Originally Posted by
vexorg
They are; they are a Flying Blue partner airline, which means that you can earn (Award, not Level) miles on MH-coded flights, subject to the exceptions on that page.
That page is irrelevant for KL-coded MH-operated flights - you should instead consult the KLM page.
How many Miles will I earn?
The number of Award Miles and Level Miles you will earn depends on three important factors:
1) The marketing carrier and the operating airline
The accrual scheme of the marketing carrier determines how many Miles you can earn on your flight. It is easy to find out which airline is the marketing carrier for your flight. The two-digit airline code that comes before the flight number (e.g. KL 0123) shows which airline is the marketing carrier.
If your flight number starts with an airline code from one of the Flying Blue partner airlines (e.g. AZ 0123) the accrual scheme of that specific partner (in this case Alitalia) will apply, even if the flight is operated by another airline. Please check the relevant airline partner page for more information about the number of Miles you can earn.
Therefore, when you fly on MH under a KL code, you earn level AND award miles on the basis of the KL tables. Just as if it was KL-coded and KL-operated.
All that matters is that it is KL-coded.
Originally Posted by
vexorg
If you read the very last post in that thread, a poster came back to announce the correct resolution of the issue:
Originally Posted by tlr
The bad thing here is that, in the first place, one needs luck to actually get staff on the phone who know their job. I've been told obvious bull.... by call center agents more often than I care to remember... Currently going through the "fix mileage for an MH flight booked under KL number" exercise; same effect.
One week after I got to an agent who seemed to know their job, I got a letter requesting original boarding passes. Sent these two weeks ago; level miles for MAS-operated KL-coded segments were credited today.
As you can see, that report was an anomaly. This poster chased it up, and got the level miles.
Originally Posted by
vexorg
KL4102 / KL4103 are the numbers that caught me out, or MH16 and MH17 (still makes me shiver thinking I've been on that route). KLM desk said it was simple: "no blue tail, no miles", code sharing goes for nothing with flying blue.
None of us here can do anything about ill-informed or mistaken agents or incorrect advice doled out by KLM/Flying Blue staff.
Flying Blue has never been particularly good at explaining the rules of the programme (just look back at that thread from the early days of Flying Blue you dug up; some of the text reproduced from the Flying Blue T&Cs/website back then was even more ambiguous than the current versions) and there may be very many staff members who may have misconceptions about certain aspects of the programme. I often wonder how many of the agents actually use the programme themselves, and if they are familiar with the workings of the programme from the user side, or rather, their only "image" of the programme is from their understanding of the (often ambiguous) written rules.
I often get the feeling that the agents often don't fully understand the rules in certain "unusual" cases (not that there should be anything unusual about earning on a KLM codeshare). What makes it worse is that the agents are often unshakeably certain that their interpretation is correct.
You should have got Level and Award miles for that KL-coded MH-operated flight, regardless of what any KLM or Flying Blue agent may have told you.
When you ask an FB agent, you will get the interpretation or understanding of that particular FB agent. They may be wrong - they are only human.
When you ask on FlyerTalk, you will get a range of replies from a range of people with several years' experience of how the programme actually operates. There may sometimes be differing opinions, but you will usually find a consensus.