Earning Miles on British Airways

I hope someone can help me with a question about how to get credit for air miles on British Airways. We are not frequent flyers on any airline ,and I have no experience with how to get them, and I have never used them before. Since this trip involves many miles, I would like to get credit for them if it is possible. We booked a flight by phone several months ago through British Airways from DFW to Rome and then a return flight from Venice to DFW for our cruise in September 2005. We have World Traveller seats, and as far as I know they were not any kind of special discount, etc. I tried to sign up for the Executive Club, but was denied even though I met the qualifications. When I put in the booking reference number for our seats on the website, I received a statement saying these seats do not apply for BA miles. I tried 3 times with the same answer. I called British Airways to find out "why" we will not get any credit for these miles, and after finally getting a "live" person to talk to, the only response she gave me was "if the system said they did not apply, then no miles would be available." She would not explain to me "why" or even ask what my booking reference number was. Does anyone here know why I will not be able to get credit for all of these miles?

Any explanation would be appreciated.

 

jrcooper

How strange, I booked my BA airfare last year via Expedia, then I went to the BA site, plugged in my info and was accepted.

 

Maybe you should call them back and simply ask that you'd like to enroll, don't tell them about your online experience, maybe you have better luck or at least a decent answer as to why you were denied.

 

PS I hope you are flying Club World - It's fabulous!! :D

BA has what I think are some strange rules, but it's their game. I would definitely call back and speak to a supervisor, AFTER you have studied the rules on the BA website and make sure your ticket qualifies. The less expensive BA tickets you can book off their website do not qualify for enrollment generally.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/ecjoinqualifying/public/en_us?prim=execclub&sec=joininf

 

One helpful hint I found VERY useful. Sign up for a Qantas FF account and credit the miles there. Qantas partners with AA (and other darn good airlines like Cathay and LAN), so works pretty well as a way to actually use your BA miles, before they expire.

 

Recently, I have been booking BA across the pond, instead of AA (I am AA EXP, so am loosing a LOT of miles), just for the service. But you cannot credit BA miles to AA on transatlantic flights. Someone told me about the Qantas deal. So far, it has worked well. Qantas is more expensive to redeem than AA, but at least you get SOMETHING.

I second what greatam says.

 

The reason why you can't join the BA Executive Club is because you are supposed to take a qualifying flight in order to join the Club. A qualifying flight for these purposes is on a full-fare or near-full fare economy ticket, or in one of the premium classes (including any World Traveller Plus ticket). You cannot simply buy a cheapie economy ticket and join on the strength of that.

 

However, if you're on a cheapie, you can still credit miles to other FF schemes that you belong to. One advantage of doing it in the QF scheme is that all paid BA flights will also earn credit towards status, as will most paid flights on other oneworld alliance carriers (including AA). I myself put most of my BA flying into my QF account for this reason. But there are others; I think that of the North American schemes you can credit BA flying to Alaska and America West amongst others. Or you can join another oneworld alliance carrier's scheme and earn in that.

 

Important note: As greatam says, you cannot earn AA miles on BA trans-Atlantic flights, although you can earn AA miles on any other BA flights. Don't fall into this trap.

 

Another alternative is to find another way of joining the BAEC. These either involve signing up for a linked credit card, or being devious. Post again if you really want to know how to do it. Once you're a member, you will be able to earn miles on discount cheapies in the BA scheme - the hurdle you have to get over is the joining qualification. But the cheapie tickets do not earn status in the BAEC scheme - you have to look elsewhere for that.

 

Second important note: Cheapie fares on BA usually only earn 25% of flown miles. Many people angst about this, but many people also find they agree with me once they've done it: If you think about two identical flights for the same cash price with BA and another airline, but you're told you have to spend 75% of the earned miles to choose BA over the other airline, would you do it? My answer: Every time. It sounds like I'm agreeing with greatam on this one, too!

Thanks for the helpful replies! I will try to call BA again and see if I can get a different person or supervisor that can give me some answers. Then depending on what they say, I may try a different route.

 

We have an AA frequent flyer number. I know the transatlantic flight from the US to London won't count, but what about the flights from London to Rome on the first leg and the return leg from Venice to London? Will those two count or are they considered all part of the same flight?

 

This is all new to me, and I am open for suggestions.

 

Jan

We have an AA frequent flyer number. I know the transatlantic flight from the US to London won't count, but what about the flights from London to Rome on the first leg and the return leg from Venice to London? Will those two count or are they considered all part of the same flight?

The European flights will earn miles in AA. But not very many, considering that they're short flights (about 900 and 700 miles respectively) and you're probably only going to earn 25% of flown miles (ie about 225 miles and 175 miles, if there's no minimum miles guarantee).

jrcooper

 

First thing to do before you spend hours arguing with a supervisor at BA is check your fare class and compare it to the link I posted. Most of the economy fare classes eligible for BAEC make World Traveller Plus and even restricted Business fares look cheap. IF you are in the DESIGNATED fare class, then you can spend your time arguing. But not before you check your fare class.

 

Another question: How are you going to be able to use the 10,000 or so miles in a BA account, if you only occasionally fly BA? Seems like a real waste of time to be even trying to get a BA account, unless you plan on flying BA enough in the next three years to make the miles count for a free ticket to someplace.

 

You are much better off with the Qantas account, where you can bill your 10,000+ miles on this trip and then bill whatever you need to accumulate on AA trips to Qantas and actually have enough miles for a ticket.

 

Globaliser,

 

If the OP booked DFW to Rome on a single PRN, do the miles from London to Rome, etc. count? BA and AA convinced me that if it was on the same ticket, it was a "continuing flight" and subject to the transatlantic rules. AA told me I could have booked with them and they would have put me on the same BA flight to my ultimate destination and gotten the miles. Told me if I did NOT do two separate tickets-USA to London, and then onward destination, it would NOT count for any miles on BA. Is this correct?

 

And by the way, I should say thanks to you. If was you who reaffirmed the QF account as a way to recoup the BA miles. I saw it on FT first, but was really skeptical, as I am a VERY loyal AA flyer. When I saw you reaffirm the info, I started flying BA across the pond just for the service. Miss the miles upgrades and VIPS, but oh, well. You can't have everything. Or I guess I am too cheap to have everything. World Traveller Plus is sufficient, as long as it is the daytime flight.

 

Gina

Another question: How are you going to be able to use the 10,000 or so miles in a BA account, if you only occasionally fly BA? Seems like a real waste of time to be even trying to get a BA account, unless you plan on flying BA enough in the next three years to make the miles count for a free ticket to someplace.

 

You are much better off with the Qantas account, where you can bill your 10,000+ miles on this trip and then bill whatever you need to accumulate on AA trips to Qantas and actually have enough miles for a ticket.

I wonder whether this is necessarily the case. If the OP can get over the hurdle of joining the Exec Club, then they will be able to put all the miles from flying BA into the BA account. The Exec Club also has many other airline partners, including all the oneworld airlines of course - and that means AA. So all future AA flying can go into the BA account as well - except for those trans-Atlantic AA flights. (But one ventures to suggest that the OP wouldn't be missing much if they didn't fly AA for that reason alone. ;))

 

So on a miles point of view, there's probably relatively little difference between putting the miles into a BA account and into a Qantas account. If it's a discount economy fare (ie below Y, B and H classes) then it's going to be a 25% credit whichever scheme it goes into. The earn for the trip (about 11,000 miles) will be about 2,750 miles in every scheme.

 

The main difference will be the earning of status - the discount economy flights would qualify for status credits in the QF scheme. But a relatively infrequent flyer won't really have much of a chance of earning status in the QF scheme anyway because you have to be flying quite a lot even to get to QF Silver.

 

So if future flying is likely to be on AA, then it makes little difference whether the miles for the current trip go to BA or QF - unless the OP is planning on doing a lot of future AA trans-Atlantic trips.

If the OP booked DFW to Rome on a single PRN, do the miles from London to Rome, etc. count? BA and AA convinced me that if it was on the same ticket, it was a "continuing flight" and subject to the transatlantic rules. AA told me I could have booked with them and they would have put me on the same BA flight to my ultimate destination and gotten the miles. Told me if I did NOT do two separate tickets-USA to London, and then onward destination, it would NOT count for any miles on BA. Is this correct?

To be honest, I don't know. I think this is a question for FT - where I will ask. It doesn't sound right to me, though. You could have a single PNR trip that was Dallas-London-Singapore-Sydney and return. Although it crosses the Atlantic, overall it's not really a trans-Atlantic trip in any meaningful sense. I can't see how you could make the rule make sense unless you only apply it to the offending flights, ie the trans-Atlantic sectors.

 

I'm glad that the QF thing is working for you, too. And that you like the BA service. Sometimes when I read the more hysterical stuff on the AA forum in FT, I wonder whether I'm mad to like it. And WT+ is wonderful - but then, so also is the Miles for Upgrade into New Club World if you can swing it ... :)

Don't know if this will work, but I signed up for the BA Executive Club online, and didn't mention anything about a booked flight. I had no problem being accepted into the Club. When I arrived at Chicago O'Hare for my BA flight to London, I checked in and told them my Club number and got the miles credited. I'm not sure if this would help you, but you might give it a try.

 

Once you get on board, you will love BA----it's my absolute favorite airline.

Don't know if this will work, but I signed up for the BA Executive Club online, and didn't mention anything about a booked flight. I had no problem being accepted into the Club. When I arrived at Chicago O'Hare for my BA flight to London, I checked in and told them my Club number and got the miles credited. I'm not sure if this would help you, but you might give it a try.

 

Once you get on board, you will love BA----it's my absolute favorite airline.

 

Hi Kitty,

 

Don't know how long ago you did this, but the NEW BA rules require a flight in certain classes in order to join. They are not the discount classes, generally Y or business or first, and I believe World Traveller Plus qualifies also. And then the miles transatlantic only credit at 25%, so it's not much of a deal. But I do love that BA service.

If the OP booked DFW to Rome on a single PRN, do the miles from London to Rome, etc. count? BA and AA convinced me that if it was on the same ticket, it was a "continuing flight" and subject to the transatlantic rules. AA told me I could have booked with them and they would have put me on the same BA flight to my ultimate destination and gotten the miles. Told me if I did NOT do two separate tickets-USA to London, and then onward destination, it would NOT count for any miles on BA. Is this correct?

OK - This is what I've been told:-

 

The rules allow it. In theory the European flights can be credited to AA, even if the trans-Atlantic flights cannot be and are sent to BA or someone else.

 

However, there's a computer system feature which makes this difficult. It automatically fills in the FF number to connecting sectors. So if you fly from Dallas to London to Rome, but London is not a stopover, then adding a BA number to the Dallas-London flight will also add it automatically to the London-Rome flight. If you change the London-Rome flight to an AA number, it'll automatically change both London-Rome and Dallas-London at the same time.

 

There is a way of changing the number for only one sector and not the other, but most agents do not know how to do it. So in practice it is very difficult to collect miles into different accounts for different sectors on a connecting journey.

 

The answer that agents give is probably based on personal observation of this phenomenon and their own inference of what causes it - obviously they don't consider operator error or lack of knowledge to be a possible explanation. If you can get a good agent and/or are persistent, then it is possible; otherwise it can be more trouble than it is worth.

 

I would add this: Given this explanation, one alternative strategy to collect (for example) BA miles for the trans-Atlantic and AA miles for the European flight would be to provide no FF numbers on booking or at check-in. After flying, make the appropriate retrospective claims to the appropriate airlines for the appropriate flights. This shouldn't cause any loss of miles, although it's a bit of hassle.

 

But it wouldn't be very good for passengers with higher-tier FF status, as the airline would not be able to identify you as such at times when they need to.

Globalizer, you're probably right about the timeline when I joined the Executive Club. At that time it didn't have the flight requirement. Plus, I fly first, so perhaps that had something to do with my situation. Boy, if you, at anytime, can afford or do an upgrade to first class, it's something special. I had a very long flight from Dubai to Chicago and there was nothing like being in those wonderful seats for the 19 hours total it took for the flights. The service was extraordinary and the comfort of the seats was excellent. The only thing I don't care for in Club World is the seat configuration---those seats that face aft. There's also a problem with trying to climb over seats if you have to visit the loo. It's an even bigger problem if you're not on the aisle and the person's on either side of you have their seats fully reclined.

Darcie, I flew BA World Club in an aft facing seat and it wasn't too bad. it was a daytime flight so I didn't have to climb over the person in the next row. Also it was on the upper deck and I loved the extra storage compartments by the windows!

I would look into joining Alaska Air Miles program. your flight with BA will give you miles there. Also you will be able to use your miles on AA, Conti, NWA, Quantis, LAN, of and BA, also Delta is a new add on. It was the best mileage progam that I found.

 

Good Luck and happy flying

Matt, I think the upper deck seats are much better than the main cabin, but BA now only flies the 777 out of Chicago, so there's no upper deck. I flew from London to Chicago and sat in Club World in a forward facing seat and it wasn't bad, but my friend had the aft facing and he just couldn't get used to it. Perhaps it's mind over matter, but he wasn't comfortable.

I would look into joining Alaska Air Miles program. your flight with BA will give you miles there. Also you will be able to use your miles on AA, Conti, NWA, Quantis, LAN, of and BA, also Delta is a new add on. It was the best mileage progam that I found.

 

Good Luck and happy flying

 

Ditto this. We were unhappy that AA no longer lets you earn miles for the transatlantic BA flights, so we switched to Alaska. TOur recent BA transatlantic flights were credited on our Alaska account with no problems at all.

BA now only flies the 777 out of Chicago

 

Darcy, I'm seeing on BA.com the 747 coming from London - ORD into next year...

Matt, that's great news as I really do like the upper deck of the 747. I know their passenger loads have increased since Virgin Atlantic left the Chicago market. I just wish that American Express had BA as one of their awards partners. I'm flying in August to Copenhagen and used the Am Ex awards to purchase the flights, and VA was my choice for the flights, but only out of Dulles. Boy, it sure is a pain to fly from Milwaukee to Dulles. Lot's of flights to National using Midwest, but not much to Dulles.

I had no idea Virgin pulled out of ORD - I only used them once (the "economy" product) and was not impressed.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW THE DEVIOUS WAY TO JOIN.

 

I second what greatam says.

 

The reason why you can't join the BA Executive Club is because you are supposed to take a qualifying flight in order to join the Club. A qualifying flight for these purposes is on a full-fare or near-full fare economy ticket, or in one of the premium classes (including any World Traveller Plus ticket). You cannot simply buy a cheapie economy ticket and join on the strength of that.

 

However, if you're on a cheapie, you can still credit miles to other FF schemes that you belong to. One advantage of doing it in the QF scheme is that all paid BA flights will also earn credit towards status, as will most paid flights on other oneworld alliance carriers (including AA). I myself put most of my BA flying into my QF account for this reason. But there are others; I think that of the North American schemes you can credit BA flying to Alaska and America West amongst others. Or you can join another oneworld alliance carrier's scheme and earn in that.

 

Important note: As greatam says, you cannot earn AA miles on BA trans-Atlantic flights, although you can earn AA miles on any other BA flights. Don't fall into this trap.

 

Another alternative is to find another way of joining the BAEC. These either involve signing up for a linked credit card, or being devious. Post again if you really want to know how to do it. Once you're a member, you will be able to earn miles on discount cheapies in the BA scheme - the hurdle you have to get over is the joining qualification. But the cheapie tickets do not earn status in the BAEC scheme - you have to look elsewhere for that.

 

Second important note: Cheapie fares on BA usually only earn 25% of flown miles. Many people angst about this, but many people also find they agree with me once they've done it: If you think about two identical flights for the same cash price with BA and another airline, but you're told you have to spend 75% of the earned miles to choose BA over the other airline, would you do it? My answer: Every time. It sounds like I'm agreeing with greatam on this one, too!