dayone

A new thread to discuss the AS-AA partnership distinct from oneworld.

Carolina2Cali

I don't follow the Alaska program, but I fly them and credit to AA, as MOST of my routes are much more convenient for LA... i.e. LA to Florida without having to go through Seattle.

But with these upgrade certificates, should I convert my 3 upcoming flights (LAX-SEA-FLL or reverse) in first class to credit to AS? Would that count as 6 segments, and what, 3500ish miles a pop but at 2x the earning, eh...I guess I would need a lot more to go. But I could start crediting AA to AS.... especially if AS is handing out more upgrades on AA than AA...

Erasmus

In what world? PP can select 1 elite choice, EXP 2. So you're not going to get more SWUs from AS than AA---and everyone's assuming they'll be just as (un)usable as SWUs. This year's versions were severely restricted (a subset of flights out of AS hubs), so there's reason to believe next year's might be, too...

IMHO you should credit to the program affiliated with the carrier whose metal you fly most frequently.

FlyerDigits

Wording on the Alaska site: "Qualification via eligible miles or segments must include a minimum number of flights marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines*"

The * detail: "*Qualifying Alaska Airlines flights include AS001-1999, AS2000-2999 (operated by Horizon Air), and AS3300-3499 (operated by SkyWest)."

Source: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...ID:MileagePlan

Erasmus

Actually, not true--only AS marketed and operated segments count toward the required segment total (as opposed to the segment qualifying threshold); plating carrier is immaterial.

Indeed, that is the right cite and contradicts what you say above. (AA codeshares are in the 6000s.)

FlyerDigits

I corrected my post. To make sure I understand correctly, if I buy a ticket on American that has an Alaska leg do I receive segment and mileage credit for that leg as if I purchased from Alaska?

Erasmus

I'm honestly not sure if AA will sell an AS prime flight but, if you had such a thing, yes, it would count.

ashill

If the ticketed is marketed and operated by Alaska, yes. If it is marketed by American but operated by Alaska (ie an AA*/AS codeshare), no. AA can sell pure AS flights on an AA (001) ticket and used to do so routinely (and even non-partner flights like UA or DL through AA.com). I think they do so much less now (much more likely to sell the AA*/AS codeshare), but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, especially through a phone agent.

FlyerDigits

Erasmus & ashill are you saying different things? Now I'm confused. We have an AA ticketed flight in November (first leg Alaska, second leg American), our AS mileage plan numbers were used at booking -- I'll try to remember to report back here what gets credited to AS mileage plan after the flights.

Erasmus

We are saying the same thing: you can credit AA or AS flights to Alaska. *HOW* they credit depends on the metal (i.e., the name on the side of the plane) and the marketing carrier. (i.e., the flight number). The AS website has a chart that shows you the miles you will earn if it has an AA or AS flight number--doesn't matter which metal. I've flown all possible combinations and can confirm they (usually) post properly

Where the metal comes into play is for the minimum number of segments on AS required for status. There, the flight must be both AS coded (i.e., have an AS flight number) and AS operated (i.e., be an Alaska plane). Any other combination (e.g., AS codeshare on American, or AA codeshare on AS metal) will not count toward the minimum number of AS segments. (And, of course upgrades: AA/AS elites are eligible for upgrades on either carrier, but only if the flight is marketed and operated by the same carrier.)

ashill

Yes, we are saying the same thing.

Back to basics: there are several different factors which can be confusing.

Ticketing carrier: The airline that sold you the ticket, takes your money, and holds your money until the flight is actually flown. There will always be a single ticketing carrier for a ticket, whether you bought it from the airline, from an online travel agent, or from a brick and mortar travel agent. The easiest way to tell this is the ticket number. An AA ticket will begin with 001. An AS ticket will begin with 027. Here is a list of the ticket prefixes. Most or all of the flights will usually but not always be marketed by the airline selling you the ticket. However, any airline can sell a ticket with flights flown by any other airline they have an interline agreement with (modulo fare rules and other considerations). Most airlines have interline agreements with most other airlines: AA, DL, AS, and UA all have interline agreements with each other. However, for Mileage Plan, the ticketing carrier is always irrelevant to mileage earning. (For some other US airlines, the ticketing carrier matters a bit for how revenue-based earning is calculated. That's not relevant for AS.)

Marketing carrier: The airline whose flight number you purchased. There can be flights with multiple marketing carriers on a given ticket. American Airlines flights begin with AA; Alaska Airlines flights begin with AS. eg AA 123.

Operating carrier (sometimes called “metal”): The airline who actually operates the flight you purchased. This can be the mainline carrier (American Airlines for AA tickets), a regional operator (eg Envoy or SkyWest for AA; Horizon or SkyWest for AS), or a codeshare partner (eg an AS-operated, AA-marketed flight). But for frequent flyer earning purposes, the "operating carrier" is the primary marketing carrier – the airline whose name is (usually) painted on the side, eg American for both AA mainline flights and American Eagle flights which are technically operated by Envoy, SkyWest, etc. More confusing is that SkyWest and most of the regional operators operate for multiple mainline partners. So a SkyWest flight can be American Eagle, Delta connection, United Express, or Alaska. But the ticket will usually say something like "AA 4567 operated by SkyWest dba Alaska Airlines" or something along those lines. In that case, it's an AA-marketed flight operated by Alaska for frequent flyer purposes.

On a given operated flight (eg the 9:00 departure from SEA to LAX with "Alaska Airlines" painted on the side), there may be people who booked the same flight marketed as AS 123 and others who booked it as AA 2345 (making up numbers). For frequent flyer earning, it matters who the marketing carrier on your ticket was. So your statement that you're on a flight with the first leg Alaska, second leg American is ambiguous.

For oneworld airlines (including AA and AS), it is mostly the marketing carrier that matters for frequent flyer earning, the caveat being that the flight must be operated by a oneworld carrier (any oneworld carrier, including regional affiliates like American Eagle operators). For example, an AA flight operated by BA or its regional affiliates should earn AS miles; an AA flight operated by EY (Etihad) would not.

FlyerDigits

Erasmus & ashill thank you for your replies, everything you both stated in your replies lines up in my brain and makes sense. Where I'm still getting thrown off is in the original Erasmus comment correcting me that plating carrier is immaterial (this is really in the weeds). Can you give me a specific example to help me understand where this would come in to play?

Specifically if someone needs an Alaska flight segment credit for Alaska status qualification is it possible to get that segment credit without buying the ticket from Alaska?

Thanks!

Erasmus

Yes. It matters not who sells it to you as long as it is an AS plane (operated) with an AS flight number (marketed). In general, it is unusual for a domestic carrier to sell prime (non-codeshare) flights on another carrier, but it is possible if they have a ticketing agreement.

ashill

”Plating carrier” is the ticketing carrier. As mentioned above, irrelevant to earning in Alaska Mileage Plan. (Relevant in other programs, typically revenue-based ones like AAdvantage, but not Mileage Plan.)

Possible, yes. But it would have to be an AS marketed and operated flight. Getting an AS operated flight from aa.com is common, but it would typically be AA marketed; I do not believe getting an AS marketed flight from aa.com is common these days, as Erasmus said. You’ll want to look carefully at the purchase screen and the eticket receipt.

It may be easier to find an AS marketed, AS operated (“AS prime”) flight on an AA ticket from a travel agent (online or brick and mortar) than directly from AA.

(The major exception to this is not relevant here. Award tickets are virtually always prime: an AS flight redeemed with AA miles will be on an AA 001 ticket. It be booked as AS marketed and operated flights. But tickets paid with currency are not commonly sold like that these days.)

morphogencc

I've previously been an Alaska MVP / MVP Gold, but got AA Plat Pro through a status challenge. I couldn't find any information about this, perhaps someone has some firsthand experience:

1) Are AA Platinum Pro members eligible for instant upgrades to First via the upgrade fare? From the AA page on this, it looks like instant Premium Class upgrades work by purchasing the corresponding fare, but I don't see or know anything about MVP.

2) For a ticket with two travellers with different status in the different programs, does anyone have any ideas on how their upgrades would be processed? If I'm travelling with a companion who is an Alaska MVP -- Plat Pro doesn't get a companion upgrade, but my companion would be eligible for their own upgrade. Anyone understand how this would work out in practice?