Reroute or drop MR segments?
 

Got a question for the experience MR folks out there.

I've got this trip: AUS-IAH-LAX-IAH-EWR-FRA-EWR-SFO-IAH-AUS, basically a planned trip to FRA, with a few scenic routes built in. Today my IAH-LAX segment (CO 1095) got canceled and even though I tried to make an earlier flight, I didn't get the notification soon enough and couldn't make it. here were no later flights today and even if I took the earliest possible flight tomorrow, I'd run a huge risk of missing the EWR-FRA that in the end is the flight that really matters.

I was offered a direct to LAX on AA and after some gentle nudging that became an F seat (I'd already been upgraded in most of my segments, incl. the first). I took it given that when rerouted (especially on a non-ST carrier) I could get the miles anyway.

I'm wondering though, what if I had dropped the IAH-LAX-IAH parts altogether and just moved my AUS-IAH to align with the continuation to EWR? Would it still have been possible to get credit for flying to LAX and back? If yes, then clearly not having to actually fly the miles but still earn them would be ideal (and I would get to sleep in my own bed).

I took the path that kept my DEQMs safer (based on the info I had), but I'm wondering what others have experienced...

You probably would have gotten original routing credit.

That said, if LAX was a paid stopover, you could have also gotten some sort of credit for bypassing LAX since you didn't technically use all of your ticket.

Because your reroute involved moving to a non-CO partner (AA) you can request Original Routing Credit (ORC) for the original AUS-IAH-LAX flights. I'm not sure if the DEQMs will post or not, but at least you can get the 1x original miles.

With a reroute that stays on CO metal it becomes a bit harder to get the ORC but you might have been eligible to get some money back as channa notes, even though your routing was somewhat circuitous.

I experienced this not too long ago (once on a canceled flight causing me to miss segments and once on a VOLUNTARY bump to connect in CLE & get fewer miles). I asked for & got ORC on both without any issues.

Good luck!

I love getting miles on two carriers at the same time when I only flew one! I hope you had your AA number in there!

So now that I'm itching to get my missing CO miles...should I start the mile request process right away or wait 2 weeks until I fly the rest of the flights on the reservation?

Also from people's experience is an email to the OPSC sufficient or should I be going the snail mail route?

getting on the AA flights was a good idea but you could have also said but me into SNA or ONT. tell them you just need a flight of equal distance.

I'd wait 1 week after flying the route to ask for credit (when I've asked, they always say "I've added it and it'll appear online within 48 hours... in the future, please allow one week for miles to post").

And I've always just emailed them. Once, on a MR that I had to cancel segments, they called me to clarify what I wanted within 15 minutes of me sending the email.