ChicagoAlli

Hi, longtime lurker, and don't post much (but maybe that will change)

Last month I flew from Moscow to Chicago. SVO-HEL-JFK on a Finnair ticket purchased directly from Finnair. I then flew LGA to ORD on a separate ticket purchased directly from American (it was waaay cheaper to do it this way, especially in business class).

My question is on my Finnair itinerary. When I originally purchased the ticket, both flights (SVO-HEL and HEL-JFK) were on AY metal. However, I became squeamish at a 40 minute connection in HEL (it was considered a legal connection, apparently the shortest one allowed for that airport) so I changed my flight from SVO-HEL to one two hours earlier at no cost. The new flight had an AY flight number, but was actually operated by Aeroflot, a non-One World airline. By the way, delightful flight on Aeroflot--new plane and extremely friendly staff.

I expected to not receive elite or any award miles on the Aeroflot-operated flight, but in fact I received both, and appropriate mileage bonuses as well. I re-read American's explanation for earning miles on partner airlines, and it still seems to me that the Aeroflot flight would not count.

Am I reading the rules wrong? Or just lucky?

JDiver

With AA codeshares and a few Qantas and JAL exceptions, you can not earn AA credit for oneworld codeshares operated by non-one world airlines. AA might grant Original Routing Credit if you had been involuntarily rerouted, but that would be highly unlikely in.the case of a voluntary flight change.

You were fortunate, and should not be overly surprised if AA claws back the miles etc.

JonNYC

Actually, nutty as it sounds, a long ways back, working entirely from internal documentation on the subject, I concluded that AY is, in fact, the 3rd exception (in addition to QF and JL)

https://travelingbetter.vbulletin.ne...9282#post59282

rfrost

My own experience is consistent. In 2015, I flew SVO-HEL-LHR on an AY ticket, with SU metal on the first leg (IIRC, it was my only option to get any AA EQMs without either leaving in the middle of the night or missing a performance in London on arrival). I was pleasantly surprised to find my AAcount credited for both flights. (And I'd agree with the OP's assessment of the SU flight, but then the next time I tried that routing, SU canceled the SVO-HEL flight, sent no notice to pax, and the rebooking experience was a scene straight out of the 1950's...)

ChicagoAlli

Thanks for the replies. Good to know that all AY codeshares appear to earn AA elite miles, even if the explanation is waaay buried somewhere. I'm flying to St. Petersburg and the Baltics next year and would prefer to go AY than BA and this gives me more flexibility on AY routings.

JonNYC

Good to have additional datapoints, I haven't received that many over the years.

spongenotbob