this I do not know, but I would probably not wish to pay for certs to pay an airline. Why not just use your CC to buy whatever at BA? Maybe I am missing something here though...

Wellllll, to give you the round about answer to this one...
I had this wicked longgggggggggg drawn out ordeal with Northwest/WorldPerks regarding some missing miles for 3 family member accounts and some related promo miles, as well as some other issues related to all of that. There are some threads on this subject in the NWA forum and I still maintain that one of the biggest things people tend to overlook in FT is the problem of missing miles--even in the smallest amounts. They DO add up!

Anyway, to get everything sorted out and fixed with my NWA problems, it took us about 3-4 months to resolve, and I had to do battle on many frustrating days filled with a ton of calls and emails woven in between real life. I also faxed and even ended up mailing a 2.5 inch packet full of copies of things to prove my situation, which cost me about $30 to copy and mail! (I was asked to mail in proof of my transactions, so I did just that!)

I then pressed for compensation for that money spent and eventually after a long long long fight with Northwest regarding everything, I got all the miles plus about 12k worth spread out over all 3 of the accounts to cover those costs! It did not come easy and I still plan to write the airline exec's on how their systems need a total overhaul, because mall shopping for miles is like russian roulette! You MAY or MAY NOT get the miles you set out to get, so everyone here should be forewarned of this before getting too excited! I did and I also got back losses, and it's kinda worth it to me that they fix these things because it's not fair to customers like me who rely on these shopping mall portals to get mileage at the airlines we fly!

Sadly, even as the airline touts that the malls are a great way to earn miles that are worth just as much as the ones you get from flying!, they are not. That's because the rules and promos and issues surrounding these miles vary all the time and things go missing a lot with a lot of people. I merely pushed it and got mine back.
I continue to need to use the mall, however, because currently I am not flying (newborns, no business travel, etc) and have no other real way other than my CC use to get miles on my current airline of choice.

The reason I bring this up is to prepare you for the battles that could come in your own world... Circling back to earth here:

In my case, SkyMall personnel did attempt to help sort out the mix ups for me and my family and they at least helped with the missing miles themselves for each of the many purchases we had done. The email correspondences started with some arbitrary CS personnel who only give first names, and ended up with one person named AARON, who handled it from then on, until he eventually got this manager named Mr. Inclan to communicate with me directly. This manager and I even exchanged voicemails and so I thanked him and went back to NWA. He could not help with everything but did try. To get answers like the ones you are asking about, I think you need to contact Delta and then try the skymall itself. You see, it seems to me that the issue is this:

WorldPerks mall, and I would assume the mall shopping portals of Continental and other Sky team partners, all go thru the SkyMall now. For example, if your issues happen to be with NWA, this would be where you'd find a CSR named Aaron: "NWAMiles-CS" <[email protected]>.

People like him are located, I think, where Delta does such transactions too, and yet I only use the WP one so I am not as sure as you would be. While the Skymall handles the transactions for NW mileage shopping, they do not handle their promos or any further compensation issues like the ones I ran into. I would assume SkyMall MIGHT handle the ones that Delta does, but I have no idea. Again, you should ask them--and ask a few people a few times in case answers vary. This does happen.

In the end, as convoluted as it was with the skymall part of the issue, I can at least give them some credit for attempting to help where they could, and by staying with me on it and giving me a chance to speak with Mr. Inclan at SkyMall:

Ray Inclan
Customer Care Supervisor
SkyMall, Inc.
1-800-986-3278 Ext. 3281
(602) 528-3281
[email protected]


I hope this helped you in some way. I am sorry it was long but I think it's necessary for people to know what could happen if luck should go the other way. I mean, heck, just think of the 2007/08 New England Patriots with only 2:30 left to go in what could have been a perfect 19-0 season!

Anything could happen.
MM