Originally Posted by
SFHokie
Question: If I book a flight on aa.com and add my AS frequent flyer account number, I can earn both redeemable and elite qualifying miles for my AS account? I want to earn status on AS so I know to book AS flights on alaskaair.com. However, AS does not fly to the airport where I need to fly. AA does fly to that airport.
I *think* I know the right answer to this question, but I'm not an AS frequent flyer ... yet ... (It is highly likely I'll be switching away from UA and to AS later this summer since UA is completely nuts with the fares and flight times ex-SEA for where I travel to most.)
Thanks for the help!
Warning!
I would just add that AS fares and schedules are pretty nuts too. Expect delays & cancellations due to lack of planes & crew. Currently flying PHX-SEA. My flight was delayed two hours (pilot replacement) causing a misconnect. Switched to a
later flight to get there
earlier, which was also delayed making for a pretty tight 23 minute connection. Inflight I get notification that the onward flight is now canceled. Now getting to where I want to be 6 hours late. Par for the course for
all of my AS itineraries this year.
As for earning on AA, pretty stright forward. While fare class will determine earnings which can be as low as 25% of flown miles for O, Q & B, (B class is AA basic economy and now earns in Mileage Plan too) 50% of flown miles for N & S, 75% for G &V you still earn a minimum of 500 EQM & RDM on all AA eligible fares.
If you flew a 200 mile AA flight in fare class Q, you would earn 200 miles × 25% = 50 miles as your base but AS will throw in 450 EQM to bring you up to the 500 mile minimum. RDM will also be 500 miles plus any Elite bonus once you achieve status.
Similarly, if you flew PHX-DFW 868 miles in fare class N you would earn 868 × 50% = 434 miles as your base but AS will throw in the extra 64 miles to bring you up to the 500 EQM minimum.
AA economy fare classes H, K, L, M & Y all earn 100% EQM in Mileage Plan.
James