Alitalia flight operated by Etihad eligible for XP?
 

Hi,

I just lost my gold status and I try to figure out how to get it back. I will most likely have to travel from Paris to Shenzhen or Hong-Kong in the next months.

On ITA matrix, I found a 2 stops trip which should give 138 XP. In theory.

Sorry, I don't have enought post to add a picture so I just copy/paste the text:

Itinerary
Paris (CDG) to Hong Kong (HKG) — Sun, Nov 24

Paris (CDG) to Rome (FCO) — Sun, Nov 24
Alitalia 317
Dep: 6:20 am
Arr: 8:25 am
2h 5m
Airbus A320
Business (D)
Layover in FCO
2h 0m

Rome (FCO) to Abu Dhabi (AUH) — Sun, Nov 24
Alitalia 7044
Dep: 10:25 am
Arr: 7:30 pm
6h 5m
Boeing 787
Business (D)
OPERATED BY ETIHAD
Layover in AUH
2h 40m

Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Hong Kong (HKG) — Sun, Nov 24
Alitalia 5776
Dep: 10:10 pm
Arr: 9:10 am
7h 0m
Boeing 787
Business (D)
OPERATED BY ETIHAD
Mon, Nov 25


Hong Kong (HKG) to Paris (CDG) — Sat, Nov 30

Hong Kong (HKG) to Abu Dhabi (AUH) — Sat, Nov 30
Alitalia 5777
Dep: 6:30 pm
Arr: 12:05 am
9h 35m
Boeing 787
Business (I)
OPERATED BY ETIHAD
Layover in AUH
Sun, Dec 1
2h 35m

Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Rome (FCO) — Sun, Dec 1
Alitalia 7045
Dep: 2:40 am
Arr: 6:20 am
6h 40m
Boeing 787-10
Business (I)
OPERATED BY ETIHAD
Layover in FCO
1h 50m

Rome (FCO) to Paris (CDG) — Sun, Dec 1
Alitalia 316
Dep: 8:10 am
Arr: 10:20 am
2h 10m
Airbus A320
Business (I)


As you can see, 4 of the 6 flights are operated by Etihad and this company is not in the list of Flying Blue partners.

So here comes the question: are theses Alitalia flights, but operated by Etihad, eligible to XP?

Ben

i think the question has been asked numerous times already, the answer is no. When operated by a non skyteam company (your case here) you only get XP if the flight is AF or KL coded which is not the case here. for an AZ coded flight to earn XP it must be operated by a skyteam company.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...+flight+etihad

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-...ht-number.html

deleted

Sorry I probably used wrong key word in the search bar. Thank you for your help.

if you have time you can try to do that on 2 separate tickets with china airlines (CDG TPE with a stop) then a TPE-HKG (considered domestic according to FB website), you could get 114 XP for cheaper price than what your routing proposes.
you can also start the same trip from FRA with china airlines (stop in TPE) and buy a CDG FRA in J apart, same 114XP.

i dont know why but the china airlines website does propose the CDG HKG with 2 stops but the first leg CDG FRA with HOP books in Y.

And if you have even more time you can do the 2 separate tickets going through CGK (CDG CGK with SV or VN) then with Garuda to HKG. 156 XP/ 150XP

No.

Only KL-coded (or AF-coded) Etihad flights earn miles and XPs.

The itinerary above would net you only 30XP.

I also considered flying with China Airlines.

CDG => FRA Medium 15 XP (operated by HOP)
FRA => TPE Long 3 36 XP
TPE => HKG Domestic 6 XP

HKG => TPE Domestic 6 XP
TPE => AMS Long 3 36 XP
AMS => CDG Medium 15 XP (operated by AF)

Total 114 XP

I don't understand how you could get 120 XP with CDG-TPE-HKG? I'm probably wrong but CDG=> TPE is Long 3 (36XP) and TPE=> HKG is Domestic (6 XP) total 84 XP. Edit: 114XP because there is a stop in Europe for CDG-TPE adding 2x15 XP)

For CDG-CGK-HKG I find 120XP (Long1 + Long3). But that's an interesting option. Thanks.

Thanks for confirmation. I'll forget this option.

Sorry yes it is indeed 114XP, i corrected it right away but you were probably already writing.

For the CGK option (there is no direct CDG CGK), i found an option with SAUDIA through JED (23 NOV departure). SO CDG JED CGK (Long 1 & Long 2) = 108XP
Then CGK HKG is Long 1 = 48 XP

TOTAL =156XP but this option involves a long STOP in CGK and the risk of being on 2 tickets.

The Etihad flights DO earn miles but only if credited to Alitalia's FFP programme. If you dont have any status at the moment you could consider switching to Alitalias FFP rather than Flying Blue.

Having tried, and abandoned, Alitalia's Millemiglia program, I would caution against this for two reasons.

1) The OP has at least some history with Flying Blue. There are probably other/better ticket options than this particular one that would achieve the OP's goal of getting back to FB Gold. Even if this Etihad/Alitalia ticket is by far the best priced ticket out there, I would hesitate to use that as a reason to cut ties and jump ship over to Millemiglia, though of course shop around, buy the best ticket, and collect miles wherever you can regardless of which airlines/alliances you fly.

2) Etihad is still a partner of Millemiglia, but their relationship has become strained. Particularly if you are booking for a long way in the future, I would not 100% assume that the current earning rules for such flights will still persist.

Besides, booking direct on Etihad appears to be far cheaper (would have been useful if the OP had shared his price. I'm not finding his ticket offered on any websites - not even on the Matrix where the OP reports finding it)

Only Royal Jordanian have a cheaper ticket for these dates (€1457). Star Alliance comes in from €1791. Skyteam are by far the most expensive, starting at €2358

Hi,

I don't remember the exact price but lower than 4000€ for sure. Probably not the cheapest deals but lower than the price usually paid by my company.

It is still available on ITA for 3900€

Weird. I had to use the Advanced Routing Codes just to force any AZ flights to be shown for this routing and these dates.

and when I forced it to show, it's a few hundred Euros cheaper than your quote.

I also checked to see, with the Advanced Routing Codes set to select AZ flights only, if staying a Saturday night brings down the price. But departing on the Sunday gives no results whatsoever. End of AZ's codeshares on these routes???

Are you aware that there are fully-Skyteam (China Eastern, Vietnam Airlines) XP-earning itineraries for 2/3 of this price? And Etihad (without the detour via Rome) for roughly half the price? (And even cheaper if bought via a third party agent)

I don't remember the exact price but lower than 4000€ for sure. Probably not the cheapest deals but lower than the price usually paid by my company.

It is still available on ITA for 3900€[/QUOTE]

I understand that your company is paying for the J ticket and that you wish to reach FB gold.

But if you have to pay 3900 for an inconvenient two-stop itinerary, then that does not seem right.

I fly this route a lot. I never pay that kind of price.

I usually get excellent CX nonstop for less than 3000 (they are removing their second daily flight so fares are going up to 3300).
I just got wonderful one-stop QR for 2600 (used to be much less).
BA is typically priced around 2400 (some dates a bit more expensive).
LX often below 2000.

Again, I understand the two points I mentioned above.and none of the fare I mentioned would bring you FB miles, but that's a lot of money for miles plus the inconvenience of two stops with risk of misconnect at each stop.
Note that you could also consider flying into CAN if you go to Shenzhen.