Miles belong to whom ?
 

If the flight I took was credited wrongly to another FFP program due to check-in staff error and I request the airline to delete them to credit to another. The airline refused to do so. Can I claim that they are my miles and the airline took my miles ? The airline claimed that miles are not mine, but airline's.

I think that if you check the rules for your FF program you will find exactly that fact that the miles belong to the program and not the member. Also they usually reserve the right to do pretty much anything with the miles.

On the other hand, I have been in the same situation myself. In that case I had no problems getting the airline (SK) to remove the miles from EuroBonus and credit them to Miles&More instead.

It's not really a question of who they belong to. They belong to the airline, which keeps track of them on your behalf. You don't "own" anything.

The real question here, though, is what is the airline's responsibility in managing your account. They owe you a reasonable level of care in this regard. Based on your post, they haven't shown it. If you have any evidence to back up your statement that it was the check-in staff's error, I'd pursue it further with the airline. They can't duck out of responsibility for their own staff's errors by simply refusing to fix them, especially when fixing them is still possible.

What FFP number printed on your boarding pass?

That is usually what determines which program you will receive credit in.

William

Usually, but not always. I had a LHR-SYD flight last December on BA. My AA number was listed on the boarding pass, but the points ended up in my QF account. The QF number had been in the system because I had flown Transatlantic on BA on the same trip (not eligible for AA points).

I didn't bother getting the points swapped over. The AA status qualifying year was about to end and I was nowhere near qualifying for the next tier.

So it was very odd, but apparently the boarding pass does not always have the last word.

Alan.