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Earning AA LPs / Award miles etc. BA / British Airways (inc. upgraded flights)

Old Dec 25, 2015, 8:28 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
Earning American Airlines AAvantage Miles Flying British Airways
Including known issues (e.g. upgrades) with AA / BA



Earning AAdvantage Miles flying British Airways
Travel on British Airways and its affiliate airline counts toward qualifying for AAdvantage elite status membership.

Affiliate airlines
  • BA Cityflyer
  • BA EuroFlyer
  • Sun-Air of Scandinavia


AAdvantage Concierge Key, Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro, Platinum and Gold members traveling on British Airways also enjoy:
Additional elite status bonus miles

If you fly BA as an AA codeshare, marketed flight, you will earn as if you were flying on AA.

Link to AAdvantage chart on earning miles flying BA.
Upgrading to First on British Airways and U, Z (?) upgrade shared with award Fare Class Issues

Upgrading a paid Business (Club World) fare to First on British Airways puts the flight into fare class "Z" (?)a class that is ineligible for AAdvantage miles accrual (as reflected on the accrual chart) because it is also an award classification for a First Class award.

Upgrading a paid Premium Economy (World Traveller Plus) fare to Business puts it into U class (?), another award fare class that earns no AA miles.

Members have recently reported success at having their upgrades acknowledged as miles-earning, but it may prove challenging.

According to successful member BosTravel, you may have to contact ask for AAdvantage Customer Service, and explain you paid for Business, upgraded to F, or WTP to CW, and provide them with your original ticket number(s).

Earning AAdvantage Miles on British Airways When Upgraded[/color]
AAdvantage Participating Airline Upgrade Awards / PAUA (using AA miles)

AAdvantage miles may be used to secure upgrade awards for partners BA and IB, including code shares, depending on fare purchased.
  • Full Fare Economy includes published fares booked in Y or B (excluding Military or Government fares)
  • Full Fare Premium Economy refers to World Traveller Plus published fares booked in W on British Airways
  • Full Fare Business includes published fares booked in J, D or R on American and C, J, D or R on British Airways

EQM will be generally earned based on originally purchased fare.

Link to thread discussing AA Participating Airline Upgrade Awards / PAUA

Links to BAEC Forum resources:
Pro-Active Online Upgrades (POUG)

A. What is a Pro-active Online Upgrade?
The simple answer: it is a limited special upgrade that may be offered at a time of BA's choosing after your booking is ticketed up to and including online check-in. The offer, if it happens (and this is not guaranteed) will appear in Manage My Booking, either via BA.com or the mobile app. There is no email notification, klaxon sound or flashing beacons to alert you - so now you know why its called a Pro-active Online Upgrade

Please note, POUG rates differ from the rates offered at the airport (see, Airport Upgrade (AUP) cost tracking thread) and also the rate offered when you click on the Upgrade my class of travel with money link from within MMB, or the Upgrade to the next available cabin blue/grey banner in the app.

Link to thread on Pro-active Online Upgrades and cost tracking
Airport Upgrades (AUP):

Airport Upgrades may be offered at the airport, or rarely in a lounge if requested.

Link to thread on Airport Upgrades and cost tracking
Upgrading using Avios (UuA)
UuAs can only be applied to tickets issued on 125 stock. In other words tickets issued by BA or BA registered travel agents with ticket numbers beginning 125. Tickets sold by Iberia and American Airlines are issued on different numbered stock and cannot be upgraded using Avios.

Link to post regarding Upgrading using Avios
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Earning AA LPs / Award miles etc. BA / British Airways (inc. upgraded flights)

Old Dec 14, 2015, 6:42 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 139
Earning AA LPs / Award miles etc. BA / British Airways (inc. upgraded flights)

I am very confused andfrustrated becuase I could not get a consistent answer from the AA representatives. Some said YES whilst some said NO

I had booked a round trip flying from KUL-LHR on the World Traveler Plus (T class) which was marketed and operated by BA.

The problem is I had successfully upgraded to the Club World by using the CX Asia Miles. So the fare class of the BA flights was changed to U. I'm a bit worried if the AA system would correctly post the miles into my AA account instead of earning nothing because those flights were upgraded from the fare class T to U.

Since the miles did not post automatically, I have already reqested the missing flight miles online. I understand the process takes time. But my concern is how long it takes for those miles to be posted becuase I've registered the fast track to elite status promotion. So I need to earn the required EQP between September 14 and December 23, 2015.

My theory is even though I flew AA's partner airline, I should have earned the miles based on the fare class of the tickets I bought rather than the fare class of the tickets I upgraded. The same situation also applies to the AA flight which was upgraded by AA miles, right? Please kindly correct me if I'm wrong.

Thank you for you time

Last edited by davidtai; Dec 14, 2015 at 7:44 am
davidtai is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 6:50 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: AA Ex Plt
Posts: 474
Every time I've booked with CX in PE and upgraded using Asia Miles into J I've had to call in afterwards and request mileage. Never been a problem getting it credited, but it's never happened automatically either. Can't say I've ever dealt with it on BA, however.
Animgif is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 7:01 am
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by Animgif
Every time I've booked with CX in PE and upgraded using Asia Miles into J I've had to call in afterwards and request mileage. Never been a problem getting it credited, but it's never happened automatically either. Can't say I've ever dealt with it on BA, however.
Thanks for your input. May I know that did you wait for 15 days and sumit the request for missing flight miles online or you just call the AA representative directly after the trip?
davidtai is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 8:05 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Programs: AA Ex Plt
Posts: 474
I ended up waiting each time, but that was mostly due to laziness.
Animgif is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 8:10 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: MSN
Programs: AA, BAEC Gold
Posts: 3,914
Originally Posted by davidtai
But my concern is how long it takes for those miles to be posted becuase I've registered the fast track to elite status promotion. So I need to earn the required EQP between September 14 and December 23, 2015.
The time that matters is when you took the flight not when the miles post.
MADPhil is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 8:21 am
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by MADPhil
The time that matters is when you took the flight not when the miles post.
Oh that would be great! You answer gave me a huge relief.
Anyway, I'm a bit impatient because those flight would help me reaching the EXP status!

Thank you btw
davidtai is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 10:20 am
  #7  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,401
Wow - had no idea one can upgrade BA flights using Asia miles? Nicely done OP!
no1cub17 is offline  
Old Dec 14, 2015, 10:00 pm
  #8  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 139
Originally Posted by no1cub17
Wow - had no idea one can upgrade BA flights using Asia miles? Nicely done OP!
Quoted from the rules from the Asia Miles website.

For British Airways, only fare classes Y, B and H are eligible for Economy Class to Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus Class) Upgrade Awards. Only fare classes W, T and E are eligible for Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus Class) to Business Class Upgrade Awards. Upgrade Awards are only applicable from Economy Class to Business Class upgrades for flights without Premium Economy Class (World Traveller Plus). Only fare classes J, C, D, I and R are eligible for Business Class to First Class Upgrade Awards.

Be reminded that you could only upgrade the flights if both the outbound and the inbound trip cleared.

I hope it might help
davidtai is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 6:32 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: AA EXP, Amex Plat
Posts: 571
No miles for flight upgraded from J to F?

Recently flew BA LHR-JFK (purchased AA flight No. but flew BA metal). I bought a paid J ticket, then used 35k AA miles to upgrade to F. Now, I'm not getting any miles for buying a J ticket. Does this sound right??
tacostuff is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 7:32 am
  #10  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,660
Are you getting no miles or Y miles? Call AAdvantage to get this straightened out. Probably just a mistake. No conspiracy here.
Dr. HFH is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 7:39 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AA EXP, HH Diamond, Marriott Silver, HG Gold
Posts: 72
I've had lots of problems with BA not crediting miles for flights flown on AA tickets. Just fill in in the online form for missing miles and make sure you keep your boarding pass.
petewinca is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 10:46 am
  #12  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Roswell, GA
Programs: AA EXP 2.8m,Lifetime PLT, Hilton Diamond, IHG PlLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 3,191
No miles for flight upgraded from J to F?

I have noticed that BA took longer to post miles on my last trip with them
Give it a few days you should be fine
fotographer is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 11:25 am
  #13  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,434
If ir has credited as zero miles, then that is an error ; it may have incorrectly classed the flight as a reward 1st class flight

Both award and upgrades come from Z class

If this is the case, call AA and see about getting it fixed

If it just has not shown at all on the account, if the approipriate time has elapsed, put in a missing mileage request
Dave Noble is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 1:29 pm
  #14  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 27,191
Let's hope this isn't BA following CX's lead on this.

Cliff notes: CX apparently has no longer been rewarding miles to AAdvantage members when paid tickets are upgraded with AsiaMiles, because the upgrade and reward booking code are identical. AA kept saying it was CX's decision whether to award miles, and CX kept saying "U" (or "Z") was not a mileage-earning class. It took a FedEx'ed letter to headquarters for AA to "cave" and award the miles itself.

Here's the resolution post, scroll up for the history.
ijgordon is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 10:14 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: AA EXP, Amex Plat
Posts: 571
No miles for flight upgraded from J to F?

Thanks all. I've gotten no miles thus far for the BOS-JFK leg I upgraded to F, but the miles for my first segment (which was in J since it was a two-class aircraft) already posted to my account. I think I'm going to wait for the two weeks or so to pass and submit a missing miles request. I'll try to post an update later.
tacostuff is offline  

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