How to avoid and now correct miles crediting to wrong FF program
 

In order to vomplete status run for AA, we took recently fight on their Alliance partner, LANChile. Both with the LANJ CSR and at the Airport we requested that ff miles go to AA. We were assured that it is so marked.
Now we find the miles went to LAN and they say that it is now too late to do anything about it.
Even more frustrating that when you call LAN in their Miami Service Center, the CSR says that no supervisor or manager speaks english and they are the only ones to make the correction. An other CSR explained that it is our fault that we have both a LAN and AA account, and if a customer wants their ff to go to AA then they should not have a LAN account.
How would you this type of partner ort alliance problems in the future? If it happens is there a way to correct it(please do not just say to take an other flight)?

One method to ensure miles go to the right account is check your boarding pass. The FF account number is printed on it. If the number is for the wrong account, ask the gate agent to change it and reprint boarding pass.

You are more likely to get responses over at the AA or OneWorld forum, rather then here in MilesBuzz. I'll move the thread.

Craig6z
Moderator - MilesBuzz

Oh no, I remember reading a similar experience here on FT, and after chasing LanChile around the world for clarification and miles, the OP received nothing from AA. It seems to be a big recurring issue only between AA and LAN.

The other way is to simply ask them to remove all FF info from the itinierary. You can easily request mileage after-the-fact for that. It only gets complicated if AA thinks you're trying to double-dip by getting both LAN and AAdvantage miles.

Get the correct FF number on your BP. Consider such a BP to be as important as the receipt for the new TV you just bought, because that's exactly what it is, with respect to your FF miles.

Removing your FF number from your BP isn't guaranteed to work.

I once had QF (who handle FJ check-in at BNE) remove my QF number and try to replace it with my AA number for a BNE-NAN-LAX flight last year. They were unable to do so, despite calling for a supervisor, since they couldn't apparently access the right part of FJ's computer system. So they pulled the QF number and printed an FF number-less BP for me. To no avail - the flights credited promptly to QF two days later and no amount of complaining would fix it.

I think even if they had got the AA number to print on the BP, it still wouldn't have credited correctly, since with three airlines to deal with, apparently there are multiple places for the FF numbers to show up and even when you think you've got them all fixed, another problem can pop up...

The simplest solution is never to switch FF numbers on a single booking. Provide one at booking time, and don't change it. Otherwise you're asking for trouble.

As per this thread;
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=392901
it is technically possible to have the miles re-allocated. However, LA is the absolute worst when it comes to dealing with mileage issues--- even routine retro-credit requests can take many weeks (or even months (and the this case, I'll bet many, many months)), so, good luck!

I've had miles that posted to BA removed and then successfully applied for credit with AA. [I've had to do this alot and sometimes do it for purposes of managing my BA status qualification/requalification. :) ]

And miles can credit to the wrong program no matter what the BA or AA boarding pass says. For some reason, if BA touches my boarding passes, it's far more likely that "anything" can happen in terms of where the miles do or do not go.

What's printed (or not printed) on the boarding pass has not been a guarantee that the miles credit correctly (or don't credit per my desired account/timing).

These issues are not unique to AA/OneWorld. I've had similarly bizarre issues when flying NW & KLM and crediting my DL or NW accounts. [I don't seem to have this issue with Star Alliance carriers and crediting my UA or other accounts.]

I can corroborate this. Once the BA number has touched the record, it seems to be "sticky" and overrides my AA number on the boarding card.

I have had this same experience as well. My corporate travel agency profile includes a BA EC number, though I always request the TA to use my AA number instead, sometimes call BA in advacne of my flight, and always present my AAdvantage card at check-in and confirm that my AAdvantage number is printed on the BA. 90% of the time the flight does not credit properly to AA--it either credits to BA, or not at all. Each time I write a letter to AA enclosing appropriate documentation (and if it credited to BA, also to BA), and I generally have had success in getting the situation rectified, though on occasion it has taken 2-3 letters for a single flight. I always write real letters--BA will not accept e-mails for this, and in any event I prefer to have the formal documentation.