I am trying to book a flight and car rental with the fly-drive USA package. I would also like to earn miles on my MPO account but I need to be in a mileage accruable fare bucket (YBHKLM) to be able to do this. The flight that I want allows me to either book into a H bucket ticket or a V bucket ticket. I would like an M bucket ticket as I only need those miles to retain my status.

BA says that the system will automatically choose the cheapest bucket for the package - either searching for non-mileage accruable or full mileage accruable, and that there is no set fare bucket that you will need to be in, but they wont be able to select the one that I want even if I purchase it over the phone. I have also asked them whether I would be able to book the V bucket ticket online and then pay for a change to M, but they say that it is not possible. I know that M bucket is available.

I have done the same transactions on other airlines - from a lower fare bucket to a higher one, e.g., BD/CX/SQ and it isn't a problem, but I'm hitting a wall with BA.

Is there anyway to get around this?