MilesBuzz! - Do airlines give you the exact number of miles your flight have traveled?

*has traveled

Recently on a Delta flight from LGA to LAX the plane had to turn around and return back to LGA because of navigation instrument problems. Once they were fixed after about 2 hours we took off for LAX again. This added about an extra 150 miles to the flight. I was award the same miles for the flight there and back.

Do airlines give you the actual miles that your flight travels or do they just draw a line between 2 points. What if your plane circles an airport for and hour or has to take an alternate route becuase of weather? I'm pretty sure they just give you the distance directly between 2 points traveled. But is this false advertising when they say you are award the number of miles that you fly?

You get what you paid for. If you paid for LAX-LGA you'll get the miles for LAX-LGA. If you're inconvenienced by delays, airlines often give out vouchers for future travel or bonus miles for inconvenience. This is very different than miles for the flight.

You get what you paid for. If you paid for LAX-LGA you'll get the miles for LAX-LGA. If you're inconvenienced by delays, airlines often give out vouchers for future travel or bonus miles for inconvenience. This is very different than miles for the flight.

Do you have to ask for these vouchers? I have been on a few flights that were cancelled or delayed 5 plus hours and never heard of any vouchers given out. This flight I am talking about when we first left the gate we sat on the runway for an hour, took off, landed. Waited for 2 hours for repairs then had to wait 45 min to take off. Spent close to 10 hours on the plane for a 5.5 hour flight.

It depends on the airline. AA is very good about proactively giving miles when a flight is seriously delayed. It happens so often there's a master thread on the AA forum about compensation. I don't follow Delta, but you could ask on the Delta forum here, or check for a similar thread to the AA one.
AA forum: Guide to, and listing of, compensation (consolidated) (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage/853317-guide-listing-compensation-consolidated.html)

It depends on the airline. AA is very good about proactively giving miles when a flight is seriously delayed. It happens so often there's a master thread on the AA forum about compensation. I don't follow Delta, but you could ask on the Delta forum here, or check for a similar thread to the AA one.
AA forum: Guide to, and listing of, compensation (consolidated) (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage/853317-guide-listing-compensation-consolidated.html)

thanks

A follow up observation.

I did the folllowing trip in September; JFK-GRU-GIG-MIA-JFK. The miles calculator clicks it at 10229 miles. I received 10045 miles as of follows:

09/01/09 AMERICAN AIRLINES 951 Y JFK GIG 4,786 0 4,786
09/08/09 AMERICAN AIRLINES 904 Y GIG MIA 4,162 0 4,162
09/09/09 AMERICAN AIRLINES 1114 Y MIA LGA 1,097 0 1,097

Seems like the whole exact GRU-GIG segment dissapeared into the thin air:) Not that 200 miles would make or break my day, just interesting.

Were JFK-GRU and GRU-GIG on the same flight number, even if you might have changed aircraft? In that case you may have got the point to point mileage for JFK-GIG. If you had different flight numbers you would ordinarily get credit for both segments.

Were JFK-GRU and GRU-GIG on the same flight number, even if you might have changed aircraft? In that case you may have got the point to point mileage for JFK-GIG. If you had different flight numbers you would ordinarily get credit for both segments.

Oh, I see. Thanks.

I don't think it is false advertising, as explained you get the miles point to point. I wouldn't want to pay extra, for example more fuel if the plane hasd to circle the airport a few times.

i doubt that the mi's awarded for a flight have ever been equal to the mi's flown [excluding minimum mi's given]....has anyone ever been on a flight that didn't make a turn?....

however, i have no idea what the 2 points might be for the mi's calculation....probably somewhere on the tarmac....good luck...