AA flights booked through Alaska - qualifying miles
 

If I book an AA flight through the Alaska site, do the EQM miles count as Alaska miles or as Alaska partner miles?

It counts as Alaska miles.
Nevermind, correct information below

Partner miles.

Just because it is booked through the Alaska site does not mean the segments earn miles. There are plenty of instances --say SFO to BDL where the first flight/s are on Alaska and then the connecting one is solely an AA flight number. If that segment in question is a domestic flight with an AA flight number, no credit is earned.

It is not like UA's system where you can book a ticket through the UA site on Avianca issued as a 016 ticket and get award miles, PQM, PDQ.

I just booked ROC>ORD>SEA through Expedia and got the AS flight number (in the right range) for the ROC>ORD. Searching through the Alaska website only came up with the AA flight number for that leg. Price was exactly the same on both sites.

Are you clicking through to the confirm-before-starting-checkout phase, or just looking at search results? Because the former will show an AS codeshare flight number in parentheses. Years ago I was able to purchase AS itineraries with a non-codeshare AA segment, but my understanding is that they're not selling any AA flights that way anymore.

That's just the confusing way alaska.com displays the flight - if you click through to the purchase page, it'll show AA xxxx as the flight number, with AS xxxx in parentheses next to it. The website is actually selling the AS codeshare, not the native AA number.

If an AA flight shows on AS website, I thought that meant it was guaranteed to be a code-share?

In your example, I found that both the AA legs are AS code shares. On the flight list it shows the AA #, but if you add it to cart it shows the code-share:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...cf3d50c30b.gif


While this phrase from the old AA update doesn't guarantee all flights on alaskaair.com are code-shares, it certainly seems to insinuate it IMO (emphasis mine):
"You’ll still have lots of eligible American flights with an Alaska “AS” flight number to choose from in and out of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Phoenix. As always, you can find eligible flights on alaskaair.com."

It'd be pretty crummy experience for me to buy a flight directly from alaskaair.com and not get code-share credit. Has anyone seen actual examples of this?

If you search for a route where AS has no flights (operated or codeshare), it'll show non-codeshare options.

For example, if you search SEA-PVD, AS.com will display an AS to PHL connecting to AA to PVD option, even though AS doesn't codeshare on PHL-PVD. On the purchase page, no AS codeshare number would appear in parentheses. It also shows a warning message after search:

You don't even have to limit it to that. I frequently search PDX-SLC and get itineraries with DL flights, which is not even a partner. They only tend to show up when viewing the options by price, but they are there.

There is no guarantee that a flight that just because a flight shows up on the Alaska site with an AA flight number is a code share. You have to check each one and click through to ensure it is really a code share. If you buy it through a 3rd party, that does not explicitly have only an AS flight number you will get no credit. Like if you went SFO-SNA on Alaska and SNA-DFW-TLH on AA no code share appears--even after you add it to the card. Same with SFO-DCA on AS connecting to AA to SAV. The moral of the story is never assume you will get credit. You have to check each segment carefully to ensure you are actually purchasing a code share and not just an AA segment.

You mean... just pay attention during the purchase process like you should be doing anyway?

A separate but related question: I booked an Alaska flight on AA's website so I have the AA PNR and AA flight number. How do I get the Alaska PNR so I can go on their site to choose seats?

If the AS Record Locator is not listed on your AA confirmation letter, call AA. They will be able to give it to you. Going the other way, booking AA through AS will provide AA seat maps and the ability to choose seats. Not sure if the reciprocal is true if booking AA with AS segments.

James.

If you book via alaskaair.com, will they sell you an AA ticket (for cash, not for miles) that doesn't have an AS codeshare number? That would seem to be what this boils down to.