Can you earn miles with different airlines for the same one flight, if they are part of the same loyalty program?
For example, I flew British Airways LAX-LHR. I wanted to get miles on Alaska Airlines so I sent in the boarding pass, etc and received credit.
I also have a mileage plan with American Airlines. Since British Airways is part of the Oneworld Alliance, can I also request to receive miles to my American AAdvantage account for this same flight? If so, will I lose the miles already credited to my Alaska account?
I'm not trying to be greedy.. just don't want to miss out on any miles.
Best Answer
No, you're not allowed to do that, and neither is it (usually) possible in practice. AAdvantage T&C:
Mileage credit cannot be earned for the same flight, hotel stay, or car rental in more than one of the following programs: the AAdvantage program or any other loyalty program in which American Airlines participates.
If the airlines are in the same alliance, their systems are hooked up to each other, and will probably spot and reject an attempt to claim miles twice for the same flight. If the miles don't register automatically, you'll usually be required to send in your original boarding card stub, which also makes it difficult to double-dip.
Also, depending on the airline T&Cs, this could be considered fraud and they might go so far as terminating your account and your miles along with it if they judge that you've been doing this repeatedly and on purpose.
All that said, the systems that process frequent flyer miles are far from infallible. I was once upgraded halfway through a multi-leg flight in economy, and when the miles didn't show up, I sent in my business class boarding stub. I ended up with two credits for the same flight on the same day, once in economy, once in business. <shrug>
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Can you earn miles on two airlines at the same time?
Generally speaking, I think it's best to focus on one airline in each of the three major alliances: SkyTeam, Oneworld and Star Alliance. However, there are some circumstances where it makes sense to bank miles to different carriers in the same alliance, even if it means diluting your pool of rewards and elite credits.Can I get miles from other airlines?
You typically aren't able to transfer miles between partner airlines (or any airlines). But what you can do is use your loyalty program points to book an award flight on a partner airline. While searching for a flight on your favorite airline's website, choose the option to book or redeem using points or miles.Can Star Alliance group members redeem mileage from one airline for a flight using another airline?
If there's anything we like more than frequent flyer programs, it's alliances. Alliance is a group of airlines partnering and allowing the travelers to use their frequent flyer program's miles/points on booking a flight from another member airline of the alliance.Can I transfer miles from one airline to another Star Alliance?
You can join multiple member airline Frequent Flyer Programmes if you wish, but they are each managed separately, so you cannot transfer miles or points between them or combine them into one.AAdvantage | The Best Loyalty Program
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