# VIA Préférence requires birthday



## willem (Jul 4, 2017)

I went to join VIA Préférence (thanks for the hint, *zephyr17*!) and birthday is a required field. Would someone who knows please tell me why?

Even though the sign-up web page asks for a birthday, it also asks for the member's age group. This makes me think that the programmers are lazy but also that it is some effort to appear to be weeding out underage people. If I recall correctly, AU requires a stated date of birth for such a reason.

Any insight would be appreciated. In particular, if I give VIA a false date of birth, will someone checking my passport accuse me of being someone else with the same name? And would it matter? (I would qualify for the senior fare based on both my passport date of birth and whatever I would give VIA.)


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## bmjhagen9426 (Jul 4, 2017)

willem said:


> I went to join VIA Préférence (thanks for the hint, *zephyr17*!) and birthday is a required field. Would someone who knows please tell me why?
> 
> Even though the sign-up web page asks for a birthday, it also asks for the member's age group. This makes me think that the programmers are lazy but also that it is some effort to appear to be weeding out underage people. If I recall correctly, AU requires a stated date of birth for such a reason.
> 
> Any insight would be appreciated. In particular, if I give VIA a false date of birth, will someone checking my passport accuse me of being someone else with the same name? And would it matter? (I would qualify for the senior fare based on both my passport date of birth and whatever I would give VIA.)


I'm suspecting that it is partly due to COPPA regulations, the same reason why many websites don't allow signups for pre-teens.


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## Ryan (Jul 4, 2017)

Im reasonably certain that Via isnt subject to laws passed by us Americans.



bmjhagen9426 said:


> I'm suspecting that it is partly due to COPPA regulations


(Added quote for context)


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## Anderson (Jul 4, 2017)

Ryan said:


> I’m reasonably certain that Via isn’t subject to laws passed by us Americans.


(1) There might be similar laws in Canada.

(2) Failing that, there are other reasons they might want the info (such as determining eligibility for discounts). Also, IIRC they don't establish accounts for anyone under two years old.


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## Ryan (Jul 5, 2017)

(1) Perhaps, but that’s not what I was addressing.

(2) A perfectly valid reason for wanting the info, but doesn’t answer the initial question as to why they ask for both date of birth and age group.


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## willem (Jul 5, 2017)

(2) I would not expect a declaration on a web page to establish eligibility for a discount. If such a declaration is acceptable, why not just accept it when the ticket is ordered (either on a web page or by phone)? If there is some reason related to eligibility, the birth year would be sufficient in most cases.


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## jis (Jul 5, 2017)

Maybe they just want to be able to send a Birthday e-Card


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## Seaboard92 (Jul 10, 2017)

Actually I believe it has a lot to do with market research. It's a frequent traveler program which to the consumer provides great reasons to travel via discounts. But to the company it provides invaluable information. About the demographic. I remember when I took a marketing class in high school we put the grade level as a question on the surveys we passed out in order to see what the actual base was.


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