I'm happy with your explanation and can understand the situation of your friend. So, let's talk real information now.

As mentioned I found two *Alliance airlines willing to credit for past flights without actually joining their FFP prior to taking the flights. The first one was LH. Yes, they do credit flights up to 6 months in the past as long as you can provide ticket copy and BPs for all segments. They even credit flights after 12 months if you were already a member of M&M at the time of your flight. If you are told otherwise by M&M let me know and I e-mail you a contact name at LH.

The second choice I found was UA. Now, they clearly have the policy not to credit flights after 30 days unless you joined MP before you took the flight. But I guess I could convince them (using LH as example) and they made an exception for my friend. I don't know whether it depends on the person you talk to, but I would give them a try. My friend chose UA in the end as their award chart is much more customer friendly compared to LH. Both TG and SQ didn't even allow 30 days after the flights and required you to join prior to your flight in order to accrue mileage.

Hope that information was of help to you. Let us know what your friend ended up doing.

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