Two Airlines, Opposite Alliance but Same PNR: Earn Mileage on two accounts?
 

I'm sorry if this may seem obvious to some of you. My question is if I have a booking with AC and then connecting to BA where both the AC and BA sectors are under the same PNR and I have a FF account with AC (to earn AC miles) and a FF account with CX (to earn BA miles) where both the AC and BA booking classes are mileage accurable to those respective FF programs, is it possible for me to earn mileages on the AC flight to the AC account and the BA flight to the CX account when both the AC and BA flights are under the same PNR? If so how does it work? Do I have to call both AC and BA to give them the respective FF # or can my Travel Agent input both FF accounts into the same PNR?

The most certain way (IMO) to get the flight credited correctly is to not enter any number and to then mail in the boarding passes after the fact and claim the credit that way. You prevent the chance of the airlines accidentally trying to credit the flight to the wrong program and therefore preventing you from getting any credit.

I've done this quite frequently by having the agent (either ticket counter or gate) put my FF number in when I'm at the airport. I've never had trouble, but always kept my boarding passes and made sure the miles posted.

It very much depends on the programs involved. The OP is talking about AC and BA so I don't know the specifics there, but I do know that on DL they can't/won't change the number in the record once travel has started.

As this is better addressed in our MilesBuzz forum, please follow it there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

i did this with no issues on one PNR going sfo-lax-jfk (aa) - fra-blr (LH) - sin-pen-sin-lax (sq) - sna (ua)

i put my frequent flyer number in advance, so i could apply for the aa upgrades. i can't remember who issued the ticket. but i know it was all on one PNR that amex put together, and that was important so i could check my bag from sfo-blr which was my first stop. and when i went to check my bag at sfo, they required me to show them my full PNR that showed me going to BLR so they'd check the bag. i got my upgrade on aa, and i got all the rest of the miles credited to UA.

Wow - that seems a bit unreasonable and goes against the general advice I was going to give, which is:

The best thing to do is to specify the FF program for the first segment at time of booking, and then at check-in for each subsequent segment, change the program and number to whatever you want to be credited for that segment. If the FF program and/or number is printed on the boarding pass, be sure that it matches what you want for that segment.

My understanding is that in general, each segment in a single PNR can have its own FF program and number associated with it. Even though in most cases all segments have the same FF program and number, there's nothing preventing one of them from being different than the rest, or all of them being different from each other. Also, it's my understanding that any agent that touches the record (initial booking agent, phone agent before departure, or airport personnel) can change the FF info for any current or future segment, but as sbm12 pointed out, there may be policy reasons that prevent this. Also, there may be a lack of understanding or incompetence that gets in the way from time to time.

My most recent two experiences with this were:

- a oneworld RTW ticket purchased from AA. 6 segments involved, 2 on AA. So of course, my AA number was on all segments by default. But, 1st segment was BA IAH-LHR, and because of the special rule that prevents US-UK transatlantic segments from being cross-posted between BA and AA, I chose to have that segment posted to my AsiaMiles account. At check-in at IAH, the BA rep checked me through to DXB, but I told her that I wanted the first segment only credited to AsiaMiles, and the rest of the PNR left on AA (including the 2nd segment LHR-DXB which she also checked me in for and issued me a boarding pass). She gave me a funny look at first when I asked for this, but then realized the special rule for AA-BA credits and had no problem doing what I asked. She changed the first segment, kept the second segment as it was even though she was also checking me in for that, and left the other segments untouched.

- A mixed-alliance single-PNR ticket involving flights on CO, AF, LH, and AC. Because of the mix of carriers and alliances, I needed credits on different programs. I told each agent what I wanted at check-in, and had no problems getting all segments credited correctly without any additional work.

Regarding what sbm12 reports about DL, I'm not sure quite what to make of it. I know that there are certain abuses that the carriers would like to prevent, such as tagging a segment with the operating carrier in order to get certain elite privileges (upgrades, preferred seating) but then once those are granted and before departure, changing the FF to another carrier.

Aside from that, I don't understand why there would be a notion of not being able to change the FF program once travel has started. sbm12, could you shed any light onto DL's policy in this regard?

And actually, I don't see any way that DL could enforce this except for a PNR consisting entirely of its own flights.

I agree with this advice. Your risk that it won't eventually work out is low, because AC/BA flights aren't valid for accrual on each other's programs (I assume). You can always call after the flights and add the miles.

A trickier situation is when the miles could go on either program, but you want to direct them to a specific one. This happened to me twice this year flying on itineraries combining QR with UA/LH/LX -- I wanted the QR miles credited to my QR account and the Star Alliance miles credited to my UA account. And, since QR is a partner with UA, I was worried about QR miles going on UA or vice-versa, because to fix that would require removing miles from the account, which I imagine is difficult. Luckily, I applied Steve M's strategy and it worked fine.

if you are booking thru a Travel Agent then you can have him enter FFs for each sector separately.

In any case, confirm and reconfirm the FFs are correctly entered at check-in

This is exactly what I would do.

It happened to me recently with AF and LX on a LYS-ZRH-CDG itin on a unique PNR. I have asked the TA to put my M&M FF number for the LYS-ZRH on LX leg and my FB FF number for the ZRH-CDG on AF leg and it posted without problem in both cases. Tickets were issued on LX stock.

OP. This is the answer you are looking for.

Actually, your tickets aren't really under the same PNR for the individual airlines. But, as usual, it depends on how you booked. Go with what hgwatts posted.

To provide an example... let's say I am booked TPA (AA) DFW (AS) SEA. There will be different PNRs for AS and AA. Assuming I booked on Sabre, the AA PNR will be able to pull the flight info for the AS portion... however, seat assignments, etc., end up having to be done through AS once the initial request has been processed.

In my experience, if you can change the FF number ahead of flight, preferably online, there would be no problem to have miles posted the way you want.

I did that with CO flights - some credited to AS, some credited to CO, on a r/t ticket.

You can also change it at the airport. Whatever FF number shown on the Boarding Pass, it would be that program your credit goes to.

One thing I do notice, no matter how you do it, you need to make sure the Boarding Pass reflect the CORRECT FF number in order to have credit posted properly.

If there is no FF number showing, and the FF program is a different one from the ticket stock - the airline would have to communicate with the ticket-issuing airline to make sure they do not post the credit, and until that verification is satisfied, your desired FF program would NOT post the credit - because airlines want to make sure no double credits are posted.

They can't be all on the same PNR... each carrier uses a different record locator. They were probably on the same tickets (yes more than 1 since it was more than 4 segments, probably 3 sequential tickets).

On a side note... anyone know how to link non-sequential tickets, so that the itinerary shows up together when a TA pulls it up at check-in? :)