Hilton HHonors - Changing double dip airline after booking?

Hello,

I booked a room while my preferred airline program was set to BA, I then changed it to BMI a couple of days before the stay, however the points still posted to BA.

I have 2 more stays coming up which were also booked prior to changing my preference. Will those stays also credit to BA as that was selected at the time of booking?

Is there anything I can do about the stay which already posted?

Should I call them to make sure the next 2 stays credit to the correct airline?

Thanks

Hello,

I booked a room while my preferred airline program was set to BA, I then changed it to BMI a couple of days before the stay, however the points still posted to BA.

I have 2 more stays coming up which were also booked prior to changing my preference. Will those stays also credit to BA as that was selected at the time of booking?

Is there anything I can do about the stay which already posted?

Should I call them to make sure the next 2 stays credit to the correct airline?

Thanks
You can make changes but it needs to be before checkout (I have done it the morning of checkout) but once they have posted I don't think anything can be done.

You can make changes but it needs to be before checkout (I have done it the morning of checkout) but once they have posted I don't think anything can be done.

I definitely did it before check out as it was before I even checked in!

I will call them now, have a moan and see what they say :)

I definitely did it before check out as it was before I even checked in!

I will call them now, have a moan and see what they say :)

Just called HHonors and they said they could see everything setup correctly and the miles should have gone to BMI, however not see that any miles had been posted for the stay so they would post the miles to BMI anyway.

Looks like I just got a Triple dip :D

Er, technically it's probably a quadruple dip.

Er, technically it's probably a quadruple dip.

Technically, of course you are right :)

Credit card points+HH points+Avios+BMI, Sweeeeet :D

Something similar happened to me.
Phoned up when the miles posted to my old choice, as the miles hadn't gone across then they could easily adjust. Simple case of HH IT failing. I think I also got some compo HH points for my trouble.

My contact in Hilton HHonors has told me that the earning style in your profile at 11:59:59 pm CST on the date of checkout applies to that stay, so if you've changed your earning preference online, it should post to your preferred partner without any problem.

My contact in Hilton HHonors has told me that the earning style in your profile at 11:59:59 pm CST on the date of checkout applies to that stay, so if you've changed your earning preference online, it should post to your preferred partner without any problem.

And that is correct, but sometimes, as others have pointed out here, the miles still go to the old airline partner. It has happened to me a couple times over the years. I just shrug it off, but if one has a goal in mind for the miles, it can be a pain.

Same thing happened to me...I was told that the airline partner set at the time of booking will be where the miles go... Regardless of how many times you change it after the reservation is made.

Same thing happened to me...I was told that the airline partner set at the time of booking will be where the miles go... Regardless of how many times you change it after the reservation is made.

HHonors said they would sort it out for me, I'll report back here with the result or lack thereof.

Your airline choice is in your reservation. (In fact, you can choose a different ailrine on a per-airline basis*.)

So changing your airline preference at the HHonors site does not update your existing reservations (since otherwise it could override a change of airline you did for that paritcular reservation).

You therefore have to either:

Manually update your existing resrvation to reflect your new ailine choice (whether it's the one your preferences or not), but that may force a rate change sometimes.

Or:

Give the hotel your new airline and FF number, at the hotel desk, before you check out. Ask them to put your new airline FFP into the reservation. If you do it at the hotel, it won't involve a rate change.


Changing your Double Dip / MyWay earning type preference (whether to earn miles at all or just more points) is completely different. That's not saved in the reservation, and thus can be done at any time and does apply to your upcoming reservations. But since the specific airline and FF number are saved in your reservation, you cannot just update them in your preferences and assume your reseravations will be updated.


*I'm very familiar with this, since back when Southwest was a partner, I'd keep Southwest as my default because I stay at Hamptons a lot (where legacy airlines only give 100 miles but Southwest gave the same 0.5 credit or later 600 points), but when I'd stay at another brand (like HGI or Hilton proper) I'd override it in the reservation to a legacy airline. So until this year, I had a different airline in every other reservation!

OK, I will ask the hotels in my upcoming reservations to check the FF number when I check in to them.

Thanks for the info.

Your airline choice is in your reservation. (In fact, you can choose a different ailrine on a per-airline basis*.)

So changing your airline preference at the HHonors site does not update your existing reservations (since otherwise it could override a change of airline you did for that paritcular reservation).

You therefore have to either:

Manually update your existing resrvation to reflect your new ailine choice (whether it's the one your preferences or not), but that may force a rate change sometimes.

Or:

Give the hotel your new airline and FF number, at the hotel desk, before you check out. Ask them to put your new airline FFP into the reservation. If you do it at the hotel, it won't involve a rate change.


Changing your Double Dip / MyWay earning type preference (whether to earn miles at all or just more points) is completely different. That's not saved in the reservation, and thus can be done at any time and does apply to your upcoming reservations. But since the specific airline and FF number are saved in your reservation, you cannot just update them in your preferences and assume your reseravations will be updated.


Thanks, that is some good information and helps explain the behavior I have seen. So what happens if you make your reservation with Points and Points as your MyWay setting and then change it to Points and Miles after that? I am guessing it will default back to Points and Points.

Thanks, that is some good information and helps explain the behavior I have seen. So what happens if you make your reservation with Points and Points as your MyWay setting and then change it to Points and Miles after that? I am guessing it will default back to Points and Points.

I am pretty sure this is where your earnings will default to the airline you have saved in your profile. I have been doing points and points for a while now, but even then, I still see my preferred airline listed on my receipts. I would guess (but someone please correct my if necessary!) that if you changed your earning preference to points and miles after making a reservation with points & points, it would post to that partner.

I am pretty sure this is where your earnings will default to the airline you have saved in your profile. I have been doing points and points for a while now, but even then, I still see my preferred airline listed on my receipts. I would guess (but someone please correct my if necessary!) that if you changed your earning preference to points and miles after making a reservation with points & points, it would post to that partner.

I think you are right. I, too, have been doing points and points for quite a while as airline miles provide little value to me on Delta (I still miss NWA). As you say, my FF is still listed on my bills/folios but miles do not hit that account.

I think you are right. I, too, have been doing points and points for quite a while as airline miles provide little value to me on Delta (I still miss NWA). As you say, my FF is still listed on my bills/folios but miles do not hit that account.

Yeah, once WN ended their partnership with Hilton, I switched to points/points (and simultaneously sent a lot of other business to other chains). Most of my stays are Hamptons (with an occasional full-service property), so I loved the 0.5 credit/600 point double-dips and the two years of the companion pass it afforded me! I figured out that in 2011, I earned 45,000 WN points that counted towards the CP (plus an additional 16,200 during the double miles Q3 bonus), and if I had a legacy carrier as my preferred partner, it would have only been 21,400!

Thanks, that is some good information and helps explain the behavior I have seen. So what happens if you make your reservation with Points and Points as your MyWay setting and then change it to Points and Miles after that? I am guessing it will default back to Points and Points.
No, again, the earning type (points and points vs points and fixed miles vs points and variable miles) is only in your profile, not in your reservation. So whatever it is at the the time you check in or thereabouts (there are questions whether changes made just hours before will count or not, but that's all I mean by "or thereabouts") applies, independent of when you made the reservation.

(Many people want to do points and points at Hampton, where miles earning is pitiful, while doing points and miles at most other brands. To do this, they have to update their profile between check-ins, not at the time they're making the reservations.)

But if you pay attention while making a reservation online, you'll notice there's a field for the airline and another field for the frequent flyer number. They're pre-filled to what you have in your preferences, but can be overridden (by you selecting a different airline and typing in a different frequent flyer number). Ie, they are pre-filled when you go to this page, but it's not a permanent link to your preference, it's just a one time pre-filling of two fields. Thus after the reservation is made, they are not updated just because you update your preference. So your reservation keeps whatever airline and frequent flyer number it had when you made it.

Nothing that is kept in your reservation is updated when you update your preference. It assumes you may have overridden your preferences for that specific reservation, and keeps the reservation unchanged. Things that aren't kept in your reservation aren't attached to your reservation, they're attached to your actual stay (and thus what matters is how they're set at the time you check in, or at least at some short time before that when the hotel starts processing your upcoming check in, say by picking a room for you).

Here's an example timeline:

Day 1: Set your preference to Points + Miles.

Day 3: Make your airline preference Airline A.

Day 14: Set your preference to Points + Points.

Day 22: Make a reservation. Reservation is filled in with Ariline A, and you don't touch those 2 lines, so they stay that way. (The reservation does not save, or pay attention to, the fact that your preferece was set to Points + Points.)

Day 33: Set your preference to Points + Miles.

Day 35: Make you airline preference Airline U.

Day 42: Check in.

Day 43: Check out.

A few days later, you find you earned points + miles (because that's what was in effect at your check-in), on Airline A (because that's what was recorded in your reservation).

A few days later, you find you earned points + miles (because that's what was in effect at your check-in), on Airline A (because that's what was recorded in your reservation).

Ok, I have 4 reservations currently and when I click on each one, I see this under guest information:

Reservation 1: No Travel Partner :eek:
Reservation 2: Travel Partner A :(
Reservation 3: Travel Partner A :(
Reservation 4: Travel Partner B :)

My Preferred Travel Partner at the moment is B (BMI), so I am going to call them later today and hopefully update them all to Travel Partner B

If I do that and then change My Way to Points+Points are you saying I will get Points+Points+Miles?

That would be pretty darn cool if so! :)



Just called HHonors and they said they could see everything setup correctly and the miles should have gone to BMI, however not see that any miles had been posted for the stay so they would post the miles to BMI anyway.

Looks like I just got a Triple dip :D

Just an update on this, the entry on my HHonors statement has changed from BA to BMI, however no new miles have posted :(

My Preferred Travel Partner at the moment is B (BMI), so I am going to call them later today and hopefully update them all to Travel Partner B

Called and was told because they are prepaid bookings it was not possible to change anything on the booking, including the earning preferences.

Is this correct, or should I call again and speak to someone else?

Obviously I will try at check-in if this is definitely not possible to sort out beforehand.

Sort it out at check in. They can change it with no effort. Note that the code for bmi on Hilton reservations is BM not BD.

Sort it out at check in. They can change it with no effort. Note that the code for bmi on Hilton reservations is BM not BD.

+1

I have changed it sucessfully as well when I checked into hotels.

Just an update on this, the entry on my HHonors statement has changed from BA to BMI, however no new miles have posted :(

Haven't BD announced the closure of all hotel partnerships?

Haven't BD announced the closure of all hotel partnerships?

Not sure, the 2nd post in this thread talks about Hotels, but I think it's in reference to earning miles on "BMI Hotels" which I guess means hotels booked through their website/booking engine. It's not really clear though as it also says...

However, you can continue to earn destinations miles with all remaining partners until further notice. Please
click here for further information.

Unfortunately I didn't get this mail so I can't click "here" for more information.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1356634-hugs-kisses-gavin-re-no-more-miles-bmi-hotels-parking-europcar-gifts.html

If I do that and then change My Way to Points+Points are you saying I will get Points+Points+Miles?
No! Just because you have an earning partner in your reservation does not mean you get miles.

You also need to have your earning type preference set to either Points+Fixed Miles or Points+Variable Miles.

(The earning type preference and the earning parnter information work together, but neither overrides the other. THey are independent. The only thing that does any overriding is your existing reservation earning partner overriding your default earning partner.)

If you have your preference set to Points+Points, you earn only (more) points, not any miles at all, and in that case it ignores your partner information in your reservation completely.

So make sure you do not have your preference set to Points+Points if you want to earn Miles on these stays (on the hopes that you can adjust the partner stuff at check-in). You can adjust the partner stuff at check-in, but you cannot change points+points to points+(fixed or varilabe) miles at check-in, the latter (since it's not part of your reservation) you have to do yourself online.