lewende

Last Oct. China Eastern Airlines had a bug to mark a codeshare flight of PVG-LAX in American Airlines "O" class as business class (O is the award bucket for MU and DL), whereas AA's "O" is a discounted economy fare. China Eastern quickly honored the fare and changed it to "I" bucket of MU's own metal.

I flew one of these tickets in last Dec. and have my DL account# onto the boarding pass. 10 days later, no miles hit my account. I started to worry coz I will need the last 8K MQM to requalify for diamond. I submitted my boarding pass and ticket receipt to Skymiles Mileage Request showing it is a China Eastern "I" fare. In Dec. 30 I received a reply from Skymiles saying miles will be posted soon.

Another two weeks passed, and still nothing happened. My 2018 rollover MQM has reached 40K+. I called customer service and was told to wait a little bit longer for those miles to be posted.

Scratching my head, I did HUACA. This time another agent called the account service team and told me a shocking story - the fare was originally in "O" class, and thus not eligible for miles accure. I explained that was an AA "O" fare and changed into an MU "I" fare, both of which are indeed revenue fares. After I pushed back, she bluntly stated "The account service team has documented everything, and there is nothing we can do. Your case is closed and this decision is final!"

Now I would like to ask for the community for help - what are the other venues I may outreach DL to make things correct? Thanks!

CKDGM

It sounds like you purchased an AA-marketed flight operated by MU.

If that's the case, it doesn't seem surprising that you got the standard DL SkyMiles earning for AA-marketed flights (which is nothing) even if the segment was later changed to show the underlying MU-operated flight number. I don't think that has anything to do with the nature of the fare. (Especially if it was ticketed on AA 001 stock.)

TerryK

This is a tough one. You earn DL miles based on fare purchased, not rebooked. Rebooking happens for various reasons, upgrades, cancellations, schedule changes, IROP etc. Your mileage earning rate remains at purchased fare class, not rebooked class.

MSPeconomist

AFAIK an AA marketed but MU (or other SkyTeam) operated flight earns nothing according to DL rules. The original ticket is what matters.

Efrem

It's the marketing carrier that matters here, not the operating carrier. You bought the ticket from AA. AA tickets don't earn DL miles. The fact that the operating carrier is a SkyTeam member or other DL partner is, unfortunately, irrelevant. (Other airlines go by the operating carrier, but DL doesn't. With either approach you win some and you lose some. Unfortunately, this time you lost some, but DL is following its published rules.)

lewende

Thanks all for your inputs! The ticket was originally plated by MU and operated by AA. In other words, a 781 ticket stock. Later it was changed to MU operated flights. AFAIK, the ticket number never changed, but the operating carried changed.

PayItForward

So the original ticket was marketed by MU but Operated by AA...?
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en...-partners.html
Tickets only eligible for accrual if marketed by MU and operated by MU (or any SkyTeam partner)
Your original ticket was operated by AA ...

CPMaverick

Delta did the correct thing. AA 'O' fare is not going to earn DL credit. It sounds like you got an error fare (or at least booking confusion) and parlayed it into a pretty nice trip (you flew in J right?). I wouldn't expect mileage credit on top of that.

Fair to try of course. I would have expected that you might get away with it the way it turned out (being eventually an all MU itinerary). But DL got this one right. It's petty to keep pursuing it at this point. You deserve earnings based on your purchase, not what happens later. If you originally booked an all-MU itinerary, but got rerouted on AA (unlikely I know), DL would have granted you credit for the original itinerary. As an example, VA rerouted me on NZ metal once, but DL honored my original booking for mileage credit.

Fs can't have it both ways, and I prefer the way DL does it.

jonathanbak

I didn't know American Airlines and China Eastern had a codeshare agreement?

tkelsay

It appears that MU codeshares with Japan Airlines (JL) which is a partner of AA. This is according to another FT thread back in 2012.

Is China Eastern Air AA Partner?

cmx

But can OP get AA miles?

NoStressHere

Best bet - go for AA miles, or Japan miles.

Not a DL flight.

lewende

Thanks but I doubt it. At the time I submit my receipt of a 781 stock ticket along with my MU boarding passes, I can imagine the AA agent will have a "what the hell is this" face. JL, though, will be a different story and might work.

HWGeeks

Wasn't that the same look the Delta agent had when you submitted it? Doesn't hurt to try

CPMaverick

Unlike DL, you probably qualify for earnings on AA. Just submit your original receipt, BP, and ask for Original Routing Credit.