How Linkage Happens

Prior to May 2017: 

1. If you created an AWS account with email address xyz123@cornell.edu, and there was no existing Amazon.com account for xyz123@cornell.edu then functionally, an Amazon.com account was also created for xyz123@cornell.edu and those two accounts (AWS and Amazon.com) are linked.
2. If you created an AWS account with email address xyz123@cornell.edu, and there already was an existing Amazon.com account for xyz123@cornell.edu, then the two accounts will be linked.

Checking Linkage

We can ask our AWS Technical Account Manager to check whether linkage exists for any of our AWS accounts under the Cornell master AWS Organization. Contact him directly.

Ramifications

If linkage exists:

• If you were to change the root email address for the AWS account, it would also change the email address for the Amazon.com account.
• If you were to change the email address for the Amazon.com account, it would also change the root email address for the AWS account.
• AWS/Amazon cannot current manually unlink or decouple these accounts.
• If the Amazon.com account is closed, the AWS account will be closed. (Statement from AWS TAM.)
• If the AWS account is closed, the Amazon.com account remains active. (Confirmed with AWS Support.)