Originally Posted by
Beltway2A
There's no "of course" about it. Some carriers allow this, many don't. OP did the correct thing and called the airline, who gave him conflicting answers. Hell, AA used to count credit card spend towards MM status, so the rules don't necessarily make sense.
I was unsure of this until I flew on a award ticket myself.
Sure, back in the day, a mile was a mile was a mile, but nowadays, you have lifetime miles (real miles flown), EQM miles (500 miles for <500 mile flights, or miles flown with some sort of multiplier based on fare code), and miles (based on amount spent on base fare times a multiplier based on elite status) that can be used to book flights. Three systems of 'miles', all with different purposes and rules.
So, I think it is lame to not count award miles toward the lifetime mileage count in the 'new' system. EQM and 'miles' earned for flights can still be zero. Oh well, the whole system is lame considering how very very very much harder it is nowadays for someone to get to 1 million butt in seat paid miles compared to a while ago when everything counted the same. I missed out -- under the old system, I would be 1 MM in about 5-10 years. In the new system, I will be 1 MM in about 40 years (might very well die first), and the award is just gold. From my perspective (mid 30s, only started travelling enough for any elite status just a couple years ago), the whole MM program can burn to the ground and is utterly, completely, 100% worthless.