My miles on a recent China Southern trip posted after about 8-10 days. However, two China Eastern trips from last fall never posted, and after a month, I had to fax in my MU boarding passes to Delta in get the miles credited. The Skymiles number was printed correctly on the MU boarding passes beginning with "DL", but the miles did not post.

All three trips were booked on Orbitz, and my ff number *was* entered on Orbitz correctly and to "DL". What I think is happening is that the two Chinese airlines try to credit to their own ff program, not the one I entered at booking.

Before I flew the last trip, I looked up my China Southern reservation on Garuda's website. (The web site allows you to enter a different airline's ticket number after it fails to find it as a Garuda flight using the reservation number.) My ff number was correct, but shown as being credited to China Southern's ff program. I changed that to "Delta Skymiles". Got a confirmation e-mail from Garuda Airlines informing me of the change and showing the corrected ff number and program. Delta Skymiles later posted correctly.

If your China Eastern flights do not post after a month, follow-up with Delta. Don't wait too long; you only have six months to claim missing Skymiles. It used to be a year.