Boogie711

Hey folks...

First, some background:

Home Airport: Toronto or Buffalo
FF Program: 7k miles into UA, tons of non-status Aeroplan miles. Working on getting status this year with my new job.
What I want: Lounge access and nicer seats on the plane. Don't care too much about redeeming the miles.
Average miles flown - I'd say with the new gig, I'm doing MOSTLY North American flights, and mostly on the East Coast. If I'm flying in the USA I fly out of Buffalo, and in Canada it's out of Toronto.

I'm with United MP because I prepaid for a year of Economy Plus seating and Lounge Access. I'm 6'4" tall, so I wanted the legroom, and the opportunity to work before I get on the flight.

Here's my question - I'm looking at a LHR / DUS/ SIN business trip in a few months. About 20k miles total. I can go from Heathrow to Singapore via Virgin Atlantic, but it's operated by Singapore Airlines. I know if I fly Singapore I get status miles... and that's important to me.

Do I get UA status miles on Singapore metal, even though it's a Virgin Atlantic Flight? Or would I do better to shell out an extra $400 for the entire trip and fly straight through a "Singapore Airlines" connection?

Also - anyone have thoughts as to whether or not I should continue with UA, or would I do better to toss the 7k miles I've earned so far and focus on accruing Aeroplan miles to get to *G status quicker?

(Damn me and my long legs...)

KVS

No, as the flight would need to be marketed and operated by a *A member carrier. It is possible that the miles will be credited to UA MP in-error, but you cannot (and should not) count on it.

sbm12

This is totally and completely false.

For *A the operating metal is what matters for credit. The marketing carrier does not matter. Flying on a VS-coded, SQ-operated flight will credit perfectly to UA and all *A policies/benefits will apply, including lounge access for a *G in coach.

KVS

As mentioned above, it is quite possible that "flight will credit perfectly to UA", but it is still, first and foremost, a VS flight, so both UA MP & SQ (depending on the details of their codeshare agreement with VS) will be well within its rights not to credit it, especially if a retro credit request becomes necessary. Furthermore, the OP would have no way to ascertain what the 'translated' SQ Booking Class would be before purchase and it may well end-up being one of the non-earning SQ Booking Classes (G/Q/V/N/T).

The airport *G benefits will, indeed, apply, as they only require a [physical] flight that is operated by a *A member carrier.

red star

Now that becomes even more wrong since SQ partners with VS (and owes a 49% stake of it). Absolutlely no reason why SQ should not credit a VS codeshare on SQ as long as it is a milage earning class.

SFOSpiff

If there is any question about it being a VS-marketed flight then just credit the miles to a CO account instead of UA. CO codeshares with VS, which UA doesn't. At the end of the year, UA and CO miles will be merged, or if you can't wait, you can link them and transfer the miles yourself.

KVS

Actually, CO OP is very careful in defining the mileage accumulation criteria for VS & SQ:

From http://www.Continental.com/web/en-US...ce/virgin.aspx:
From http://www.Continental.com/CMS/en-US...aspx?ItemId=77:
From http://www.Continental.com/CMS/en-US...spx?ItemId=304:
And, again, that's not to mention the non-mileage-earning SQ Booking Classes (G/Q/V/N/T).

sbm12

No, it is not a VS flight from the perspective of MP. It is a SQ flight and that is how it will credit in the systems.
False.
This is true, but it still will post to MP as a SQ flight. The fact that it is sold as a VS code really does not matter at all.

And where do you see that this differs from the mileage credit rules? Of course you do not, because it doesn't.

Marketing carrier does not matter within *A. Operating metal does.

KVS

It is a VS flight from a contractual perspective.

Do you have access to the VS-SQ code-sharing agreement terms?

As mentioned previously, it may well post to MP.

In that specific context [only], no it does not.

CO's much more precise T&C language demonstrates these differences:

From http://www.Continental.com/web/en-US...ce/virgin.aspx:
From http://www.Continental.com/CMS/en-US...aspx?ItemId=77:
From http://www.Continental.com/CMS/en-US...spx?ItemId=304:
True, but a VS flight does not fall "within" *A.

GBM.flights

This is correct, and a nice box of surprises when flying codeshares to guess what fare code it will match on the operating carrier.

The issue is that VS is not *A.
No clue about MP, but on M&M or DC no miles are earned if ticketed on a non-*A airline (that is not their partner) even if operating metal is *A.

The opposite sometimes does earn bonus miles on specific agreements.

GBM

toyotaboy95

Wrong. I received an official statement from Star Alliance Services GmbH in FRA after inquiring about this issue earlier and they said that ticketing/marketing carrier does not matter, if the operating carrier is a Star Alliance member, then benefits (*G and miles) will be given accordingly - as long as the codeshare carrier booking class maps into an eligible booking class on the operating carrier. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...keted-non.html As per my thread, even individual member airlines get confused but in the end, the statement prevails.

Correct.

Strangely enough, when I asked about the "LH exception" previously, they said:

eriond

This might sound like a stupid question, but all LH flights operated by BD follow the mileage credit levels of LH. Why?

KVS

Indeed.

And here is a further concrete example from Air NZ (http://www.AirNewZealand.co.nz/airpo...rt-from-1-june):

sbm12

How certain are you of this?

I know that an AP-coded UA-operated flight posted successfully to Diamond Club with no problem in the past. When the flight data gets transferred over it has the operating carrier number and booking code on it. That's what the crediting carrier works from.

Feel free to keep insisting that the information I've posted is false. I don't mind at all. Knowing I'm right certainly helps on that front.
Of course it doesn't. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. But since I was talking about operating and crediting carriers, the only bits that actually matter, that fact is irrelevant.

toyotaboy95

Same experience here, MU-coded FM-operated (when they were still in *A) flight credited to UA Mileage Plus successfully, with *G benefits being given as well upon check-in.