Ok here's the deal.

I'm looking to get myself to CPT in the next few months. I'm not too concerned about upgrading to F or J, just looking to maximize accrual of AE while minimizing cost and time.

So far I've checked out Kayak and got several "multiple airlines" offers at a reasonable price. Of course the problem lies in the code sharing between AE partners. So my questions are as follows:

1. When a flight # (let's say LH) is operated by another carrier (let's say SAA), who will be giving out the points? (SAA seems to be much more liberal than LH in offering up the miles).

2. How can one be certain they are going to get a full return on miles (not 50%, 25% or 0%) when booking through Kayak (or another online source).

3. Are there AE carriers you would recommend for 100% accrual? So far I find AC, UA, BMi and SAA to be the better options, over LH. Thoughts?

Thanks so much in advance FT'ers!

1. Metal determines points.
2. There should be a fare detail / fare rules somewhere, and it will give you something like AC KLGR4567 or LH TF45367. First 2 letters are ticketing carrier and the first letter of the code is the farebucket it is booked into.
You would then need to check the aeroplan site to ensure that the operating carrier in that booking class gives 100% points.
3. I think all carriers YVR-CPT except LH would give 100% miles. You can also try routing via south america if you would like to add a twist to your trip!

I would also suggest using matrix.itasoftware.com

You can use advance routing codes such as ''/ alliance star-alliance'' so that it only looks at flights that you could receive AE points for.

Be careful with this. Fare basis such as "AC KLGR4567" or "LH TF45367" only give the fare bucket for the flights operated by the carrier who publishes the fare.

• For example AC KLGR4567 is an AC K fare, but on a LH codeshare this could map to a completely different fare bucket. You cannot simply say that AC K= LH K and lookup LH K on the Aeroplan website.
• Another example, AFAIK AC publishes through fares to South Africa with AC from Canada to LHR and then on BA from LHR to South Africa (non-codeshare). Obviously you will not get AC status miles on the BA flight. Similarly AC publishes through fares (non-codeshare) on *A partners; you cannot assume that the AC fare bucket will be the same that the partner carrier uses (although unlike a codeshare, if you are able to get one of the through fares to price on ITA you can determine what the operating carrier's fare bucket is).

Bottom line, to the OP, if you want to ensure you get the mileage you plan on, I would:

1. Price a routing using ITA
2. Make sure that the routing does not use any codeshare flights (except for code share on an airlines own regional carrier - i.e. using an Express/Jazz "codeshare" for an AC flight would be OK on a domestic leg).

You can force ita's hand, it is a bit more expensive, but earns miles

BMI has an YVR-LHR-CPT fare

To me this looks like a combination of YVR-LHR and LHR-CPT fares; not a YVR-CPT fare.

How do you know how many miles these fares earn? All flights are marketed as BMI flights but operated by AC or SA. AFAIK the fare buckets shown are the BMI fare buckets, not the operating carriers'.

Will the AC operated flights earn 100% miles, or 50% miles. The AC operated flights could very well earn 50% mileage if they map to an AC Tango fare (which now only earns 50% EQM).

While there is a good chance that all these flights will earn 100% miles, there is no guarantee. This is the point of the "rant" thread and why many people are requesting some sort of *A fare mapping matrix.

to YEG, you can book it, ensure all fares are good, and if not, cancel within 24hours.

Or book CO/UA.... all fares earn 100%

That is the problem with booking codeshares. IIRC people have tried calling in to AC and even they can't tell you what the flight will map to in the operating carrier's fare buckets.

I guess you could call each operating carrier individually and see what fare bucket they show you in, but IIRC some people tried that without success as well.