Originally Posted by
davewill
The stupid answer: I know Russian and enjoy the challenge of fighting with Aeroflot in Russian for such things. It's good, free Russian practice for me.
So I'm not alone! I too enjoy the art of negotiating in Russian.
I've watched this thread and the one in the Bonus forum. What I'd like for us all to find is an effective way to get these past credits posted when issues like this come up. I have had tremendous success by faxing SU boarding passes alone with my SM number to Delta and getting retro Sky Miles credit for SU flights taken. They normally post within 24 hours even. Faxing to this number has even gotten miles from flights taken 9 months ago for some of my colleagues. If I have a copy of my SU ticket then using the Bonus site has been very effective to get retro credits for flights actually taken on SU. The hole in the retro collection game for me is how to get retro credit to my SU account (AB account...whatever) when I fly on a partner airline. I'm 324 miles from my next upgrade mark with SU but don't have another flight with them until May but have a FRA to SVO to OVB flight I want to upgrade now. I've got gobs of Delta flights though that I could gladly attempt to get SU credit for if I only knew how. So...
Please, if any of us, find a fax number or email address (I assume faxes will be more successful given the way things work in Russia) or "Aunt Masha" that will help us to get retro credit to the SU account from partner flights let's share it with each other in the good, wholesome spirit that is FT.
As for collecting miles on SU, I fly 7-8 times a year between ATL and OVB (normally ATL to FRA on DL and FRA to OVB via SVO on SU for reasons we can discuss later if you wish) and I always seek to get my PM status first with Delta and then top off my Bonus account so that I can upgrade the FRA to SVO to OVB flights. Status with SU means nothing to me but upgrades mean a whole lot as the back of a TU is nowhere I want to be. Same for an Airbus and Boeing for that matter.
If you just fly to SVO from outside Russia, I can see the question of why. If you fly through SVO "to the provinces" or "outstations" then the upgrades are reason a plenty to collect in your Bonus account.
Good thread. I've learned a lot. Please do report how the process continues to unfold.
BTW, PM me if you want that magic fax number to Delta though it is already listed on their site and I've mentioned it many times in the Delta Forum. What the heck...here it is again: +1 404 715 9220. Gotta love the FT spirit!