Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles - NW credit for YX flights operated by Frontier?

I was thinking of booking MKE-PHX on YX in November, but see this route is now operated by Frontier with a 319. The ethics, customer service implications, and strategic wisdom of this are being thrashed out on other threads, but I was wondering if anyone knows yet if NW WP (or DL Skymiles as the program will be by then) will be offering credit for Frontier operated flights sold as YX.

I know this is the YX forum, but several posters here credit to NW.

I don't have a clear sense yet of whether this will be just a code share (which would accrue miles on YX but not NW), or if the branding, etc. for the flight will really be YX. The current wording on the NW site is that miles accrue on "All Midwest-operated flights." Obviously that's not the actual criteria since such flights are virtually extinct and will be gone entirely in six weeks.

I was thinking of booking MKE-PHX on YX in November, but see this route is now operated by Frontier with a 319. The ethics, customer service implications, and strategic wisdom of this are being thrashed out on other threads, but I was wondering if anyone knows yet if NW WP (or DL Skymiles as the program will be by then) will be offering credit for Frontier operated flights sold as YX.

I know this is the YX forum, but several posters here credit to NW.

I don't have a clear sense yet of whether this will be just a code share (which would accrue miles on YX but not NW), or if the branding, etc. for the flight will really be YX. The current wording on the NW site is that miles accrue on "All Midwest-operated flights." Obviously that's not the actual criteria since such flights are virtually extict and will be gone entirely in six weeks.

Although I don't see this addressed overtly anyplace, you should be able to get NW miles since those are first and foremost Midwest flights operated by Frontier. The only MKE-PHX you can book on the Frontier site are connections. They are more like Midwest doing a wet-lease (hiring Frontier crew and aircraft) to fly MKE-PHX rather than Midwest slapping its code on top of an existing Frontier flight.

This of course isn't a watertight guarantee, but I think this distinction points to a solid "yes".

Thanks. Sounds reasonable, particularly if Frontier is not selling the flights under its own code.

I was switched from YX to Frontier metal and this does complicate things.

WorldPerks rules give credit only for YX operated flights. (For example, if you fly an Alaska flight on Alaska metal you get credit but not an Alaska flight on American metal.)

Northwest would ordinarily have granted credit. But Dulltah is a different story.

Additional information.

NW is not sure what will happen in the future when the programs are merged. Contract only calls for credit on YX metal. Logically as YX and Frontier have the same owner this should be workable but logic does not apply when dealing with DL.

I rebooked onto Delta metal.

Worldperks miles are earned for Midwest flights operated by another airline, including Skywest, Republic, or Chautauqua. It isn't a matter of ownership, or of the plane being flown specifically by the signatory airline on the agreement (Midwest) to qualify.

When you don't earn miles on a participating airline is when they put their code on flights of another airline. Not "operated by" another airline, but "of" another airline.

Looking at it from the other direction to give a different perspective, if you earn Midwest Miles:

--Northwest Airlines earns Midwest Miles
--Northwest Airline operated by Pinnacle earns Midwest Miles
--Alaska Airlines, even when booked with a NW flight number, does not earn Midwest miles because they are not first and foremost "Northwest Airlines operated by Alaska".

Similarly, because those Frontier flights are not sold by Frontier, they are first and foremost "Midwest Airlines operated by Frontier". Like a wet lease.

Logic definitely suggests that they will earn NW or DL credit, but I don't think we'll know one way or another for sure until we see someone actually try it.

Here is another wrinkle I experienced: Recently flew YX from MKE>LAS. My travel agent--bless her heart--accidently put my YX number on my ticket instead of my NW number. I noticed this and called her back and she changed it, "Done," she said.

When I printed out my boarding pass several days later my YX number was displayed, not my NW number. So, when I got to the airport, I went to the podium and asked to have my NW number put in. "Done," said the agent.

I then printed my boarding pass in LAS for the return flight and still the pesky YX number appeared. I went to the podium in Vegas and asked the agent to put in my NW number. "Done," she said.

Several days later I am searching for flights on midwest.com and notice my YX account has been credited for the Vegas trip. Apparently none of the three entries were "done" at all.

I emailed Midwest with the story and received a reply that said they would work to credit my NW account but it may take up to 30 days. We will see if that gets "done."