I recently had AA cancel the first flight of my itinerary LGA (AA) YYZ (CX) BKK (CX) YYZ (AA) LGA. AA did not check me in for the flight LGA YYZ but I went straight over to AC and off I was. The reason was, that AA kept my booking open for a later AA flight, in case I did not make it on AC.

I have meanwhile received all my miles for the trip (including the nice 50K Business Class bonus for the CX flights between YYZ to HKG), however, no miles for the LGA YYZ segment. I could probably claim this now from UA (I do not have an AC account), but there is one more thing: I booked the trip online. AA gave me 1000 bonus miles for the return segment, but the other 1000 miles are still missing, I guess because I did not yet complete my itinerary.

Does anyone have experience with such a situatiuon: Would you go to AA or UA???

Assuming you'd prefer AA to UA miles, send AA an e-mail via the missing mileage request form on their Web site explaining the situation and stating what you want: miles for the trip as originally booked, since you upheld your side of the bargain by showing up on time ready to travel, but were involuntarily rerouted. I've gotten miles twice this way when my requests were reasonable. Feedback via these forums indicates that others have been as well.

You have to wait 15 days from the date of your flight to send in the form or it bounces back. In your case waiting to see if the miles show up is silly, but that's how it's programmed.

Asking for the UA miles is probably simpler if you don't want to go to the trouble.

Other folks on these boards indicate that they have successfully asked for both airlines' miles in similar situations. Some question the ethics of that. Others say it's only fair compensation for the rerouting hassle. I'm just the messenger.

As far as collecting from two airlines, I was told by Continental to claim milage for cancelled Continental flight and also be sure and ask American, my rerouted airline for the miles. No one gave me a problem.

Thanks, Efrem. I called AA, and they were very helpful about it. The flight miles as well as the online booking bonus have been credited to my account. 1500 miles closer to a million. I have to say that AA is still one of the best the way they handle the mileage business, earning and redeeming.