Originally Posted by
FlyingHighlander
I need to fully understand the miles earned in different scenarios, and how Star Alliance fits into the picture.
- A ticket sold by United, flying United metal (I understand this)
- A ticket sold by United, flying some United metal, but also another airline (eg Air NZ to Auckland) (example). Do I get UA miles for the whole ticket, as if I flew their metal?
- A ticket sold by a Star Alliance member, e.g. Air Canada, and it includes another Star Alliance member, EVA. (example). Does this kind of ticket help my UA status in any way? Or do I just get Air Canada miles? I'm trying to understand if there's a benefit to staying within the Star Alliance for those times where United can't sell me a ticket at all. And if I rack up miles with multiple Star Alliance members, is there any way to pool them together for award flights?
Thanks
Within Star Alliance, redeemable and status-qualifying miles are computed based on the
operating carrier. Flying partners will typically earn you
full PQM for some percentage of miles flown (including class of service multipliers) and some percentage of RDM based on
operating carrier fare class. For instance, a ticket purchased on United's website may list L-class for a Lufthansa segment, when in reality the underlying Lufthansa segment could very well be G-class. ITA Matrix is a helpful tool for determining and/or forcing a particular booking class.
You may find these links helpful:Edit: on closer inspection, apparently PQM earning is much more complex than I realized -- I'm not convinced that I got it right, so ... someone else should confirm as well.
