Changing oneworld crediting FF program mid ticket no longer allowed?

[moa999]

No problem.
Just a pity that there is no simple way to look at the BP and check whether the agent has got things the way you want.

 

[Kangol]

Interesting and somewhat related to this thread.
I am QF WP and AA nothing - my AA PLT expired in Feb and AA don't do soft landings.
Last month, I had a BA return flight LHR-ATH-LHR which had my WP number in for seating and only had my expired AA card with me which showed OWS but it was expired.
After going to LHR T5 Galleries First, stopped by the normal Galleries lounge and asked them to change my QF to my AA number (better earn) on my BP. I didn't want to enter the lounge because my flight was boarding soon. Handed over the AA card and they light heartedly remarked something along the lines of "did they send you a new card?", to which I was completely surprised
It was followed up with, don't worry - the number is the same.
I was expecting the new BP to show no status, but lo and behold, it came up with OWS

Did the same thing in ATH on the way back (originally issued BP says QF WP OWE, want to change it to AA nothing) and it came up as AA OWS!
The flights credited as AA no status FWIW.

So - does that mean there is a manual entry by the staff member to put in the OW status, then the FF program and number?
My AA number never entered the booking until at LHR so there was no possibility of the "old status in the booking coming up".

Then again when I qualified for QF WP a few years ago, I was in the US and the next AA flights came up with QF SG - OWS. I asked them to completely remove the old number, then put the new one in (after WP qual) and the new BPs came up as QF WP OWE.

 

[serfty]

I initially thought maybe they somehow only updated the FQTS (Accrual) Field.

... no, as it came back Sapphire ...

Wierd!

 

[isdnman]

Hi, Red Roo
It seems the MEL first lounge hosts are firm about having to have the QF Plat on BP before allowing lounge access.
Can you please clarify has the policy recently changed ?
If not, what basis does the MEL first lounge has to enforce this.
They say it's a decision by 'Management'

Oh, the inconsistency.
Happy weekend.

 

[dajop]

Hi, Red Roo
It seems the MEL first lounge hosts are firm about having to have the QF Plat on BP before allowing lounge access.
Can you please clarify has the policy recently changed ?
If not, what basis does the MEL first lounge has to enforce this.
They say it's a decision by 'Management'

Oh, the inconsistency.
Happy weekend.

I hope they don't insist on just QF Platinum on the boarding pass .... I expect they don't .... but sounds like they may insist on OWE or the word "FIRST" being on the BP ....

 

[serfty]

...
Oh, the inconsistency.
Happy weekend.

The inconsistency is in when they let a QFF elite use their QFF status when credting to another program.

The rules have stated for the last two years or so that if a QFF elite is using QFF Status to access a Qantas lounge, the QFF elite must be crediting the travel to QFF.

This does not relate to non QFF *O elites accessing QF (or any other *O) lounges.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

The inconsistency is in when they let a QFF elite use their QFF status when credting to another program.

The rules have stated for the last two years or so that if a QFF elite is using QFF Status to access a Qantas lounge, the QFF elite must be crediting the travel to QFF.

This does not relate to non QFF *O elites accessing QF (or any other *O) lounges.

Got to wonder if QF had to implement this policy then it's obviously becoming a problem for them and a true sign of top tier pax exiting QFF.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Got to wonder if QF had to implement this policy then it's obviously becoming a problem for them and a true sign of top tier pax exiting QFF.

That's a very good point trippin

 

[TonyHancock]

The inconsistency is in when they let a QFF elite use their QFF status when credting to another program.

The rules have stated for the last two years or so that if a QFF elite is using QFF Status to access a Qantas lounge, the QFF elite must be crediting the travel to QFF.

This does not relate to non QFF *O elites accessing QF (or any other *O) lounges.

I never had an issue when I was going through the BA GCH qualification process. In fact the SYD F Lounge staff were particularly helpful and understanding.

The MEL Lounge staff once, wrongly, expressed concern that having my BA number in the booking would prevent lounge access in HKG on my return flight, but that is the only time a question has been raised.

 

[Kangol]

The inconsistency is in when they let a QFF elite use their QFF status when credting to another program.

The rules have stated for the last two years or so that if a QFF elite is using QFF Status to access a Qantas lounge, the QFF elite must be crediting the travel to QFF.

This does not relate to non QFF *O elites accessing QF (or any other *O) lounges.

Nothing to stop anyone from changing who they credit the earn to just before leaving the lounge

 

[medhead]

A vaguely related question. I'm having an interesting experience with using Finnair to change FF numbers in a booking. Basically the booking seems to be holding onto both FF numbers (QF and AA) - when using check my Trip, and My Flights App. Booking is showing in QFF account but not on AA account. I'm really not sure what this means in terms of crediting of the flights - I want them to go to AA, so checked in with QF number, then changed the number using Finnair MMB. I want the QF platinum benefits when flying as well as the AA earn.
The other possible complication is that I have a medical clearance on the booking, which prevented online check in.

Anyone seen this sort of thing? Should I call Qantas, or just wait to see? Previous experience is about 3 days for flights to credit to AA.

 

[madrooster]

Booking is showing in QFF account but not on AA account.

QF uses Amadeus - it won't show up in your AA account unless it contains AA sectors as they use Sabre.

Was this change made after the flight had gone to airport control?

How was this booking created? Over the phone? QF website?

 

[medhead]

QF uses Amadeus - it won't show up in your AA account unless it contains AA sectors as they use Sabre.

Was this change made after the flight had gone to airport control?

How was this booking created? Over the phone? QF website?

Booking was via the QF website, so no AA reference or connection. I kinda of figured that would be the case, but I wasn't sure if AA used Amadeus or not. Thanks that information.
The change was made after it went to airport control. All QF flights on the booking. The lounge did completely remove the QFF number before the flight. Post flight I tried to change back to the QFF number. That created the double number issue. I think the answer is to just wait and see what happens.

 

[madrooster]

Post flight I tried to change back to the QFF number. That created the double number issue. I think the answer is to just wait and see what happens.

That's where your problem lies. Altea (departure control) does not release control of the flight immediately and so an attempt to change it via AY results in it erroring internally because it can't remove it, so you end up with 2 different numbers in there.

If you have more of a gap between flights, wait 24 hours before you try it.

 

[medhead]

Complete nightmare. At some stage yesterday some one"kindly" (I'd say stupidly) added my QFF number into the booking, without bothering to actually tell me about it. Consequently, the second flight in the booking has not gone to AA either. Now to try to get someone to reverse the credit to Qantas. While overseas with the key prompt thing on the Qantas phone system refusing to recognised any key press, and hence dumping me into the 1 hour wait phone queue.

edit Finnair.com seems to be broken. changing number with them just ends up with 2 FF numbers listed in the booking.

 

[ytz20481]

have a some what related question:
I am flying CX, but crediting status and points to QF. Is it possible to use my Marco polo miles to upgrade the flight even though I am crediting to QF?

 

[Danger]

have a some what related question:
I am flying CX, but crediting status and points to QF. Is it possible to use my Marco polo miles to upgrade the flight even though I am crediting to QF?

If the situation was reversed (ie. flying QF but crediting to CX and wanting to use QF points to upgrade) it wouldn't be a problem. Cathay may have a different approach, however, but even if they did I doubt there's anything stopping you from having your CX number against the booking until right before boarding (which should be more than enough time to have an upgrade cleared (or not)). Then, simply change the number from CX to QF.

As indicated in this thread, though and certainly from my experience, if you change numbers it's best to double-check that the change has been done properly. For example, if you change it in a lounge, check with a gate agent or phone CX to make sure it's worked.

 

[gbetox]

Dear Frequent Flyers,


I hope you can help me to figure out how to credit points/sc to Qantas (where I'm SG), and use LATAM's benefits (a recently status-matched Emerald).

I'm flying LATAM, and I want to credit the points/sc to Qantas, so I become WP again (and get closer to LTG). However, I want to be able to use the unlimited upgrade coupons for my flights, as well as enter the First Class lounge in Sydney.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

 

[Danger]

Dear Frequent Flyers,


I hope you can help me to figure out how to credit points/sc to Qantas (where I'm SG), and use LATAM's benefits (a recently status-matched Emerald).

I'm flying LATAM, and I want to credit the points/sc to Qantas, so I become WP again (and get closer to LTG). However, I want to be able to use the unlimited upgrade coupons for my flights, as well as enter the First Class lounge in Sydney.

Any ideas?

Cheers!

My advice is to have your LATAM credentials printed on your boarding pass. Once inside the lounge, phone Qantas and ask them to change your FF number to QF. After that, phone back and query what number is against the booking as I've found a lot of agents don't do it properly. It's important you ask the agent to completely remove the LATAM number and leave on the QF number. Because there are four fields for FF, a lot of agents simply add a number rather than replace it.

Other members suggest using either the RJ or AY manage my booking functions on their respective websites. I've had mixed success with this.

It may well be problematic trying to use the unlimited upgrade benefits. In my experience, until an airline has 'dumped' the FF details across to the carrier you're crediting to, if you make a change to a subsequent flight in the booking there's every chance all proceeding flights that haven't been dumped will also be updated. If you've got a couple of days between flights, it shouldn't be an issue.

If you can get RJ or AY to work for you (or are happy to call QF from overseas), then I would go with the plan of having the airline whose status benefits you want to use printed on the boarding pass and then changing it to the program you want to earn points with as close as possible to boarding the flight.

 

[gbetox]

My advice is to have your LATAM credentials printed on your boarding pass. Once inside the lounge, phone Qantas and ask them to change your FF number to QF. After that, phone back and query what number is against the booking as I've found a lot of agents don't do it properly. It's important you ask the agent to completely remove the LATAM number and leave on the QF number. Because there are four fields for FF, a lot of agents simply add a number rather than replace it.

Other members suggest using either the RJ or AY manage my booking functions on their respective websites. I've had mixed success with this.

It may well be problematic trying to use the unlimited upgrade benefits. In my experience, until an airline has 'dumped' the FF details across to the carrier you're crediting to, if you make a change to a subsequent flight in the booking there's every chance all proceeding flights that haven't been dumped will also be updated. If you've got a couple of days between flights, it shouldn't be an issue.

If you can get RJ or AY to work for you (or are happy to call QF from overseas), then I would go with the plan of having the airline whose status benefits you want to use printed on the boarding pass and then changing it to the program you want to earn points with as close as possible to boarding the flight.

Thanks for the advice, Danger. I'll do that, and report back.

BTW, I've tried AY and RJ, with no success; I get an error message from AY, and RJ can't even find my booking.