WillTravel

It's a tossup as to which forum this should go into, but since my goal is to get Aeroplan miles, I am posting here.

I had five segments on United recently. When I did online check-in for one segment, I was unable to change it to print the Aeroplan number on the pass. When I went to the kiosk the next morning, I was able to change it there, using the Partner Airline tab somewhere in the process (I think).

For subsequent segments, I had to get the agent to reprint the pass each time. For my final segment, which involved a bump, I wasn't able to get the Aeroplan number on the boarding pass. And, although the UA agent assured me it would be credited, it has not, so I'll have to send it in.

Is there anything I can do in my UA account to make my Aeroplan number supreme over my UA Mileage Plus number, for future segments? I haven't been able to find a way.

Shareholder

If any of your flights do post to MP you can call and have them removed, then send the boarding passes and ticket copy to AE. However, if your stubs show your MP number and not your AE or are blank, then AE is unlikely to accept them for credit. I always have a UA agent do the change, never trust the kiosk.

Unless you make the change to AE when you actually book on UA.com, your MP number will always be the default. Also, the moment you remove your MP number and put your AC number in its place before checking in, you'll lose your E+ seating on all segments. That's why it is best to keep your MP until you check in, but get an agent to do the change and ensure you have a boarding pass with the AE number on it. Half the time you'll still have to send it in to AE since return flights like to default back to the MP number.

I went through this with six flight segments last month, the first three were changed at the airport and showed on my AE account, the fourth even though it showed AC*G the miles still went into my MP account. They reversed it and I sent the BP to AE and got the miles a few days later. The last two went okay, but I still had to change the account number at both check-ins, outbound and return. It's a pain, but seems the only way if you don't want your AE account as your default on UA.com.

zorn

There is nothing you can do with your account itself to make the AP number appear automatically in all your bookings. Your UA number is hard-coded as your #1 number.

You are best to get the number changed by a human being. Either a check-in agent, gate agent, or RCC agent if there is a RCC at that location.

I don't have any current UA bookings, so I can't remember if there is anything you can do online, one booking at a time. But that will interfere with E+ seating assignments, if you are eligible for them. In any event I'd have it double checked by an agent at the airport.

WillTravel

Thanks for the tips. Although it's a pain, I'm glad to hear I wasn't missing anything obvious.

E+ would be nice, but I do not have status with any airline, so I'm not likely to qualify.

WillTravel

OK, so here is my update. I hope I can deal with this somehow.

When I accepted a bump last month taking SFO-YVR, instead of SFO-SEA-YVR, I got 500 miles of credit on the original Air Canada flight for SEA-YVR, but not for the actual flight I took. So this is about 300 miles. The agent said he was unable to put my Aeroplan number on the boarding pass for SFO-YVR, but at least there is no Mileage Plus number on it. So if I submit this one, I should get the 500 miles removed, and instead get the 800 (or so) miles for SFO-YVR?

For my United flight FRA-SFO two days ago, I had to check in at FRA. The Lufthansa agent (because Lufthansa seems to handle United check-in at FRA) would not reprint the pass with the Aeroplan number on it, although I explained the situation to him. He said something like, "Oh, the Aeroplan number is in the system." The UA Mileage Plus number was on it, but he would not reprint it. So I find that this flight segment has posted to UA Mileage Plus, but I don't know what I can do about it. I'd rather get Mileage Plus than nothing, but I'd prefer Aeroplan. Any ideas?

Simon

This has been covered a few times before, but the other problem is: most UA agents don't know how to do this properly, and only do so if they luck into it.

There are two separate fields in the UA check-in system for FF numbers:

1) for which program's attributes to use;
2) for which program to credit FF mileage to.

Most agents will change #1 from MP to AE. This will have the effect SH describes above, but also will NOT credit the flight to AE - EVEN THOUGH IT SHOWS THE AE # ON THE BP.

As such, you may be best to put NO FF # on the flight unless you can do it via a Mr. Checkin machine or through OLCI.

Simon

jeffjfj

Step 1: Call AE and explain the situation. Make sure you explain that the agent told you that the AE number was in the system AND that he/she refused to reprint the BP. AE might tell you that you're SOL - if so, go to Step 2. If not, go to Step 3.

Step 2: Hang up. Repeat Step 1.

Step 3. AE will probably tell you that you have to get the points removed from MP and then you have to request that AE put them on. Get the AE rep's name and have him/her put a note on your account that that's what you'll be doing. Note the rep's name and the date/time of the call. (A better option is to send an email to AE and get an email back from them, as you then have their reply in writing, but I haven't tried this.) If you're as paranoid as I am, record the call (as I did).

Step 4: If you haven't gone the email route, call AE back after a couple of hours/days and confirm that a note is on your account detailing what's happening and that you are "authorised" to get the points credited. If you're as paranoid as I am, record the call (as I did).

Step 5: Print a copy of the MP mileage transaction page showing that the points were credited.

Step 6: Email MP, explain the situation, and ask them to remove the points. You may get an email back asking you to verify that you want the points removed, because once the points are removed from MP, they won't put them back if the "other program" (AE in this instance) refuses to credit you. (This is why you need to go through steps 1-3 first.) Follow their instructions for removing the points.

Step 7: Wait for the points to come off of your MP account. When this has happened, print a copy of the MP mileage statement page showing that the points have been taken off. You should have also received an email from MP either confirming that the points have been taken off or some sort of confirmation (from your original contact with them) that the points will be removed.

Step 8: Follow AE's instructions for getting the points credited to AE. This probably means sending in an explanation of what you want, your BP, confirmation that MP has taken the points off of your MP account (MP emails and MP statement printouts), and a copy of your request to MP that they remove the points.

Step 9: Pray like hell that AE doesn't screw up. Do this for the 5 months or so that it will take the points to show up in your AE account.

WillTravel

Jeff, thanks for that detail.

I forgot to also mention that the Lufthansa agent at LHR, for the LHR-CGN flight, also refused to reprint the boarding pass to put Aeroplan on it. I was able to get the SEA United agent to print the boarding passes for SEA-ORD and ORD-LHR with the Aeroplan #, but of course at LHR you have to check in again.

WillTravel

Jeff's method worked. Luckily, Aeroplan posted the miles about six weeks after I phoned United, had the rep remove the mileage, and then mailed the boarding passes to the address provided on the Aeroplan web site. I didn't even have to pester Aeroplan to do this, so I am impressed.

In the future, if I book on the United site, I just won't log in with my Mileage Plus number. Thanks for your help.

danwhy

That's a fair bit of hassle you had to go through but I'm glad it worked out in the end (and relatively quickly considering it's AP!).