Switching between programs during flight
 

Hi all,

Flying YYC-YUL-ZRH-PMI next week and then back the following week.

YYC-YUL: LX4671
YUL-ZRH: LX0087
ZRH-PMI: LX2150

PMI-ZRH: LX8247
ZRH-YUL: LX0086
YUL-YYC: AC1117

Ticket class for all flights are "T".

Also, YYC-YUL is operated by AC.

I'm an Aegean and Aeroplan member, but I want to credit to Aegean where possible, Aeroplan is just a backup.

Looking at the earning tables (assuming a T on Swiss is also a T on Air Canada), Ts on Swiss credit 0% to Aegean but Ts on AC credit 25% to Aegean.

So somewhat counterintuitively, I would like to credit the AC flights to Aegean, and the Swiss flights to Aeroplan.

So, what are my chances of crediting YYC-YUL to Aegean, having them change the booking to my Aeroplan for the next batch of flights, and then changing back to Aegean for the YUL-YYC final leg?

Thanks!

If you aren't using any status benefits, then it would be best to just retro-credit everything and fly without any FFP numbers.

Note that when you credit something to A3 for 0 miles, it is still counted as credited and you can't easily "uncredit" it to claim again with AC.

You can't be sure that T on LX4671 will be T on AC160, but there isn't any way of knowing in advance unless you've credited it before.

This thread perhaps could be moved to the A3 forum as there are some Canadian posters there who may be able to provide more advice on what to do if you have *G status.

Myself, I just use A3 M&B all the time, and then I retro credit non-earning sectors to M&M. I assume that would work with Aeroplan as well, but I've never tried.

Like : D! mentioned, check the fare class from LX first before crediting to your AP, it might be a different booking cla ss if you book from ac.com. If all your LX flights are indeed T, just put your AC FFP, and then remove your FFP during your AC flight with the agent, and then re-add your A3 FFP# to your BP.

This should indeed work, but I agree with :D! -- the safest route is definitely to fly without any FFP on record and to retro credit the segments individually after flying.

This works for me too when flying for example LH K-class (zero earning on A3). I put my A3 number on during check-in, use all the *G benefits etc. and 2 weeks later retro-claim to Eurobonus. I have done it maybe 5 times and every time successfully.

Some conflict re putting in A3 and retroclaiming zero earning flights.

:D! - what led you to your thinking that this wouldn't work?

In my experience it works classic YMMV...

Yep, works fine for me too. I claim all my LH K class flights onto ANA after having my A3 Gold details in the booking during the journey. I initially just claimed one of these on ANA to get easier access to the award availability tool but now I'm thinking - maybe if I claim them all I'll have enough points by my 70th birthday (I currently have a whopping 1000 points) to treat myself to something amazing like a free ANA pen! :D

flying with SAS i could choice different FPP to each segment, worked as a charm, credited automatically within 48 h.

I used to do this all the time with UA P fares (which at the time used to credit 0 to A3)... retroclaim the miles on Aeroplan and they would always credit within a few days.

What gives you that idea? Have you had any problems with this in the past?
I haven't tried with AC, but with Miles&More it was (at least last year) very easy to retro-credit non-earning segments flown with my A3 FF number. These segments also don't show up on my transaction record with A3.

So my advice to the OP would be, fly everything with your A3 FF number, and retro-credit the non-earning segments to AC. Do you have A3*G? Then it's a no-brainer ;-)

I have heard many times the same thing that :D! is reporting. I suspect it may depend on what FFP you're crediting the 0 miles to. Perhaps Miles&Bonus does not touch 0 earning flights, but (as a random example) Miles&More does mark them as credited, even if that means crediting 0 miles. So it may matter which way around you do it, in which case given the number of people on here saying it's safe when crediting to A3, it is probably worth trying.

My advice by experience to avoid the negotiations at boarding (sometimes they are not super aware of FFP),etc : don't credit nothing and make retroclaims segment by segment.

For lounge, never had any kind of problem, just showing the card was ok.

You can fly with your A3 card and then retro-credit the non-earning segments. I just did it for Miles and More and it works both for LH and TAP flights.