Originally Posted by
ethelman
I'm flying out to PVG on LH and back on a ticket that is notionally Air China, but on Virgin metal (in J.) TA seems to think I won't get any miles; I think I should.
any thoughts, please?
I guess with Virgin you mean Virgin Atlantic, correct?
This is the big problem with Star Alliance. You only get the miles based on the metal you are flying on (some exceptions). So in your case, you will not get anything. Similar problem happen if you book a certain fare which is operated by another *A carrier. Your UA K fare if operated by MS might be something completely different there and you would get the miles for that.
In oneworld for example, the exact opposite is true: You (usually) get the miles of the marketing carrier, irrespective of the operating carrier. So a Qantas Frequent Flyer earns miles on the QF code share SYD-ICN even so the flight is actually operated by a Star Alliance airline (OZ).