Status miles for LH/SA Codeshare?
 

I'm trying to get myself from IAD to JNB in late October (my quest further described here), and have a question for you experts.

If I fly FRA-JNB on SA metal, but with the LH flight number (LH2940), will I get status miles on UA for the flight, or are the status miles only limited to flights *actually* flown on LH metal (in this case)?

Danski

No, I do not believe so. However you would get miles with LH M&M, as I understand it.

Yes, LH will give bonus and status miles for SA codeshares.

yes for miles&more - no with Mileage Plus

As a follow up question (I think the answer is no - but it never hurts to ask), has anyone been able to upgrade from Y to C using the UA Mileage Plus Lufthansa upgrade award on the codeshare segment flown by SA?

Right now I am pondering taking the codeshare (flown by SA) FRA-JNB and returning on LH metal JNB-FRA, if I can use the upgrade award in both directions, that would probably clinch the deal for me.

Danski

I don't know much about MP but I'd be surprised if you could upgrade FRA-JNB with an MP upgrade award. You can't even do it with a LH upgrade voucher as it is operated by SA.

To the best of my knowledge you cannot use any UA Mileage Plus or Lufthansa Miles & More upgrade instruments (miles, certs, coupons, etc.) to upgrade the FRA-JNB flight on SAA metal, with a LH flight number.

In theory you may be able to use UA Mileage Plus Miles to upgrade a true LH flight, JNB-FRA in your example. However the fare class has to be Y (17,500 miles) or B/M (35,000 miles), and you need to get certificates from UA. You can of course upgrade this flight in any fare class with LH M&M miles and/or two complimentary upgrade certs (I'm pretty sure).