US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - e-ticket reciprocal agreements (with whom?) and getting ff credit

If the flight's cancelled and you have an e-ticket, be prepared to wait in line for a paper ticket. Most of us know that.

Q. What airlines does US have e-ticket reciprocal agreements making that unnecessary (I know of CO-UA, CO-NW, UA-DL from 8/16/02)?

Q. If there is a reciprocal agreement, can you still get US miles? It's a poorly kept secret that US will give you miles for a cancelled flight and the other airline will give you miles for a flight rebooked on them. However, the other airline might not be your usual airlines causing you to have a few orphan miles (so airline bean counter, those miles may not help us and may remain unused.)

A) US has no reciprocal eticket agreements with any other carriers

B) Based on the past few months of operational performance, I'd venture to say that unless we have a ( rare) cancellation or long mechanical delay , that if its weather or air traffic , than the other airline you want will more than likely be in the same situation. I'd rather you wait it out with US than have you go wait in the ticket counter or special service line to get your paper ticket.

For example...CO is very strict about accepting OA passengers at EWR when there are weather or air traffic delays. So even if you request to be rebooked, it's up to the other airline really. I believe DL has some strict rules as well. I have heard that they make rebooked passengers wait until all DL confirmed AND standbys are boarded...even if a stranded US pax is confirmed....anyone have any experiences?

If I have a full-fare (refundable) ticket on US Airways, and my US Airways flight is delayed/cancelled, I will go right to the other airline and just buy another full fare ticket, and get my original US Airways ticket refunded. However, would it still be possible in this case to get my miles on US Airways? I'm sure the answer is no.

What about if I have a discount ticket on US, flight delayed/cancelled, and I just go to the other airline and buy a full-fare ticket...I would use the value of my original ticket less $100 on future travel...could I still get US miles??

As BWI2MCO says, sometimes airlines will be very stingy in accepted tickets from other carriers during irregular operations. If you really need to get where you are going, that airline will almost always board if you if you buy a full-fare ticket. Then you can use your original ticket towards future travel (or get it refunded if possible).

Oh, your opinions about delays may be right. However, a few months ago, my EWR-CLT was cancelled and there was no problem getting a seat on CO. Situations vary and this was a cancellation, not a delay.

Last year (pre-9/11), I missed a flight at LaGuardia... I was flying US LGA-PIT-DTW but arrived at the ticket counter about 1 minute before the flight's scheduled departure time. For once, LGA wasn't delayed, and I missed the flight.

It was US's last connection to get to DTW that night, and because it was my fault for missing the plane, US would only confirm me for the first connection in the morning. I was on a very cheap ticket... and the agent, who (for once) knew all the rules backwards & forwards, told me in detail why she couldn't refund my money or write me over to another airline. She did find a nonstop LGA-DTW on NW departing in an hour, and even called NW and put it on hold for me, but told me the fare was something like $875, which I could pay when I got to the NW ticket counter.

I got her to print the two flight coupons for the US flights I was missing and I carried them over to the NW desk. Looking tired & clueless, I handed them to the lone NW agent at a deserted check-in desk and said "I missed my flight on US Airways... they made me a reservation on Northwest and sent me over here."

The agent pulled up my unpaid Northwest PNR, looked at the flight coupons, and said "They didn't endorse these." I just shrugged, and she said "I'll be right back." She went in the back for about 2 minutes, then came back and said "My manager says it's fine." And she handed me a boarding pass for the nonstop.

I arrived in DTW before my scheduled arrival time on US... and even got CO mileage credit for the NW flight.

Moral of the story: It never hurts to ask. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

David