renoel

I jumped on some good fares round trip from San Francisco to London and round trip from London to Paris for June 2003 earlier this fall for myself, husband, and 2 kids. I thought (foolishly) that I could earn miles on my AA accounts for the trips. (I now know better.) Then I thought, "Oh well, I'll join the BA program and earn miles on that and then maybe I'll transfer them to Hilton or something." Ha!
From what I can gather, I can't join BA's program unless I fly a full-fare ticket. THEN, if I fly a discounted ticket, I'll get only 25% of the miles credited to my account. This is just terrible! Four trans-atlantic roundtrips going to waste!
Does anybody know anything I don't know? Is there anyway around these restrictions? Does BA really get away with this?
Thanks!

ScottC

Any way around it? no
Do they get away with it? yes

DisgruntledGoat

I hate to say it, but there's no way you can earn AA miles on this because AA and BA don't like to share on transatlantic flights. You can, however, earn BA miles.

Dave Noble

"You can, however, earn BA miles"

Only if you are a member of the EC. You cannot join, however, unless travelling on a fare eligable for tier credits

Dave

Dave Noble

"From what I can gather, I can't join BA's program unless I fly a full-fare ticket. THEN, if I fly a discounted ticket, I'll get only 25% of the miles credited to my account."

This is perfectly correct and has been the case for a fair while.

"This is just terrible! Four trans-atlantic roundtrips going to waste!"

Umm, Are you taking the flights to get across the atlantic for reasons other than just accruing miles?; if so it is hardly going to waste ? You did say that you purchased them because they were very good value

"Does BA really get away with this?"

There is no reason why they wouldn't. They are entitled to restrict membership as they see fit. They are not targetting discount economy passengers with this scheme and no longer permit people to join who are not going to be travelling on H or higher class. There is little reason to join if you only travel on cheap economy tickets with the 25% mileage earning and zero tier credits

Dave

number_6

You can credit the BA miles to QF, CX or any of the other Oneworld airlines plans. Joining QF's plan in the US is free (for CX there is a USD50 fee).

mymiles2go

You could also credit them to Alaska Airlines as well.

renoel

Thank you number_6 and mymiles2go for that helpful information. Alaska Air it will be. I knew some of you would come through for me. :-)

mikalee

But since you have already travelled you cannot credit to QF if you weren't a memeber at the time of the trip.

Globaliser

You can give QF a try anyway, the worst that will happen is that they will say no. I have joined a friend to QF and got her miles for a BA taken before joining, although she had a decent explanation for why she hadn't joined before the flight.

ozzie

QF will allow retrospective credit up to about 6 months before joining, if I recall.

Fraser

On a Y ticket last year I earned less miles on a JFK-LHR leg than if I'd have popped to the supermarket and spent £10 on biscuits

If you are a discount Y traveller go elsewhere.

The Lone Arranger

In the USA, you can join the BAEC by getting the BA Visa Card from Bank One/First USA Bank.

Good luck!
Cheers,

TLA

Fraser

shoot , I forgot that

BigKing

You should know that you will only receive 25% of the flown miles in discount Y on BA with Alaska's program as well. When BA changed their program 1 July, Alaska essentially matched the mileage rules for BA flights.

http://www.alaskaair.com/mileageplan...rs_Airline.asp


[This message has been edited by BigKing (edited Nov 19, 2003).]