I have been unable to have different FFP account numbers pre-registered for the three sectors on IB that I am going to fly over this weekend.

They are part of my RTW trip on oneworld Explorer and all of the three are in a series -- the first (MAD-ALC) on Nov. 20 and the second (ALC-BCN) and third (BCN-LHR) on Nov. 21.

IB has kindly declined to pre-register them at all, saying, ''It is too complicated,'' and asked me to contact AA, which made all the reservations for me.

AA (in TYO) gave it a try but turned out that the first FFP that was registered prevails over the remaining two sectors as well -- meaning that I can only have one FFP number registered for all the three.

I have thus decided to go unregistered and ''negotiate'' to have three different FFP account numbers registered at check-in counters, or perhaps I should have all unregistered and send boarding passes and ticket copies to each FFP operator.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem?

Or has anyone succeeded ever in getting different FFP numbers registered for IB flights, either on CRS for reservations or at check-in counters?

BTW, I had no problem at all whatsoever in having different FFP numbers pre-registered for the BA, AA, CX and CP sectors on my RTW itinerary.

I would appreciate any comments, insights or suggestions on this matter.

Save yourself some aggravation and don't preregister anything - even at the check in counter before each flight. Here's what happened to me recently ... I was on a four segment BA ticket. At each check in I gave different ff numbers: my AA number for the first segment, my BA number for the second number, my IB number for the third segment and my CP number for the fourth. In each case the correct frequent flyer number printed on the boarding pass. Now here's what has happened to date. The first segment has not yet posted. The second segment posted correctly to BA but the third and fourth segments were both posted to my AA account! I have no idea what happened here and I hope I am successful in straightening this out or I'm in a heap of trouble!

That settles it. I am not putting in any FF #'s. If BA can't do it, then I ain't putting anything in. I'll wait till I get home and fax and fight. Better to fight over nothing than fight to change something, I guess.

I am doing the 100k in six different programs (AA, BA, CP, CX, IB, AY). I flew IB on a six segment trip from DFW-ORD-MAD-ORY (r/t) and I had a huge confusion in posting when I gave each segment separately. In this case I have to call each program separately to un-post the miles from the wrong accounts so when I fax my boarding passes/receipts to the right carrier I can get proper accounting. I'd complain if I wasn't getting 600k in addition to my flight miles.

Good luck to you all! Happy flying.

Thanks, everyone.

I've already done one round of 100K in Asia, flying CX, BA, CP, QF and AY. I did befor-check-in registrations and all of them were prited out at check-in. And all of them were posted just fine and got the first 100K with AA. I didn't know a case like Gabriel's could happen ...

I thought it would be a lot easier than faxing everything post-flight.

Let me see what will happen ... I'm starting a 12-segment trans-Siberian, trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific RTW in four days .... from Sat. through Tues.

Chiangi - This is how it can be done...

First - CANCEL your ongoing flights on IB (ie ALC-BCN, and BCN-LHR) - Note down the booking class for your flights, and flight number as in your ticket.

2nd - Then register your frequent flyer number with IB for the MAD-ALC flight only.
Hang up with IB.

3rd - Call back to IB. Book in a seperate PNR the exact flight and class you had just cancelled - in a new booking and not related to the RTW you had just had. Just tell the booking agent that you have an 'open' ticket and you would like to book the following flight now....then give them ticket number, flight details etc BUT don't let on you have an existing booking already with IB or else they will merge the bookings together and then you're screwed! Then give the IB agent the FF program you want this flight credited to.

3rd - You can then do the same above for the BCN-LHR sector. Do it maybe a day later so that the agents won't suspect what you're doing.

4th - CHECK with each sector as to if your preferred FF number is on the booking when you check in !

Remember, if you had given different FF numbers for all the other flights, the FIRST FF number you give for say BA will override the others. So if you intend to credit one flight to one program and another flight to another, you must follow the above procedure or else you'll end up with one FF credit altogether.

Celestar340,

Thanks for the suggestion. I read it just before I left here to start the RTW trip. Splitting PNR -- I should have thought about it! After reading your post, I was tempted to do it but I didn't do it, because I didn't have much time and I also feared that I could lose the seats booked on the flights after the IB sectors. You know, if you cancel a part of the itinerary, what follows is usually cancelled as well. Am I right? Thanks, anyway.

I did fly the three IB segments over the weekend. I did not register any account number for the first flight on Sat., for I thought it might override the remaining two as Celestar340 said.

On Sun., however, when I checked in for the two remaining sectors, I asked the agent to register CP and BA account numbers. And she SAID she did it, without any problem. These numbers didn't show on the boarding passes and I asked her if the numbers were really registered, she double-checked them on the computer screen and she said they were registered .... I am not sure if that is true. But I have to see what will happen to my account statements.

IB was really something. AA, CP and BA all accepted different account numbers and they all appeared as per requested on the boarding passes.

When I flew roundtrip on Iberia, I asked for two separate tickets in order to avoid the multiple FF# problem (I was flying full fare coach so it didn't affect the price). This totally confused their airport ticket person. First he wanted to know the name of the other passenger. I explained that no, it was just me. Oh, so you're doing this twice? No, just once out (one ticket) and back (the other ticket). He printed away on his computer, and gave me two one-way tickets for Madrid to Bilbao!

Once I got it all straightened out, though, I gave the respective FF#s as I checked in for each flight, and they both credited smoothly (as opposed to my BA and CP roundtrips).

I booked one PNR flying Iberia MAD-PMI-BCN-BIO in C class. I didn't pre-register a FF number. I gave a different one at check-in for each flight. All were posted correctly.

However:
(1) I should have booked in Y class and saved �30. There is absolutely no benefit to flying business on these Iberia domestic flights.
(2) Although my Iberia BCN-BIO flight connected with a BA BIO-LHR flight, Iberia could not do a through check-in, contrary to what OneWorld claim. In fact, the solitary woman at the Iberia customer services desk where I went to complain could not even speak English (which is supposed to be a requirement for customer-facing staff in Spain). I had to walk to the BA terminal at BCN in order to do the check-in for my flight out of BIO.

Should I be concerned about IB? I'm doing 3 sectors domestically with them next week. BCN-MAD, MAD-VLC, and VLC-BCN. Booked through 3 seperate reservations with 3 different FF's. This is the only way it will work.

I did SYD-x/CBR-MEL-x/CBR-SYD on a full fare Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney ticket but called Qantas up 4 times to book each sector seperately. When check in printed my boarding passes, all the flights (SYD-CBR, and CBR-MEL) reflected the different FF numbers. Check in staff do not ask questions. As long as they see your name on the computer for the flight booked, that's all they are concerned about. In fact, most of them do not know actual ticketing rules!

As I wrote in the first post of this thread, I flew three IB sectors in late Nov., over two days, one flight on the first day and two continual sectors on the second day. I wanted three different FFP account numbers assigned on them.

I did not register any FFP numbers when I made the reservations.

The first sector is for CX AsiaMiles, which I sent the boarding pass and a copy of the air ticket after the flight, and it has not yet been posted.

The second sector was for BA and the third for CP. The check-in agent said they were all reflected on the record but the boarding passes did not show any FFP numbers.

Just two days ago, I called BA and learned that the second and the third sectors were all posted in BA Exe. Club. I told my story and said I had wanted the third sector for CP. The BA agent said that I should send the boarding pass and a copy of the air ticket to BA (not CP), and she said she would take care of it.

I am now flying four AA sectors this weekend, NRT-DFW-YYZ-ORD-NRT. AA can handle different FFP account numbers on a single PNR, it seems. I have my BA Exe. Club number registered for YYZ-ORD. The remaining sectors are for AA.

Also on my late Nov. trip, after the IB sectors, I was astonished, well, sort of, when I checked in for three continual AA flights -- RDU-ORD-NRT. I got three boarding passes for all the flights and each of them had a different FFP number, which I requested at the time of reservations.

CP and BA seem to be able to handle different FFP numbers on a single PNR, too. But I heard CP sometimes mixes up, and it also cannot accept different FFP numbers at the time of check-in, unless you have them registered on your reservation record -- but this is all I heard. I myself had no problem with CP and BA, as I said.

I also agree with MKB about IB's domestic flights. I don't see much difference with economy ....

[This message has been edited by Chiangi (edited 12-09-1999).]

Just this morning I had CP do a change to my boarding pass which originally was issued with my Cdn+Gold number. Decided I wanted to use the flight between YEG and YYZ for my AAdvantage Gold Challenge (since it is year end and any more Cdn+ miles won't make much difference to my elite level status). Agent in Empress Club had no trouble changing the number over and issuing me with a new boarding pass bearing the AA number. Did this a few months ago in YVR as well, using that segment as the first for AAdvantage and the 100K promo, and it posted to AA within days.

As for IB, I flew BCN-PMI for a day trip and had the outbound credited to Cdn+ and the return to AAdvantage. There was no problem changing my Cdn+ number from the earlier flight on the PNR to my AAdvantage number and the AA one posted within days! (The CP was a slight problem in that I noticed when I got home that the agent had left out a digit, so I have mailed the boarding pass and ticket copy off the Vancouver for posting.)

Since I always check in at the J-Class counters, generally staffed by senior agents, they seem to be able to make these changes of FF program without problem.

My problem has arisen with AA's inability to handle their IB codeshares as AA flights, and recognizing non-accrual fares as being eligible for the 100K bonus. But that's another story...