FlyWithKaeMarie

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, was unable to find something, but recently my dad has helped me quite a bit with getting a new car and as a thank you I want to purchase him a ticket from SYD - MLA return.

He hasn't met his granddaughter yet so as a Father's Day pressie I wanna send him through but I've never purchased a ticket under someone else's name. Is it basically the same, just with his name? And could I add my FF number to the booking?

Thanks!

kq747

Yes; it is the same process except the passenger name and billing information will different. You cannot add your FF number but rather his. You could create an account for him if you think it would be useful for him or add him as a family bonus member so that you can earn miles.

One thing to note when booking a ticket for someone else is that for certain routes, EK used to often say that you may be required to present the credit card used to book at check in for verification, as I would use my parents card when I was a student. It has been a while since I have read this or been asked to show my credit card so I'm not sure if this policy is still existent.

sydtogla

Here's two options:

You can sign him up as a family member. You will get 20% of his skywards miles added to your account plus an extra 1000 for signing up. This is well worth it if you are a few miles short for something but it's also the least efficient earn. I'd probably use this if he was flying Y and only getting 15,000 miles or so.

Alter atively, you could create a new skywards account for him. If you sign him up for a new account he will get a first flight bonus plus any that he earns on the itinerary. You could then use those miles (as long as he doesn't want them) to upgrade your itinerary or purchase an award flight at a later date. It is expensive to transfer but no rules against him authorising upgrades for you using his miles.

Here is what I've done in the past with non FF relatives: signed up a relative to skywards and. Poked them on a LHR-SYD return J. I then used their miles (I think 40k) to upgrade one of my flights MAN-DXB Y to J.

Doing the maths will pay dividends!

FlyWithKaeMarie

Thanks! As far as I'm aware he does have a FF with Emirates because he actually advised me to sign up. I guess I don't mind losing some points from it and he'd be happy to transfer them to me later on... just depending on how expensive it is. Can he add the FF at a later date I want to surprise him with this booking and well asking him for his number would give it away

kq747

Yes; he can add it at check in/ at the gate or even retro claim it after the flight. Transferring miles is charged at $25/1000 miles which is too much IMO but can be worth it in some circumstances. You can still add him as a family bonus member and earn 20% of eligible miles he flies.

skywardhunter

No need to transfer, very expensive as kq747 says. But he can use his miles to upgrade someone else. Anyway, as he's flying he may expect to earn the miles and wish to keep them?

Mwenenzi

Many people book & pay for flights for others. With families & business (work) this is common.
Is he a EK (or QF) ff member now? You can sign him up with your address/email.
With most ffp's you need to be a signed up member at the date of the flight. A very few (like QF) allows sign ups and retro claim flights made in the previous ~30/60/what ever days.
One of (very few) better aspects of QF ffp is free family transfer of QF points

sydtogla

Another way around this is to book him on EK metal through the Qantas website and have the miles credited to a QFF number. If you're able to do this and credit the miles to an account, you can then use those miles to book award seats with EK. Note: QF Miles cannot be used to upgrade existing EK itineraries. Also the same rules as EK apply: Must credit miles to an account in the passenger's name.

FlyWithKaeMarie

He's not exactly fussed with keeping the points for himself. He doesn't fly that often and I just thought it would be better than wasting them.

So adding my QFF wouldn't work either?

Mwenenzi

Nope
Each flyer must have his/her own personal frequent flyer number
But some ffp's allow transfer of frequent miles/points to eligible people for a $$ fee or for free (as QF does).

With any EK flight you can add a QF (or other partner) ff number. No need to book "trough Qantas". Earnings will be as freq flyer program for partner EK flights. http://www.wheretocredit.com/ek

skywardhunter

EK allows retro claim up to 6 months.

To OP: FFP must match the name of pax, so definitely can't out yours, if you do the miles will simply never credit.

Yachtman

The only issue you may encounter as mentioned above is that the airline may ask for the billers card or to fill in some forms (https://www.emirates.com/english/hel...velling-myself).
In my experience, the easiest way around this is to use a travel agent, even an online travel agent, as the billing goes to them.