findark

It showed as O class, CA flight number on the original receipt?? That would be very unusual indeed.

WineCountryUA

The O report from Ca is the cause but it is possible there is an underlying paid fare class.

This issue has been showing as more airlines are booking upgrades into award class. GPUs to 3-class F on LH show up as O and some have had credit issues. Paid upgrades on some airlines are showing up in R and are having credit issues. The issue is the crediting airline auto-declines the mileage request was the computer only looks at the final fare class and not the original fare class.

Without the information on the purchased fare class, we are guessing but the other above cases have been resolved --- just depends on if it is worth your time and energy.

jsloan

They didn't. Someone has made a mistake -- likely CA.

FlyerTalker70

One point that is missing from this discussion is whether the missing credit is RDU or PQM (or both)? For me I could care less about RDU if I need extra RDU I'll just sign up for another credit card. But PQM is another story.

I'd be very surprised if UA ticketed the CA segment as a P and didn't give you the requisite PQM for that fare class. If the receipt shows CA on P class I'd just call the Premier Desk and request the missing milage credit.

Safe Travels,

James

skidooman

Well, here is the receipt. Sure enough, it is O. But this is fully paid J, no instrument, no miles spent to upgrade somehow.

I assumed that on united.com something like this shouldn't happen. Well, it did. I will be watching for that gotcha. Hope it prevents this from happening to others.

jsloan

This is the original receipt, from your email at the time of purchase? If you went in and tried to request a receipt after the fact, it could easily show whatever CA had passed through to UA.

Edit: Incidentally, if that's the case, it does show a broken fare. Does your reservation still come up if you search via your ticket number at saudia.com? (You can pull up most tickets, including 016 tickets, on their website under "manage booking"). I'd be curious to see what the fare construction was.

kirkwoodj

Nothing dodgy from CA surprises me anymore, and I won't fly with them. Good luck.

skidooman

Saudia.com? Like that Saudi Arabian airlines?

Yes, I checked the original. It was O. As I said, they won't get me again.

I just feel this is ridiculous of them to start playing these games. And by them I mean both UA and CA.

jsloan

Yes, Saudi Arabian airlines. For some reason, they allow access into a back-end system that's shared by many airlines, with nothing but a last name and ticket number.

O isn't supposed to be used for paid tickets -- it's a Star Alliance standard thing. I don't really think this is an instance of CA or UA playing dirty tricks as much as it is somebody making a huge mistake somewhere. Although, yes, it's a good reminder for everyone to check their receipt carefully when booking partner flights.

FlyerTalker70

This is precisely why it's important to carefully look at the booking codes before making the booking. BTW it's not just a CA thing it applies for many airlines now even the 5 star airlines like LH. Right now if you fly K in LH you won't get any PQM on UA. However, starting next month K on LH will earn 100% PQM on UA. You really know the rules and regs and carefully study that itinerary before click the buy button.

Some could argue that this is shady business, especially for a paid J ticket. However, if you look at it from a kettle or event frequent business traveller's standpoint why would they care what fare class they're flying? If they don't know anything about AAdvantage or MilagePlus or SkyMiles, see a good deal in J and only fly a couple of times a year they're going to pounce on it. This is especially true if you primarily fly J since all the benefits of top-tier elite are automatically given to you once you fly J/F on any airline.

Safe Travels,

James

cfischer

wow, that's a strange error. This is what was was on the ORIGINAL receipt. Almost impossible.
Ask the agent to look up how P fares map on CA. Below is how they DO map.IF VIA UA P- FARES
VIA CA Z REQUIRED WHEN OFFERED WITHIN AREA 3

mediator

I am afraid OP doesn't have much choice except to move on. CA uses O class for both discount , revenue domestic F ticket and award travel F.

skidooman

All your points are well taken.

Malice? Error? Well, ultimately, I don't care. I just think this is a stupid thing to do. Don't just anger customers with these types of things.

I would imagine that an experienced representative would say, paid business class no mileage? That makes no sense. Let us solve it. But here, there is only the application of rules. That is fine. It is their right.

But then, the result is that I will be watching this like a hawk next time. If it means I need to go to other airlines or web sites to ensure it doesn't happen, this is what I will do, since I cannot rely on United/CA to do what is right here. I assumed paid J on United.com would be OK each and every time. Well... apparently not, and the responsibility is mine. Alright then.

Kacee

On a UA ticketed itinerary, not sure I agree with that conclusion. UA can see in its own systems it's a full revenue ticket.

With these messy situations, my experience is you is to keep pushing up the chain until someone actually pays attention to what you're saying.

jsloan

I'd really like to see the fare breakdown. I just priced out the same itinerary on ITA Matrix, got UA P fares in both directions -- it prices nicely as a BOS-BJS RT with a $100 stopover at PVG (and a free embedded surface segment -- an open jaw -- from PVG-NRT) on the return -- and it booked into A class on CA. The ExpertFlyer data for this fare specifies that it maps to CA classes Z, A, or Y.

An earlier poster claimed that CA uses O class both for awards and for paid discount first. I don't see any evidence of that. There's no O fare filed in ExpertFlyer for PEK-PVG, and it doesn't show up as a mapping for the UA P fare.

Having said that, OP's conclusion is accurate -- whenever you're taking a partner flight, if you care about earnings, you need to check the earnings table before booking. I noticed at least one other airline -- I think it was ZH -- where UA showed zero credit for discount business class. This has nothing to do with whether it was booked through United.com or not, and it needs to be done no matter which airline you're flying. At least UA offers 100%+ PQMs on all fare classes besides Basic Economy. That's not universally true.

It's also very possible for United.com to sell a flight on a non-earning airline. For example, I purchased a China Eastern flight on United.com once. China Eastern doesn't partner with UA, so I didn't get any UA miles for that leg (and I knew I wouldn't). I got DL miles instead.