When an airline fails to credit someone for a flight. most of them ask that the passenger send in his boarding pass and ticket. Why is this necessary? No airline would credit you without first confirming that you actually traveled on the given flight. If they confirm the information anyway, why isn't it sufficient to tell them which flight you were on? We should be able to do that even over the phone.
I know that BA will allow you to request credit for flights on-line, but only for flights with BA, not OW partners. That's much better- but I don't understand the difference between a BA flight and a partner flight- in both cases they're going to check their data (or the partner's) anyway?

I seems to me like they're making life a little bit more difficult for no reason.

Is there a good reson for this?

flaco hi - i think most airlines don't have the capacity to do a simple search on flights going back more than a few days w/o major work. That's why they use the BP as proof of flight - basically you're "helping" them to avoid doing research.

I flew with BA and gave in my AA number and wasn't credited. I sent in my BP and ticket to AA and they said they would send it to BA to confirm and it would take about 60 days for BA to answer- and that's about how long it took!
I really have no way of knowing, but my guess is that they confirm the info every time.

I've always suspected that it was to prevent folks from checking in, perhaps to get the miles and then not actually boarding the flight. Just a though, but agree with the original post about the amount of work needed to post missing miles.

I don't know about your airline, but with over 100 flights per year for the past few years with DL, they have NEVER missed a segment.

There may be lots of reasons for sending in the "proof", but one would surely be to keep it CLEAR what is being requested. Without it, you can be sure many people would not include the correct or enough info to clear it up, and they would rather not have to do this crap, due to cost issues. Sorry, but get the number into the system whenver you can.

In the case of codeshares or partners because the other party generally asks for the info.

On the same carrier it is now basically just an excuse to dissuade you from claiming and ultimately reduce their mileage liability.

I second what was said above. DL is the best in the industry in tracking the flights, its only their partner AF that often fails.

I flew on a discounted ticket with BA on March 30th. My number was in the system and I still didn't get credit. The reason is they changed their rules as of April 1st to no longer credit flights on the fare class that I flew. I was lucky enough to catch it, but I'm sure many didn't.

My bother flew EZE-YYZ on AC in July; number in the system, and on the BP- no credit.

Grandfather flew TLV-YYZ on AC in July. I don't know if the number was on the BP, but it was given in and on the record when the reservation was made, and YYZ-TLV was credited, but not the return. (In TLV check-in is handled by a private company called AOS and not the airline. I suspect that they're lousy at this kind of stuff.)

I suspect that it depends to a certain extent on where you travel. AC are usually very good and very quick crediting miles. But in distant markets where they don't have a large presence there are probably more misses. I suspect the same may be true for other airlines.

If you're missing a UA flight, MP only asks for the ticket number.

UA wants BPs for partner flights as they don't have access to their systems.

For partner flights UA not only wants BPs but also a copy of passenger receipt.
I requested UA mileage credits I flew on DL several months ago. Today I received a letter from UA saying I didn't send the passenger receipt. Well, maybe it's my fault (I thought I sent one), but...the letter is dated Aug 30! Does UA send mails by surface? (But stamp says "PAR AVION"...)

If you were not required to send in the original boarding pass, then nobody would give the FF # when booking their ticket and just fax copies of a boarding pass to every partner airline, in addition to the one flown.

Requiring the original boarding pass prevents this.

Why would anyone not give in their number when making a reservation in order to JUST fax in their boarding pass? Isn't it easier to JUST give the number when making the resevation?

Because I could fax it to multiple airlines and get credit all across the board. For example, If I was flying one star alliance member, I could fax the boarding pass to every member airline I have an account with and get miles on all of them.

I have been lucky, the one time there was a hassle getting miles (canceled flight and they put me on another airline) United did it all over the telephone with just the ticket number, no boarding pass necessary (though a ticket number was, and it's not on most receipts, so make sure you get an itinerary printed out wither online ar at the airport)

As others mention, I think the primary reason for asking for original BPs is to prevent double dipping. However, having said that, I know that AC has the ability to pull an itinerary very easily if you had an e-ticket, and I've not had a problem having points credited over the phone.

I don't think that the cconcern of double dipping is a good enough reson.

#1 I believe that they verify the info anyway
#2 they tell you to keep copies in case the documents get lost in the mail. That means that is they get lost they would accept copies. So you could send copies to many airlines. That's one of the reasons for #1
I personally have allmost always sent copies and not originals (many times from overseas where I don't quite trust the mail service) and I've never had an airline insist on originals.

(Edited to add the word "never" in the last sentence.)

[This message has been edited by flaco (edited 10-23-2001).]