Originally Posted by Insiderdude
OK that makes sense ... but I have another credit card that just earns generic miles that the visa issuer gives ... and you trade points for $-equivalent for air travel, on whichever airline you wish. I guess that it's not a direct-award-type of ticket, since it's redeemed for cash on tickets booked through their travel service. I did it once and that flight was elite-qualifying. So i guess it's just the direct-mileage points that are not.
I don't know exactly how those cards work but it sounds as though they're essentially buying you a ticket on the airline and flight of your choice. In that case, you'd earn EQM's as normal, as long as it wasn't a deeply, deeply discounted contract fare of some type.
I suspect the credit card folks who set up your travel arrangements will know what type of ticket it is (meaning the fare basis) and then they (or we) could tell you whether it would qualify.