requesting old airmiles
 

Hey
I have been traveling a lot these last years.
My question was if I take a airmiles card now, will my old flights get on it or not. Or is there a way to get these miles on my card?
thanks :)

requesting old airmiles
 

Every program has different rules. Most likely, no, though . Some may allow you to claim miles taken in the past few months prior to joining. I am unaware of any programs that would allow you to retroactively claim miles going back farther than that.

if you have a specific airline in mind, please visit the forum for that airline.

Adam1222 is spot on. But I wanted to add that you don't have to get an airline's credit card in order to earn frequent flyer miles. You can open a frequent flyer account with every airline and earn miles when you fly on that airline (or its partners). Perhaps that's not what you meant when you wrote "take a airmiles card," but just wanted to clear that up in case there were a misunderstanding.

Kamie Leten Welcome to FT

Most ffp's require you to be a signed up member at the date of the flight.
A very small minority allow you join and retro claim. For example flights in the last 30 days.

There is some info about retro claim in post 2 here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

If you are a signed up member most ffp's allow you to retro claim for flight in the last 3 or 6 or 12 months if the ff number was not entered in the reservation. But it does vary with the ffp.

As above sign up now for the all airline ffps you may be travelling on. You can decide later if to put the ffp number or a partner ff number in the reservation.

With ffp partners the airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those flights to does not need to be the same.

Keep the boarding passes
What airlines have you flown?

Often you can request credit for flights taken in the previous six months, but every program is different.

Airlines want people to sign up for their loyalty programs. So, on a flight, they tell people that they can sign up and receive credit for the flight they're on right now. That, by definition, is retroactive credit. Now, allow for the possibility that the person in question is on the outbound leg of a three-week trip and won't be able to do sign up until he or she returns, plus a few days for getting over jet lag and general procrastination - so, they generally allow at least 30 days. Some are more generous than that (as posted, airlines vary), but, also as posted, "a few years" ain't gonna happen. Airlines have no business reason to extend the period that much. And it's all about business.

One possibility, and it's a slim one: if you have a travel agent or corporate travel coordinator who books your flights and those of lots of other people, he or she might be able to arrange an exception using the logic that credit will improve the odds that you and his/her other clients will use the same airline in the future. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that horse to come in, though.