I am planning on booking a flight through a student traveler website because it is much cheaper then if I was to book it on the airlines website. If I book on the student traveler website, I cannot apply my frequent flyer account to it. Would it be possible, after I took the flight, to go to the airlines website and fill out the form for missing miles, and still get credit?

Will what work? Oh.

Without knowing: (a) the airline in question; and (b) the fare basis, it is impossible to answer this question.

It is certainly worth a try. Be sure to keep you bording passes for proof that you were on the flight.

You can also try giving the airline your FF number when you check in. No guarantees, but it gives you another shot at winning the lottery.

Most student fares are consolidator tickets. In some cases consolidator tickets have a unique fare basis which makes them ineligible for miles. In other cases they have a standard fare basis with a unique "ticket designator" that allows the consolidator to sell them at a reduced fare, in which case they probably would be eligible for miles.

You should be able to call the company issuing the tickets and ask them if their fares are eligible for miles.

Airlines can opt not to award miles for tickets issued in certain fare classes. Deep-discount tickets are usually in those classes. Bear in mind that one reason the ticket is so cheap is that it usually does not earn you miles.

If you're using StudentUniverse (a good one):

Airline Eligible for Frequent Flyer Mileage? Phone Number
Aero Mexico YES
Air Europa NO
Air France YES*
Air India YES
Air New Zealand NO
Alitalia YES
American Airlines YES**
Austrian Airlines NO
bmi NO
British Airways NO
Continental Airlines YES
Delta Airlines YES
Emirates Airlines YES
Iberia Airlines NO
Icelandair YES
LAN Airlines YES
Lufthansa YES
Northwest YES***
Qantas YES****
Scandinavian Airlines YES
Singapore Airlines NO
South African Airways YES+
Spirit YES
Swiss YES
TACA NO
United Airlines NO
US Airways YES
Varig YES
Virgin Atlantic Airways NO

*25% of actual miles flown
**Domestic only
***up to 250 miles per segment
****70% of actual miles flown
+For Delta SkyMiles

http://www.studentuniverse.com/faqs.html

Nice list Jeremy!!!!

That is a great resource.

Looks like the post was "respondable" without a & b...

If the ticket is eligible for miles, you should be able to call the airline after it's ticketed and give them your number, without waiting until check-in even, much less doing the post-trip mail thing.

jeremyzechar - that is quite a list. ^


phoenixitc - UpgradeMe's response is stilll accurate. jeremyzechar's - post may be accurate as a generalization (I don't know) but I can tell you for a fact that UA earns on Student Universe tickets when booked into certain fare classes but not on other Student Universe tickets.

I would consider the booking code (does it normally earn miles) as a more authorative way of determining if a ticket will earn miles than whatever an agency says.

Generally, agencies that issue some non-earning tickets cover themselves by saying "tickets do not earn miles." Actually it depends on the fare rules and booking code...also if it books into a fare code that normally earns miles, eveni if isn't supposed to earn miles, it usually will because the airline's computer often cannot tell the difference.