What programs post miles/points the fastest/slowest?
 

One of the questions that seems to be frequently raised throughout flyertalk is how soon will miles/points be posted? From a bit of experience, the range in posting time varies widely, and I'm not sure of the reasons why. I was wondering from your experience which air mile/hotel point programs are the best in this area, and which seem to deserve improvement?

As to regular miles and level bonus, DL does great. When I land and log onto my account, the flight is already posted along with any Medalion bonus.

SkyMiles/Amex card seems to post well. Not sure how many days, but is close to when the bill is generated by Amex.

My experience indicates that Delta is the best at posting miles. The miles are posted as soon as the flight closes. It usually takes three days for USAirways to post a flight, but at least they're consistent. I can never figure out when a Continental flight is going to post. Sometimes it's within a day or two. At other times it takes up to a week. There's no rhyme or reason to it and the OnePass people don't seem to know either. They tell you to allow up to seven days.

As far as hotels are concerned, it seems to take about five days for Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott to post a stay.

Concur with the foregoing about Delta. They're great, at least in this.

American typically takes 3-5 days. It seems the same whether it's their own flight or a oneWorld partner. If you pass a 10,000-mile upgrade award threshold, there's another lag of a few more days after flights post until upgrades are credited. If you convert upgrades to miles, the upgrades come out right away (as they do if you use them to upgrade) but the miles don't show up until a few days later.

AA is my favorite airline, but nobody's perfect. This is an area where they're a step behind at least one competitor.

My united miles appear within 24 hours after completing the flight. BA gives the most problems

For speed and accuracy in posting the miles, definitely Delta in my experience.

Same here. Unless

1. Some segs are United Express
2. I've flown more than 3 segments in one day. MP has told me that the computer is now set up to "question" more than 3 segments a day (makes some day runs from the Bay Area to southern California tough)

The absolute worst IMHO is Hertz. I still have not been awarded FF miles for certain rentals that are over 4 months old. Avis, on the other hand, posts within a week. Further, it is not due to Hertz not having my number, as I input it the rental reservation that I fill out via the web.

They ought to be sued for fraud.

I have found that most airlies post miles quickly when it is their own airline. If it is a partner, that is another story. It seems that half of the partner flights/ hotels/ rental cars never show up unless I call and fax things back and forth. Also I have noticed that AA is about the only program that has given me credit for a car rental. They dont have any restrictions on whether or not you have the car rental in conjunction with a flight or anything. Partner miles from MCI and credit cards do show up almost without fail in my experience.

For me it takes about a week for flights to post on AA.com. For car rentals, it can take 2 weeks to a month. For award claims, they post that day. Same thing for electronic upgrade usage, once you take the flight, the upgrades go away. Hotels usually take about a month.

Never tried the cereal thing though.

re: Rental Car Miles

I stopped putting my airline # on my rentals. Between the marginal miles value and low number that ever get posted, it was not worth it. When you add in the tax thing they charge you for posting miles, it gets crazy. Just not worth it.

I would have to say that out of all the airlines, Northwest would have to be the slowest in posting miles to your account.

rental-car [/i]Between the marginal miles value and low number that ever get posted[/i]. LH miles&more still credits 500 miles per rental (and often offers promotions for the double, triple).

But true, Hertz rentals often don't post at all ... (doesn't matter which of my ff-programs I use - and trust me, I always check if my ff-info is on the rental-car contract).

With hotels, I find Starwood and Hilton both post rather quickly when stays have been at US properties, within a day or so of check-out, and most often in Canada and overseas there is a two or three day lag. Holiday Inn is not too bad anywhere in the world. I had a few South African stays post before I even made it home. However, InterContinental properties take forever to post on the Priority Club site. Up here, AC generally posts flights within two days when they are on that carrier, but it can take weeks when on some STAR partners. Problem is, web site does not update actual account info until it has been mailed, only real time total points and qualifying miles.

I'm in agreement with DOC2BE about Hertz being the absolute worse. I've sacrificed more Hertz miles than they've credited, simply because it just isn't worth the hassle. Unfortunately, Hertz is the best thing going when it comes to car rentals AND THEY KNOW IT! I once had one of their customer service agents actually tell me "we're in the car rental business, not the frequent flyer business. Sure, it's one of the things we do, but not well."