crews are great. The food is good. One time I left a book behind and they called me to the gate to get it before the next leg of the journey. I had half a ticket used when Covid-19 hit and couldn't use EVA to get back to the USA due to regulations in Taiwan. They refunded me the half of...
I've flown on EVA many times and never had a bad experience. The cabin crews are great. The food is good. One time I left a book behind and they called me to the gate to get it before the next leg of the journey. I had half a ticket used when Covid-19 hit and couldn't use EVA to get back to the USA due to regulations in Taiwan. They refunded me the half of the ticket without much of a hassle. I hope their prices become more competitive again so I can start flying with them again.
I'm confused, why don't you just login with your email and then find your account number on the account page?
From context, sounds like either a forgotten or expired password ("However, I hadn’t logged into the program for a long time...").
Tried this. Had to enter all info again. Still didn't work.
sounds like Qantas!
I rang them to make a change I couldn't do on the website. Got an announcement saying "you are in the queue" (some sh!t like that) and waited for 2 hours until a useless Filipino answered and didn't know how to make changes to award tickets (they have a call center in the Philippines, but they are famous for being useless).
Rang again, after 45 minutes, someone answered and just...
sounds like Qantas!
I rang them to make a change I couldn't do on the website. Got an announcement saying "you are in the queue" (some sh!t like that) and waited for 2 hours until a useless Filipino answered and didn't know how to make changes to award tickets (they have a call center in the Philippines, but they are famous for being useless).
Rang again, after 45 minutes, someone answered and just hung up.
Tried again the next day at 6:00am, finally got an Australian woman on the phone, very efficient but NOT FRIENDLY, that made the change in less than 2 minutes.
Qantas management haven't grasped the fact that just because their overseas call centre operators speak English doesn't mean they can be easily understood through their thick accents and fast talk. And that's AFTER a marathon 4 - 6 hour wait on the line.
The joys of EVA. Booked a business class tkt on EVA for Bangkok to London via Taipei. My actual departure point was Sydney. The website was primitive back then (it may still be) and lacked functionality to change, much less cancel a booking. Next quickest option (I thought) was to call one of their many advertised numbers for Customer Service. The EVA Sydney rep said they couldn't do anything on their system (! hello...it's the...
The joys of EVA. Booked a business class tkt on EVA for Bangkok to London via Taipei. My actual departure point was Sydney. The website was primitive back then (it may still be) and lacked functionality to change, much less cancel a booking. Next quickest option (I thought) was to call one of their many advertised numbers for Customer Service. The EVA Sydney rep said they couldn't do anything on their system (! hello...it's the bloody same airline isn't it??) and I had to call Bangkok. Rang EVA Bangkok and got a recorded message telling me to press the appropriate number combination to get an English speaking rep. Trouble is, the entire recorded message directing you to your preferred language..was completely in Thai(!!!). By some miracle, after more than 24 hours of perseverance, I found a rep in Taipei, who after a great deal of wrangling managed to do something. I haven't looked EVA since then for the past 9 years. Ben's tale is absolutely nothing new...and you have been warned.
I have had the similar problem. But the problem I have was the "email activation" problem for login. I have my correct membership number. I end up email their HK office for help. All I did was fill in a form and email them along with my current passport. They respond pretty fast like within 1 or 2 days. Their HK office email: [email protected] or try to call their Macau or HK hotline for help. Usually got answer within a min.
Having booked a partner award with them, I know they sometimes add the first + middle name together all as one word in your profile. I had to figure this out to access my booking! But once I did, it worked
In the Given Name field, write your first AND middle name togetherAS ONE WORD (or first and middle initial, depending on how you are registered with EVA). Wierd, but that is the way EVA does it. I was schooled by Jordan at PointsPros last year after going through the same maddening steps you took.
This is actually most of the Asian airline problem. Specially in Chinese as our First name will be their middle name, but actually they don't really have a middle name. bababa...... So write down first AND middle name together AS ONE WORD, and no middle name at all. That will be the best way to avoid.
Why not just open a new account? Assuming that if you don’t even know the number there is no mileage on the account in the first place. Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and even Japanese programs are the worst! Absolutely horrible interface and customer engagement.
Tell me you didn’t read the article without telling me you didn’t read the article.
Try emailing to this email:
[email protected]
I cancelled a 100,000 award ticket on EVA. Was told I would have to pay $50 to reinstate the miles which I was obviously willing to do. After finally reaching a person by calling the Tokyo line, I was told that they couldn't process a charge and that I'd have to talk to the US office. As many here have mentioned, that is impossible. I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck with this type...
I cancelled a 100,000 award ticket on EVA. Was told I would have to pay $50 to reinstate the miles which I was obviously willing to do. After finally reaching a person by calling the Tokyo line, I was told that they couldn't process a charge and that I'd have to talk to the US office. As many here have mentioned, that is impossible. I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck with this type of transaction by going to an EVA ticket counter? There is one here in SEA. Thanks.
Just get a name change with the government, and then register an EVA account in your new name ;)
For those who missed the story last year: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/taiwanese-people-stuck-with-the-name-salmon-after-sushi-promotion
This is precisely the problem I recently had. It’s reason enuf to let China invade if they agree to fix our accounts
Missed a flight on weekend and no one to call. While they are wonderful in the air, not being able to contact support 24 hours a day is just ridiculous! It’s a serious issue they need to address.
With Eva if you have a middle name or an initial for a middle name put your first name with your middle name or initial following it with no space between. Has worked for me in the past
Is that to set up another account or to get an email of your account number ?
@Ben,
The screenshot you provided only shows Family Name, Given Name, DOB and Nationality as required (with the red *). Did you try just with that? Passport and mobile # don't have the required red asterisk.
Not so different from my experience trying to cancel an Avios booking with Iberia.
Madrid insisted I deal with London.
After 20 calls, I finally found an agent in Madrid who did it.
My wife and I long ago developed the rule that if we find such friction in a business relationship up front, just drop it, even if they seem a low price supplier, or a lucrative customer - Ben, you've experienced...
Not so different from my experience trying to cancel an Avios booking with Iberia.
Madrid insisted I deal with London.
After 20 calls, I finally found an agent in Madrid who did it.
My wife and I long ago developed the rule that if we find such friction in a business relationship up front, just drop it, even if they seem a low price supplier, or a lucrative customer - Ben, you've experienced enough to write off the program (and thank you for sharing that with the rest of us)
Ben:
I just signed up for eva miles. They suggested that I download the app:
"You may also download EVA Mobile App- digital membership cards to look up the most updated membership information, it is equivalent to the official one."
So try downloading the app, signing in, and you should hopefully be able to access your card.
Good luck!
try adding "%" to some fields
or "1=1"
"Their computer system is awful - therefore their cyber-security is likely to be pathetic as well".
I'm impressed by your logic! :-)
But to be clear for those not familiar with SQL injection attacks, I think that "or" is part of the string to be added.
And to demonstrate how OMAAT has some rather higher level of cyber-security, spelling that out more clearly led to my submitted post being rejected!
If you've ever transferred miles to a nominee - it's written in that e-mail. If not, God Speed - I can't find any other impression of it (no welcome email)...it's like finding a needle in stack of needles...underwater. the CIA should contract with Eva to keep their files secure.
You can try setting up a new account with a different date of birth and/or variation of your name and once the account is set up you can then update your profile to correct your date of birth. Asian companies, EVA or otherwise are stickler to rules and hardly will they ever deviate from them. I enter all of my mileage numbers in my contact app even though some of them I have never used.
I do exactly the same, the second the account number generates. Works a treat!
@Ben,
I'd recommend emailing them at [email protected], they're more responsive in writing than calling (relatively, it'll still take some days).
I flew on EVA once nearly 20 years ago and still receive their emails and any time I attempt to unsubscribe, it forces me to log in to an account I absolutely don't have. It's the airline equivalent of Kafka.
I didn't have to go as far from home for this kind of problem. I signed up a long time ago for an Alaska Mileage Plan account, but ended up never flying Alaska for years. They put my account into purdah and it's unusable. Tried to sign up for a new account with a different e-mail, but due to the personal information it said that I already had an account. I ended up giving up and just assigned miles to my AA account.
It's not even limited to airlines. I had an account at a major brokerage decades ago because they handled my employer's 401K. I closed the account after l left that job. Recently I decided I wanted to open an account at the same brokerage. I couldn't create an account online, and when I called them they wanted information I didn't have (such as account number from 25 years ago). Finally they said "OK, we will...
It's not even limited to airlines. I had an account at a major brokerage decades ago because they handled my employer's 401K. I closed the account after l left that job. Recently I decided I wanted to open an account at the same brokerage. I couldn't create an account online, and when I called them they wanted information I didn't have (such as account number from 25 years ago). Finally they said "OK, we will send you a letter with further instructions so you can prove you are who you say you are - but we have to send it to the address we have on file for you." At that point I just gave up. There are lots of competing brokerage firms and one of them will get my business.
I had the same problem trying to contact EVA to cancel my award booking. I tried for a week calling at least 50+ times and always got a recording saying lines were busy and then it disconnected, you don't even have an option to hold. So I called their overseas offices TPE,BKK,SIN,HKG , I finally got through but was told that since my ticket was issued in USD I needed to process the transaction through...
I had the same problem trying to contact EVA to cancel my award booking. I tried for a week calling at least 50+ times and always got a recording saying lines were busy and then it disconnected, you don't even have an option to hold. So I called their overseas offices TPE,BKK,SIN,HKG , I finally got through but was told that since my ticket was issued in USD I needed to process the transaction through the US call center. Again I tried with no luck. I finally got someone I know in Taipei to physically go to the EVA office, after waiting over 1 1/2 hours at the ticket office my ticket was finally processed. But only after a lot of paperwork, I had to fill out EVA's "power of attorney" form letter to let this person cancel my ticket. Just to cancel you jump through so many hoops, OMG.
@Ben
EVA Air may still have an office here in Seattle, I know they did prior to the pandemic. Here is their local number +1-206-242-8888 if the office is still open.
The phone number for that Seattle office works (I just tried it), but every option on their phone tree leads to dead-ends, either recordings that all say "sorry we are too busy to take your call please go away and fuck off" or some system error. It seems pretty consistent with what Ben has experienced elsewhere: a company that really doesn't give a shit about customer service basics.
@Dick Bupkiss, Thanks for trying! That is truly horrible customer service.
Not much to be done here @Ben.
I know people who called back again and again for hours until they were able to get though to a customer service representative. It is all about having a lot of patience.
You can definitely call their offices in Taiwan and New York. Try calling again and get a different representative who may be more than willing to help you. Sometimes different people can actually help you....
Not much to be done here @Ben.
I know people who called back again and again for hours until they were able to get though to a customer service representative. It is all about having a lot of patience.
You can definitely call their offices in Taiwan and New York. Try calling again and get a different representative who may be more than willing to help you. Sometimes different people can actually help you. In other words, that first representative may not be willing to help but another will. I am sure we all had experienced that before.
Like I said before, I know someone who had the same issue as yours. Just have to either keep calling the office in New York or try your luck again with the office in Taiwan.
This is a good example of where Asian airlines, with stellar in-flight products, are worse than their North American counterparts. No question I’d rather fly EVA, ANA, SQ etc for their in-flight service, but I really appreciate United’s comprehensive app and IT which is leagues ahead of its Asian counterparts. I speak as an SQ krisflyer member who lived in Singapore for 5 years and who was *Gold with SQ for years.
Have you tried the app? I am struggling with the same tech mess with China Airlines and I was able to do a little bit more on the app than the website, so who knows.
That's one weakness of an otherwise good airline, phone service. They are closed hours before their arrivals and departures in the US. They also have no landslide baggage service office but United claimed that EVA Air has one person walking around the baggage carousel before customs.
can confirm, there is one person who makes sure all baggage are cleared before they head back to the office.
their landside baggage service will be their airport office i guess.
I had this issue for P2 a while back. I found out by downloading the app I could get find it back door
A few times in the past, I've contacted TG's LAX service office via local phone and email, perhaps EVA has something similar? (Full disclosure I haven't searched for this w/ EVA)
Maybe they changed the program/gave new membership numbers and your account was closed? I went 3 years without flying AF/KLM and they changed FlyingBlue account number formats a few years ago. Turns out they completely closed out my old account and I had to create a new one. Was a huge PITA when Chase wouldn’t let me transfer UR points because they won’t allow you to transfer to a second/different FF number
@Ben
Idea . . . . didn't you (maybe) make a points transfer sometimes earlier and either received a confirmation email or on the online account (like AmEx) you have your account number stored online at that credit card site?
Just an idea i had reading abt your problem . . . no need to overstress your patience ;-)
Worth a try and look at your emails or bank pages. Servus aus Bayern.
Unfortunately that's just a pretty common case for Taiwanese companies (and I have no idea why, since usually Taiwanese love modern tech). I could tell many stories about the websites of China Airlines (crashing when searching with Rail&Fly), the national railway company (completely missing some stations or altering departure station), and a lot more. Most locals that I know don't even try websites but immediately call companies instead, probably for that exact reason.
Regarding EVA...
Unfortunately that's just a pretty common case for Taiwanese companies (and I have no idea why, since usually Taiwanese love modern tech). I could tell many stories about the websites of China Airlines (crashing when searching with Rail&Fly), the national railway company (completely missing some stations or altering departure station), and a lot more. Most locals that I know don't even try websites but immediately call companies instead, probably for that exact reason.
Regarding EVA customer service:
Last year I also had an issue with an EVA ticket from Munich to Taipei and needed to call. Their new Munich office had a phone number published, but nobody answered. Then I called Vienna, where they told me that they have staff shortage in Munich and simply don't occupy the office (might be similar in US maybe?). So they gave me an email address of the Munich office instead. After writing them in German, several days later I got a response in English from Taiwan (probably because there's also nobody available in Munich to read mails).
Everything worked well then, but a few days before my return flight from Taipei to Munich I got an email that my flight had changed and would need reconfirmation - sure enough I couldn't check my seat or meal reservation anymore and the flight showed as unconfirmed. So I had to go to their local office, where they simply said that there was no change at all and they just confirmed the flight again. Their staff was very friendly, but what a waste of time...
Luckily I wrote down my Infinity MileageLands number when I registered, because for me also it wasn't included in the "welcome" mail after registration. Although I'm not sure if I'll ever use it.
What's funny too: If you book a flight on their website while being logged in, but then use a frequent flyer number of a different program, the flight will not show in your user account because obviously they only look up flights which are connected to the Infinity MileageLands number.
Eva Air up until recently was releasing consistent long haul business award availability to partner programs. Now they don't. In the last two years, ANA, EVA, Air China and Singapore have pulled some sort of business award from partner programs. The only thing I can consistently book with my Aegean Miles on Star Alliance now is LH Group, Thai and Ethiopian. What a let down. I am so frustrated. The world of miles and points is slowly disintegrating.
Try calling the Taiwan office at +886 2 25011999 at 8:30AM Taiwan time. Theres an English option and they usually pickup much faster there.
Read the piece.
“So I then called the Taiwan number, and was told that I’d have to call the US number for help with my account, since that’s where my account is registered.”
Read the piece.
It says " fill in passport number OR mobile phone". Did you fill both?
What surprises me also is if they require your Mobile phone number. Ok you don't need to fill in the country code because you already filled in you are from the US, albeit, I have a nationality but my phone number is not from that country. And they don't allow the region number? Well, don't know how it works in the US but my phonenumber has a prefix. Am I missing something here...
Seems to be a common theme with just star alliance members: have members of their airlines enter the stupid number that no one ever remembers over a login name.
In addition to all CAPS, try first and middle name together as one word.
Great idea. I’ve seen this before as well
Came here to say the same thing. My experience with several Asian carriers, including EVA has been that despite putting my middle name in a distinct field in my profile, it always is just lumped together with my first name when I’m going to check a booking, select seats etc. as Alanmichael
Also came here to suggest plugging in your first and middle name together as one word. I had the same problem last year, but Jordan from PointsPros gave me that solution and it worked.
I was a travel agent many years ago and booked a client on our company credit on EVA Air from Seattle to Taipei. He was stopped at the airport and was refused boarding because it was not his card and I needed to send in proof (via fax) that it was a legit purchase. That was a fun night.
Two ideas: reach out via Twitter (don’t know if they have an active social media team). Or… on that web form, try ALL CAPS for your name. It might be case sensitive and they don’t tell you CAPS might be required.
Could you just make Ford an account and book anything you wanted to book via his?
@ James K. -- In order to book an award for someone else, they need to have an EVA Air Infinity MileageLands number. :-(
Ha! I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh that's just so perfect in its bureaucratic frustration
next time just email them at [email protected]. They are very good at responding email but the phone is next to impossible.