Beckles

The newest Inside Flyer has some details of the new Delta/United Alliance. To read the news go to:

http://www.webflyer.com/@flyer/frif.htm

What interested me the most was this one little tid bit:

whichever airline's code is marked on the ticket is the only one towards which the elite mileage will count.

Aren't United and Delta going to be code sharing on all domestic flights now? If this is true, then you *will* be able to earn elite level milage on UA flights, as long as your ticket is on the Delta code share flight number ... at least that's the way I read it.

pgupta011

Yes, alliances can be nice. I liked the KLM/Northwest alliance when I was Northwest Worldperks gold. The alliance itself was not seamless and I often had to write to Northwest to get missing mileage credit. The good thing was that it gave me more choices of flights into Europe. Without the alliance I would have been limited to flying Northwest flights only.

There are potential problems with alliances and Randy has touched on several. I think that the biggest potential problem is mismatch between the two programs, one whcih is more generous with awards and one which is less generous with awards (in terms of how many seats are allocated for frequent fliers). In this case the more generous program could be adversely affected.

Rudi

my egoistic (european) view: unfortunately the Alliance doesn't work overseas.

Beckles

Rudi ~ Oh quit your whining ... you've got your Star Alliance already

Besides, now you can use Delta when you're in the US at least, so it will have some affect on you I'd think.

tedhl

i'm not so sure about what Beckles first mentioned...i don't know how delta handles the elite-level qualification miles...but, for united, isn't it true only miles earned on united airlines, shuttle by united, united express, and united code-share flights operated by star alliance members count towards premier qualification ?? so, flights operating by delta, although may be code-shared under a UA flight number, won't count towards the united mileage plus premier qualification, right ??

Beckles

tedhl ~ That's what I thought previously, but read the excerpt I posted in the original message, it says you only earn elite level miles on whatever airlines "code" appears on the ticket, this implies that if you're flying a Delta flight operated by United (Delta codeshare on United flight) you will earn Delta elite qualification miles for that flight.

Again, that's what I'm reading ... maybe I'm reading too much into it ... but I hope not.

Rudi

I hope Beckles is right (UA code-share flight number, Delta as carrier, miles count for UA status).

I am sure that ALL STAR-ALLIANCE flight-miles count for your UA Status in 1998 as long as you enter your UA Mileage Number (it used to be only UA and transatlantic UA code-share with LH, but that belongs to the past).

pgupta011

I would be very surprised if your ticket reads United (and the plane reads Delta) and you do not get United miles, appropriate United bonuses based on your United status, and credit towards United premier status for the following year. As long as your ticket mentions United it should qualify for miles, bonuses and elite status qualification on United.

Catman

Based on all of your replies... I'm going
to make sure that the ticket I get is for
the airline I need the miles most for...
I would not have gone on flying United (my
primary carrier) only to learn at the end of
the year that I qualified for Elite for Delta
and am downgraded for United.

tedhl

i'm sorry if this question seems to be more appropriate in the united airlines forum than in here...but since we're having the discussion here, let me continue...

pgupta011 said we should get united premier bonus miles for united flights operated by delta...but as far as i know...we only get premier bonus miles for united flights, shuttle, express, and united code-share operated by LH (and NOT even other star alliance members)...am i too outdated on this ??

Catman

Tedhl... that was my impression about the
rule... United points for united flights,
Delta points for delta flights (and maybe
it was good to put that question here.)

Maybe our fellow frequent flyers can explain
this.

Some say the alliances will be good, it has
only left me confused and concerned about where my points will go. CATMAN

Rudi

tedhl - this is for sure (since jan-1st-98): ALL STAR-ALLIANCE flight-miles count for your UA Status in 1998 as long as you enter your UA Mileage Number.

But it is also for sure, that you only get status-bonus-miles on the flights you mention (UA, Express, Shuttle, code-share with LH), no status-miles (25% premeier, 100% PremEx/1K) on other Star-Aliance-flights.

And also: Neither status-meiles nor status-bonus-miles on UA code-share-flights with other carriers than Star-Alliance (for example British Midland, Aloha) etc.

And I still don't know about UA-code-share with carrier Delta - I HOPE Beckles is right.

Beckles

I hope Beckles is right too *grin*

I'd really like to have all those added non-stop flights, Chicago and Dulles in particular, from down here in New Orleans on a "Delta" flight.

Robert Leach

While on the surface this whole issue may seem confusing, it's actually very simple, and it's not unlike other domestic codeshares.

If your ticket says it's a United flight (i.e., "UA" appears in airline box before the flight number), then you'll get United miles, regardless of who operates the flight, and the miles will count toward all the normal perks, including elite status.

If your ticket says it's a Delta flight (i.e., "DL" on the ticket before the flight number), then you'll get Delta miles, regardless of who operates the flight, and the miles will count toward elite status.

This is not unlike flying a commuter airline, which is in reality another domestic codeshare. In other words, when you fly from Dothan, Alabama, to Atlanta on Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA -- the "Delta Connection" commuter carrier) in a little prop plane, you get Delta miles that count fully, even though the flight was not operated by Delta Air Lines. Your ticket in this situation says "DL" even though ASA operated the flight. The same is true with United when you fly a SkyWest commuter flight on the west coast; the flight is listed as a "UA" flight, even though it is operated by SkyWest, and the miles count fully.

One way to think about it is in terms of who gets the revenue. When the flight is listed as a "UA" flight, the money you paid for your ticket goes to United. Now, if your flight happens to be operated by Delta, then United will turn around and pay a contractually agreed fee to Delta for the seat you occupied, but they'll make a profit on it (i.e., the amount you paid United for the seat exceeds -- on average -- the amount United paid Delta for the seat). And, since United actually sold the seat to you, you earn United miles that are the same as if you had actually flown on a United jet.

Now, this entire domestic codeshare situation is somewhat different from international alliances where even if the flight number is with a different airline, you can earn elite-qualifying miles on your primary carrier. For example, you can fly Swissair on a Swissair ticket (i.e., the flight number is preceded by "SR" ) yet still choose to earn Delta miles that count toward elite status.

This is NOT true on domestic codeshares. In other words, if you fly on a United flight, listed under a United flight number (i.e., "UA" appears before the flight number on the ticket), you can choose to earn Delta miles for the flight. However, in this case, the miles will not count toward elite status or other bonuses on Delta, because it was a United ticket. This is similar to previous international partnerships that U.S. airlines have had, such as American with Cathay Pacific. Please note that a "partnership" is different than an "alliance" when it comes to frequent flyer miles. I can earn Delta miles when I fly with Air France, but because Air France is not in the Delta alliance, the miles won't count toward elite status; Air France is merely a frequent flyer partner carrier.

In summary, with domestic codeshares, which ever carrier designator appears in front of the flight number is the carrier on which you can earn full-credit miles -- i.e., miles that count toward elite status, bonuses, etc.

Rudi

thank you Robert. please excuse one remark: an answer in that length shows that things are not simple.