TimetoCashEmIn

A few months ago our family did a long international trip with multiple flights on multiple airlines. I made sure my frequent flyer numbers were on the bookings, but the rest of my family did not have applicable accounts and it can be cumbersome to open them and is not always worthwhile (family of 5, 3 minors).

So just today I enrolled them in American to get credit for our flight home on that trip (it was back on January 3rd). It was a full fare 1st class EZE (Buenos Aires) to NYC so it I figured it was worth it; they got 10,000 miles each. I know they expire in 18 months but we will probably fly American next spring.

Anyway, within South America I also earned almost 10,000 point on Lan, which I applied to BA in my case but which could go toward American, too since it is OneWorld (the kids don't have a BA freq flyer account).

Here is my question, can I get the kids credit for the Lan flights on their (new) American Advantage accounts, even though the Lan flights took place before they were American Advantage members? I can't seem to find the answer on the website; the site implies that I should not have even been able to get the miles from the Jan 3rd American flight. And when I call them I can't seem to break out of the menus.

Thank you in advance. It drives me crazy how cumbersome some airlines make it to get your kids frequent flyer accounts, but they charge them full freight like anyone else.