raistlin

Indeed, Alitalia has comfort seats, besides economy plus.

mith

any update on KLM? I know, Comfort seats are off limit without paying full, but how about exit row? Delta offers it for free, but on the website klm asks for 50 euros per leg.
Can anybody confirm that KLM needs 10 digits (zeros before the milllemiglia number)? to understand the status?

arollins

I have a similar question and will like to know how exactly to go about. +1 and I have Freccia Alata Elite Plus, since Dec 2015. We are taking a KLM flight AMS-MUC on April, however, we will like to credit trip to our DL account. Do I just book tickets and enter our DL skymiles #, pick seats, and that's it? I figured we can get free luggage due to status, that is the vital part, seats, no big deal. Any suggestions? Also, how do I go about in seeing if DL sees us as skyteam elite plus, as we are nothing with DL. Thanks.

mith

Delta is not involved in your routing, so does not matter how they see you. You will get the miles, if the skymiles number is entered when booking (and not overwritten or anything else by check in / lounge staff).
KLM.com will not recognize your Elite status (at least not with the short 8 digit number) and does not let you change the number after entered during booking.

arollins

True, but form what I get is that upon booking the trip, I should enter the DL act # in order for proper credit to DL. This is what I meant regarding on DL seeing if I'm elite or not. The status is with AZ, flying KL, crediting to DL. Again, I do not care on the seating part, its a short flight 1.5hr or so, however, I do care about the elite perks, priority boarding, lounge access, free luggage, that's the key part in my equation.

whatupbovice

Technically, if you wanted to receive your Skyteam elite benefits, you'd need to have your Alitalia FFN in the reservation. Of course then you wouldn't be able to credit the miles to DL.

What you can try (though this probably won't work) is have your DL number in the reservation and then just flash your Alitalia status card at check-in and hope an accommodating agent doesn't make you pay for the bag. Any 'priority' seating privileges, however, wouldn't be available to you.

arollins

Thanks, that seems to be the way I'll most likely proceed.

vivamuci

It's possible.
My travel agent uses the Amadeus GDS.
There you can enter both numbers. One for mileage accrual
(FQTV) and one just to display your status (FQTS).

mith

Can KLM service reps do this? Over phone / at counter?
I had my MilleMiglia entered when booking at klm.com. I was able to change seats to preferred for the delta segments at delta.com. Since V-fares don't earn zero on klm-marketed flight, I would like to change at least FQTV to Delta. But neither delta nor klm Websites lets me change the programme/number. Weired thing though... I entered the reservation in my travel portfolio at airfrance.com, still cant change anything, but at delta.com the alitalia number is gone, replaced by my deserted flying blue account info (no status, no miles). I hope that I can sort this at check in.

irishguy28

This isn't strictly true.

You can receive most alliance benefits by showing the physical card of the programme in which you hold status, even if a different number is in the reservation/printed on the boarding pass.

Don't try playing around with the FQTV/FQTS fields - most agents don't know the difference, or that there are multiple FQ fields, and are bound to get it wrong.

Figure out what is most important to you.

If obtaining the miles is the important thing, then make sure you put the number of the account where you want the miles to end up in the reservation, and make sure it appears on every boarding pass, and never leave a check-in desk without ensuring that the number you want miles to end up in is the number you see on all of your boarding passes.

If obtaining status benefits is the important thing, then make sure you put the number of the account where you hold status in the reservation, and make sure it appears on every boarding pass, and never leave a check-in desk without ensuring that the number where you hold status is the number you see on all of your boarding passes.

If you want to earn miles in an account where you don't hold status, but still obtain the perks of status, then make sure you put the number of the account where you want the miles to end up in the reservation, and make sure it appears on every boarding pass, and never leave a check-in desk without ensuring that the number you want miles to end up in is the number you see on all of your boarding passes, but be sure to bring your status card from the other programme with you, and have it in hand at all times when you are interacting with airline staff. They will probably begin to overwrite the number - be alert to this, and stop them if they do. Explain that you do not want to earn miles in that status programme - there is no requirement that they must use that number, although some will think that they should/must. If you meet a stubborn agent, either ask for a supervisor, or back down and tell them you don't wish to avail of your status benefits. You can still obtain lounge access, etc, by showing your status card in conjunction with your boarding pass (again, make sure the lounge agent does not overwrite your frequent flyer number when presented with this different card).


Things are even easier if the ticket on which you are travelling does not earn miles into the programme where you hold status. In such a case, just put that number in the reservation, confident that you are going to receive zero miles. After all travel has been completed, you can simply do a retro-claim in the other programme, and obtain the miles. This works a treat for me (I often travel on cheap KL tickets that earn nothing in MilleMiglia, where I hold status, so I travel with the AZ number in the reservation, obtaining free luggage, lounge access, etc, and then afterwards claim the miles back in my Flying Blue account).

arollins

Thanks to all. I know it sound complicated, this is why I wish that DL could see my AZ Skyteam status, it would be so much simpler that way. Since I still have time, trip is in April, I have not rush to buy tickets yet. *A prices are cheaper for the route, however I will have to pay luggage, once I decide when to purchase, I'll determine if *A + Luggage fees is cheaper than ST.

irishguy28

But they can. Can't you just wave your status card at them?

All the elite perks you listed above will be granted to you on displaying your status card - regardless of what number is in your reservation.

mith

So, it is no problem for Flying Blue (ode skymiles) to retrocredit for a V-fare flight that has a Millemiglia code on it? That helps alot.

Actually, it seems to work to get 2 numbers in your amadeus reservation (even without calling), if you e.g. first enter Your Millemiglia number when booking (on amadeus/klm), then find the reservation in your flyingblue account. It will automatically enter the your FB number as second FQT-number. Delta will show this newer number, KLM will still show the original, garuda will show both. Now, if you edit your reservation on garuda, you can delete the older number and enter a new one. I am just not sure, which number is FQTV and which is FQTS. Any insight?

irishguy28

Not for FB. No experience with SkyMiles.




Just typing in the e-ticket number on the "Claim Missing Miles" link in your FB account will automatically add the miles/segments in your FB account. Just wait until you have flown ALL sectors on the ticket. You can retroclaim the very same day you have completed travel. I have done this numerous times now and the miles post immediately - even before they have hit the AZ account as zero-earning flights.

That's a bad idea. You can have multiple numbers in the FQTV field (see above), and therefore it is unpredictable which of the various programmes will receive the miles.

You should only ever have one number in the FQTV field - namely, the account where you wish to receive the mileage credit

FQTV - the programme which will receive miles for the flight
FQTS - the programme whose status will be reflected during the flight (should only be used if the number is different to that already present in FQTV)

Normally only FQTV is filled, as it is normally the case that you have only the one programme.

As a customer, you will never have access to the FQTS field, and any changes you make will end up being added to the FQTV entries. You would have to ask a knowledgeable agent to fill out this field separately. Most agents have no idea that there is more than one FQ field, and therefore it is almost guaranteed to go wrong.

CARRY YOUR STATUS CARD AS PROOF OF STATUS. USE YOUR PHYSICAL CARD TO OBTAIN STATUS PERKS. DO NOT PLAY WITH ADDITION/DELETION OF FFP NUMBERS. DO NOT RELY ON ANY AGENT YOU ENCOUNTER TO PROPERLY CARRY OUT YOUR WISHES REGARDING ADDING/DELETING/REPLACING FFP NUMBERS. ONLY PUT THE NUMBER OF THE ACCOUNT YOU WANT THE MILES TO HIT IN THE RESERVATION. RELY ON YOUR PHYSICAL CARD FOR OBTAINING STATUS PERKS.

whatupbovice

Really interesting, and good to know. Is this stated somewhere, or is this just from personal experience?