Goodday experts,
Something is baffling me and I cannot find it here or the Skyteam website.
My wife has a AF-FB card and myself a KL-FB card...
We were able to make a short brake to VCS (Con Dao island) recently and flew down and back on a VN ATR72; excellent 45mins flights btw...
Tickets were booked via an agent and so check-in both at SGN and VCS were done at the airports by this agent; no physical tickets in hand...
We were given a boardingpass with VN flightnumber and K-class for SGN-VCS.
Returning, the boardingpass showed VASCO flightnumber and no class, although aircraft was VN...
Wonder if we can still claim miles for these flights for our FB accounts...according the KLM website FB-section you need to send-in them the boardingpass slips (which we have) and the ticket numbers (which we haven't)...not much mileage will be added, I believe, but every one would be appreciated in the end
Thanks for your kindest help...
Cheers
irishguy28
Feb 1, 12, 2:57 am
The K-class flight should earn at a 100% rate, according to the VN partner page at KLM (http://partnersearch.ehn.klm.com/uk_en/partner.jsp?pid=286505&q=vietnam), which should mean a minimum of 500 miles. As the other flight seems not to have had a VN number, I don't think you will be able to claim Flying Blue miles for it (the flight has to have a VN or other SkyTeam number - VASCO isn't SkyTeam). But no harm trying!
If you will be passing through Schiphol in the near future, and you have access to the Crown Lounge, I'd recommend stopping by the Flying Blue desk there, they are really helpful. If you show the boarding passes (and any other supporting evidence of having bought the ticket) then they should be able to add the miles to your account. Otherwise, you should send the boarding pass and whatever supporting evidence you might have to the Flying Blue address.
Note that there is now a Flying Blue postal address in the Netherlands:
Flying Blue
Postbus 8
3400 AA IJsselstein
The Netherlands
All Flying Blue contact details (http://www.klm.com/travel/nl_en/flying_blue/welcome_to_flying_blue/contact_flying_blue/index.htm)
Apologies in advance if I'm saying stuff you already know...
Finding The Ticket Number
If you look on your VN boarding card from SGN, there might/should be a 13 digit number across the top, labelled "TKNF" and presumably starting 738. If so, this is the ticket number.
Failing that, you could try looking for the PNR (a 6 character alphanumeric reference). It might be on the boarding cards. Otherwise, do you have any other paperwork associated with the flight? If you have any kind of email or print-out from the travel agent, it should be on that; or on a (printed) airline baggage label. If you can find the PNR, you should be able to check it in the reservations system (I think www.virtuallythere.com for VN, but if not, then it's www.checkmytrip.com) - and that should display the e-ticket number somewhere.
Failing that, can you ask the travel agent? They should still have the e-ticket number on file (although I'm told reservations records expire 6 months after the last flight...)
Even if you can't find the e-ticket number, it's still worth submitting the paperwork that you do have to FB, as it might be sufficient for them to credit you with the flights.
Eligibility Of The Flights
As irishguy28 said, K on VN should earn 100% miles (ie: 500 miles). However, to earn FB miles the flight must have a SkyTeam flight number, and be on SkyTeam metal (unless it's an AF/KL flight number, in which case the operating carrier doesn't matter).
It seems that VASCO (http://www.vasco.com.vn/Content/View/1) is a fully-owned subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Air_Service_Company). However, I don't know if this means that its flights are considered as VN/SkyTeam flights (and just happen to have a Vasco flight number for internal purposes - the same as, say KL Cityhopper, CityJet/Air France, Pinnacle/Delta, etc) and so earn miles, or whether it's considered as an independent carrier code-sharing with VN, in which case, it wouldn't earn miles. However, if the planes were in VN colours, it seems more likely to be the former. Again, it's still worth submitting to FB, and seeing what they say.
Submitting To FB
If you will be passing through Schiphol in the near future, and you have access to the Crown Lounge, I'd recommend stopping by the Flying Blue desk there, they are really helpful.
+1
Failing that, you can submit by post. I would certainly recommend keeping a copy of the boarding cards and all relevant paperwork. (Or these days, I think FB will accept colour copies, and you can keep the originals).