Alaska Denied mile credit from AA codeshare BA operated flight
 

My wife and I are both AS MVP.

I have read of many experiences here on FT where people purchased a ticket for BA operated flight that had a AA flight number and were able to credit that flight for to AS Mileage plan.

A couple weeks ago we did just that. We flew BA operated flights CDG-LHR-LAX and our tickets were from AA. The BA flight numbers were within qualifying range. We did not get the credit automatically which I knew would happen ahead of time. So I submitted copies of our BA boarding passes. A week ago we were asked for a receipt from our ticket purchase so i submitted that as well.

Today we received a response that our request for credit was denied due to the tickets being AA flight numbers.

Have the rules changed recently? Has anyone else had similar experiences recently? Is AS no longer basing mile credit on operating carrier?

The rules have never changed. What everyone reports on FT is that AS has ignored the rules when people submit boarding passes. The rules say this:

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:BA

The rules have always said this about partners for years. What people have reported on FT is that despite the rules as written they've gotten credit anyways. As such this has always seemed like a YMMV trap door to me. If AS is now actually checking this and wasn't before you are SOL. Sorry about that.

knnryerye Sorry about this. These rules are part of the reason I bailed on a MR a few years ago (when given the option for refund). It's always been a gamble doing the ticket submission because it was against the rules.

operating carriers can issue an etix receipt that would better visually persuade the AS data entry agent to enter the segments as standard BA flights. usually it’s just one extra button to push on the self service checkin machine.

Sad to hear that. I had return J tickets on AA to Europe purchased 7 months out. Needless to say, schrdule changes plagued my connections more than once and AA wanted to get me home on BA metal. I refused based on the rules. Other AA arangements were made returning from a different city and the change fees were waived. Subsequently, out of curiosity and what I had read on these threads I called AS with the specific question and was told it would have credited based on the BA charts had I taken the flights.

Perhaps this is a result of the changing partnership with AA???

James

We don't know what their internal policies are (or were). This could also be a mistake by the agent processing the claim.

The posted charts do not mention codeshares, but AS has a tough enough time maintaining accurate flight number ranges for flight numbers of the operating carrier. They sure as heck aren't going to attempt to post codeshare partners of partners which are even more of a moving target.

That doesn't mean that their policy is not to credit it manually. We don't have access to that.

I would say the old adage HUACA would be worth a try. I had AA purchased / BA operated flights credited SEA-LHR & LHR-MUC this summer. It took a call /email or some combination thereof.

Update: I decided to reach out to the AS Twitter team. They quicky confirmed that the flights qualified. And after reviewing the info already submitted went ahead and posted the 17868 miles based on the BA chart. So it seems to have just been an error by the rep that denied the request.

Based on the rules this really is a risk to book tickets this way but at least for now AS is continuing to make the exception.

Once again it seems that the Twitter team is doing a great job.

Has anyone had any luck with AA codeshares of BA in 2018?

I recently had a misconnection in LHR and was rebooked from an AA flight # on AA metal to an AA flight # on BA metal. I made it home, which was great, but now I'm trying to figure out how to approach the miles. The initial response on the phone was "no, we used to do it unofficially", but I have yet to exhaust all options (e.g. Twitter).

I just had an unbelievable resolution. I noticed last night that the flight had posted to my AA account (part of the automatic rebooking?). I called AAdvantage customer service to remove the flight, and the agent offered to "push" it through to AS. It showed up first thing this morning on Mileage Plan as a BA flight with the flown booking class.

I had no idea this was possible. In the past, after removing the flight, AAdvantage agents have always told me to request credit through Alaska.

In cases like this, does the credit typically go by the operating carrier's chart or the marketing carrier's? Sounds like the operating carrier, per OP's resolution. I ask only because I noticed that a BA-operated flight is ticketing as "E" when BA marketed (110% mileage on BA) but "W" when AA marketed (150% mileage on BA), despite being identically priced.

Credited by operating carrier's chart.

Just to add a data point in case someone is searching for an answer to this question, like I was a few months back:

I was booked earlier this month on an AA operated flight with a BA flight number from LHR to LAX, in premium economy. I confirmed with AS that this would earn me miles, prior to purchasing, since this was the flight that pushed me to MVPG. Originally the credit did not post (I also flew ARN-LHR on the same ticket, but on BA metal, which posted a week later). I submitted mileage request online and was denied. Called Mileage Plan and gave details, was told to email my ticket receipt and boarding pass to Mileage Plan. Flights were credited a few days later.

TL;DR: Codeshare flights still credit if the operating flight is within the range.

If the rules have never changed, here is what they say about AA flights:
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:AA


So AA6177 (BA 279 LHR-SJC) should earn according to the AA partner credit chart.
Absolutely nothing about the flight being operated by AA.