America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Earning BA Miles on HP

Hey everyone, I normally live over in Deltaland, but I have a question for the HP experts.

I'm going DFW-PHX-LAX and return tomorrow on HP in paid F and I noticed on the British Airways Executive Club website (https://www.britishairways.com/travel/ecpartnrair/execclub/_gf/en_us) that HP is a partner (I kind of already knew this but checked to confirm). My BA miles will expire 11/8/04 unless I post activity before then, and I'd really like to use tomorrow's flights (or at least some of them) towards BA miles, as I will be flying them a lot in the future. In the past I had credited all my BA travel toward my AA miles.

My problem is that when I called HP to have them add my Executive Club number, she told me that British Airways is an "international partner only" and that i can't earn miles for HP domestic flights. Is this true? If so, what odd logic is behind this? Should I just try to have them do it again at the gate? I'd call back but it was 17 minutes on hold to get through. :(

Thanks in advance.

NO and NO

Clarified on the HP website

Sorry

NO and NO

Clarified on the HP website

Sorry

No and no - I take this to mean no I can't earn BA miles with HP domestic flights and that there is no logic behind this...

After checking the HP site I cannot see where this is clarified - please provide a link if this is the case and you have one... thanks.

As far as I'm aware you can certainly earn BA miles on HP flights (I have in the past and I am in a few weeks time). In First you will get 150% of the distance. In fact, if you can't earn miles with HP domestically, when can you? (Surely their flights to Canada and Mexico are a small part of their overall network?)

However, a word of warning - I have found the points have taken weeks to post - certainly not as quick as with American.

Also, I'm not sure if flying with America West would keep your account open in this instance.

Phone BA North America Exec Club and see what they say!

Good luck!

Ok I think that was one of my late nite I'm not thinking posts- I apologize

The actual place you need to check this is with BA ( awake now). I tried to check on their website but its a sign on page so I couldnt :(

A thought to keep in mind, BA accumulation from what I understand now sucks. You can post BA miles to HP and depending on your flying patterns might end up better off

Hi platbrownguy. This is a little confusing because, by definition, most members of HP's Flight Fund probably aren't interested in flying HP and earning the miles into another program. Your best source of guidance would probably be over in the BA forum, where there are several members who I know fly HP regularly when in the Western US. I'm sure some folks over there could share some real-life experiences that you could find helpful.

Anyway, searching through the partner rules of BA's site reveals that you can earn BA miles on HP domestic flights. There are no restrictions listed on routes, which is often the case with HP's partners (i.e. mileage credit can only be earned on flights connecting to a BA international flight. That doesn't apply here.)

The earning structure is similar to BA's, in that you earn 150% mileage for paid First, 100% for Full fare economy and 25% for discounted economy. Since you're in paid First, you'll get 150%.

However, no Executive Club tier points are earned and there is no tier bonus if you are BAEC Gold or Silver (which you aren't, so this is not of concern to you).

So I would suggest that you call America West again and ask that your BAEC number be entered into your record. As is frequently the case with HP (if not all airlines), if I don't like the first answer, I thank them, hang up and call back until I get someone who knows.

A couple of weeks after your trip, if your mileage hasn't posted, I would mail in to BAEC a copy of your ticket and boarding passes. In my experience in the HP-BA relationship, they have a poor record of getting mileage posted.

As a side note, the mileage you need doesn't have to come from a flight. The rules state, "If a Member has not earned or redeemed Mileage for 36 consecutive months, all Mileage that has accrued to that date will expire." So that opens up some other possibilities, should you need a back-up plan.

A new option that just became available is purchasing miles from BA. You could purchase 1,000 miles (the minimum) via ba.com. I just checked and that would cost you $52.50. Supposedly, it posts virtually immediately. You can buy up to 15,000 miles a year.

You could also transfer in a small number of miles from Starwood, Marriott or a couple of other partners, or rent a car from Avis somewhere and post the miles to your BAEC account. Any of these activities would get you the activity necessary to keep your account alive.