UA mileage earning on TP (TAP / Air Portugal) operated flights
Jan 31, 2018, 4:16 pm
#16
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
The mileage credit situation with TP crediting to partners is a mess. This has nothing to do with it being TP mainline or an affiliate such as TAP Express or Portugalia.
Every economy fare code on TP is sold as one of four products: Discount, Basic, Classic or Plus. See TAP product line here. No matter the booking code (M in your case) what matters to TAP is what product of M fare you bought. If you buy anyfare-Discount you get 0 miles. Even full Y-Discount would get 0 miles. If you buy anyfare-Basic you get 50% miles on UA. anyfare-Classic you get 100% miles. And I think anyfare-Plus is also 100% but have never tested. The other day I bought E-Classic and got 100% miles, even though E is a dirt cheap class and theoretically would not earn anything on UA, but I uprated the product to E-Classic and got 100% miles on UA.
At TAP, the booking code is used for yield management only, and the product class is used for ancillary services such as baggage, seat assignment, and yes, mileage earning.
This is not understood at all by UA agents. They go by booking class only, but booking class is meaningless to TAP for the purposes of mileage earning. To TAP, mileage earning goes only by the product.
If you buy directly from flytap.com is is very clear which product you are buying. If you buy from a third party, they will typically only always sell you Discount, because it's cheapest and, well, to a third party an M fare is an M fare is an M fare. But it's not. On the RAK-LIS one-way, the M fare codes are:
Discount M25DSC0B 141 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- bare bones, no miles
Basic M25BSC0B 155 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 1 checked bag and 50% miles on UA
Classic M25CLC0B 159 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 1 checked bag, seat assignment and 100% miles on UA
Plus M25PLU0B 203 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 2 checked bags, seat assignment, priority handling, and (I think) 100% miles on UA
What you have to look for are those characters DSC / BSC / CLC / PLU in the fare basis. That is what will determine your mileage earring. The common consumer does not know this.
I know, this situation is not explained like this anywhere on the UA site. And UA agents don't know about it. But it is what the reality is. If you want miles when flying TP, upgrade your product on TAP -- which means you probably have to book directly with TAP.
You could argue with UA agents as much as you want, TAP will not grant the miles for a DSC product. If you ever get miles, it will be because UA gave them to you out of the goodness of their heart.
Now, all the above applies to TP fares, which I assume if what your RAK-LIS was. If you fly TP on someone else's fare (e.g., you fly ORD-LHR-LIS on a UA fare, with the LHR-LIS segment operated by TP) then indeed the TP booking class as shown on the United earning table is what rules.
Every economy fare code on TP is sold as one of four products: Discount, Basic, Classic or Plus. See TAP product line here. No matter the booking code (M in your case) what matters to TAP is what product of M fare you bought. If you buy anyfare-Discount you get 0 miles. Even full Y-Discount would get 0 miles. If you buy anyfare-Basic you get 50% miles on UA. anyfare-Classic you get 100% miles. And I think anyfare-Plus is also 100% but have never tested. The other day I bought E-Classic and got 100% miles, even though E is a dirt cheap class and theoretically would not earn anything on UA, but I uprated the product to E-Classic and got 100% miles on UA.
At TAP, the booking code is used for yield management only, and the product class is used for ancillary services such as baggage, seat assignment, and yes, mileage earning.
This is not understood at all by UA agents. They go by booking class only, but booking class is meaningless to TAP for the purposes of mileage earning. To TAP, mileage earning goes only by the product.
If you buy directly from flytap.com is is very clear which product you are buying. If you buy from a third party, they will typically only always sell you Discount, because it's cheapest and, well, to a third party an M fare is an M fare is an M fare. But it's not. On the RAK-LIS one-way, the M fare codes are:
Discount M25DSC0B 141 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- bare bones, no miles
Basic M25BSC0B 155 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 1 checked bag and 50% miles on UA
Classic M25CLC0B 159 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 1 checked bag, seat assignment and 100% miles on UA
Plus M25PLU0B 203 EUR (+YQ +taxes) -- gets 2 checked bags, seat assignment, priority handling, and (I think) 100% miles on UA
What you have to look for are those characters DSC / BSC / CLC / PLU in the fare basis. That is what will determine your mileage earring. The common consumer does not know this.
I know, this situation is not explained like this anywhere on the UA site. And UA agents don't know about it. But it is what the reality is. If you want miles when flying TP, upgrade your product on TAP -- which means you probably have to book directly with TAP.
You could argue with UA agents as much as you want, TAP will not grant the miles for a DSC product. If you ever get miles, it will be because UA gave them to you out of the goodness of their heart.
Now, all the above applies to TP fares, which I assume if what your RAK-LIS was. If you fly TP on someone else's fare (e.g., you fly ORD-LHR-LIS on a UA fare, with the LHR-LIS segment operated by TP) then indeed the TP booking class as shown on the United earning table is what rules.
Jan 31, 2018, 4:26 pm
#17
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If a partner flight is not eligible to earn award miles, then it is also not eligible to earn Premier qualifying miles, segments or dollars.
Jan 31, 2018, 9:46 pm
#20
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Um, that is pretty irrelevant to the point being made. There are tons of award flights you can book with miles that wouldn't earn miles when paying for the ticket in cash.
Jan 31, 2018, 9:50 pm
#21
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Jan 31, 2018, 10:15 pm
#23
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It also means no miles on UA 016 ticket (using PQD multiplier), if the flight would not earn miles based on the partner rules (or non-mileage earning carrier).
Jan 31, 2018, 10:20 pm
#24
Join Date: Feb 2006
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I just perused the Mileage Plus section of united.com, and whereas the BR partner page specifically states "Please note: Flights operated by regional subsidiary UNI Air are not eligible for mileage accrual or redemption", no similar disclaimer exists on the TP partner page in regard to Portugalia. 
on UA for that.
on UA for that.
Jan 31, 2018, 10:44 pm
#25
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
I just perused the Mileage Plus section of united.com, and whereas the BR partner page specifically states "Please note: Flights operated by regional subsidiary UNI Air are not eligible for mileage accrual or redemption", no similar disclaimer exists on the TP partner page in regard to Portugalia. on UA for that.
on UA for that.Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 31, 2018 at 10:49 pm Reason: merging consecutive posts by same member
Jan 31, 2018, 11:00 pm
#26
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Looking at UA's standard RDM earning rules, UA makes no reference to fare class, so the only reason for K fares on LH operated but UA ticketed flights to earn zero is the referenced statement. If the partner does not give credit to MP, UA will not give credit.
While we don't know the exact reason for the OP's flight did not credit. The two ideas presented so far -- Portugalia operated flights don't earn miles or the purchased fare does not earn miles -- if eaither is true, that would explain UA position.
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 31, 2018 at 11:07 pm Reason: more
Feb 1, 2018, 12:13 am
#27
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Actually it does and this is why a K fare on LH but booked on UA 016 ticket stock earns zero RDM, PQMs, PQDs, ....
Looking at UA's standard RDM earning rules, UA makes no reference to fare class, so the only reason for K fares on LH operated but UA ticketed flights to earn zero is the referenced statement. If the partner does not give credit to MP, UA will not give credit.
Looking at UA's standard RDM earning rules, UA makes no reference to fare class, so the only reason for K fares on LH operated but UA ticketed flights to earn zero is the referenced statement. If the partner does not give credit to MP, UA will not give credit.
The explanation for that is the footnote on the Lufthansa mileage earning page, which states:
- The fare is the base fare of the ticket plus carrier-imposed surcharges, excluding any government-imposed taxes and surcharges. For tickets purchased in a currency other than U.S. dollars, we will convert the purchase to U.S. dollars using an industry standard exchange rate and then calculate the number of miles you will earn. Please note that the price displayed when purchasing a ticket on united.com includes up to a 7.5% U.S. Federal Transportation Tax on the base amount of the fare on itineraries wholly within the United States. This tax also applies to certain itineraries between the United States and Canada or Mexico. You will not earn PQD or award miles for the full amount of the displayed price for these itineraries because the U.S. Federal Transportation tax is not eligible to earn PQD or miles. Fare classes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, L, M, P, Q, S, T, U, V, W, Y and Z are eligible for accrual.
Feb 1, 2018, 12:26 am
#28
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Nope, your above quoted statement has nothing to do with why K fare, UA stock and LH metal earns nothing, and imo is not relevant to the conversation and issue.
The explanation for that is the footnote on the Lufthansa mileage earning page, which states:
A K fare is a specifically excluded fare.
The explanation for that is the footnote on the Lufthansa mileage earning page, which states:
A K fare is a specifically excluded fare.
As for the meaning of the quote, we could go around and around on this, the statement is there and hard to see why it is not relevant, It is a generic exception to UA's RDM earning rule for non-mileage earning fares. Appears UA has added it (to some?) individual mileage earning pages. The statements are complementary.
Feb 1, 2018, 6:09 pm
#29
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