Originally Posted by
tigerhunt2011
Interesting. The reason I ask is because in January 2012 I had a flight booked on British Airways, and collected miles on my Alaska Airlines account. Long story short, I didn't end up making it to the trip (and it didn't occur to me to ask for a refund). I was consoled somewhat when I saw the ~12000 miles credited to my AS account, even though I was not on the flight.
So this is totally not an option on US carriers? You must be present and check-in for the flight in order for the account to be credited the miles & elite qualification?
It is absolutely not an option, you really just lucked out through a fluke. In fact if someone would have noticed that you weren't on board after the fact, your miles would have been redacted at a later point.
You don't just need to be present and check in, you actually need to board. If your boarding pass is not scanned at the gate (well if a scanning system is not in use, you still need to be accounted for) your PNR will be canceled and no miles will be issued.