I checked my miles at Delta.com today, and hadn't gotten credit for the JNB/CPT leg or for the JNB/ATL leg. So, I called and as a bonus got their "call center". Lucky, lucky me; at one point, the young lady told me that since I flew on SAA for those legs, I wouldn't be getting Delta miles. Um, I paid *Delta* for my ticket, not SAA. Well, she would have to check with her "superwiser". I hung up and called back, asked to speak to the "superwiser" myself. Supposedly, the credit is in the works.

It's a good thing you called Pam.

Once SAA joined Star Alliance all ties with Delta mileage-wise were severed. There is a certain "grace period" for pre-purchased tickets but you often have to force the issue.

My mileage on SAA from JNB to CPT had posted to my United MileagePlus account by the time I returned.

Suzanne, I knew that I needed to watch. Luckily, I had paper tickets and it was clear that Delta had printed them. I had some segments, but not those two, and one of them was a major segment.

Unfortunately, it's all about who is who's mileage-partner at the time you flew, not who issued the tickets.

Stay on their back until you see it post. Certainly that JNB/ATL leg is one you do not want to miss out on. :eek:

Thanks for the heads-up, I had no idea since I automatically got credit for the ATL/JNB leg. I'll stay right on top of that situation.

I have not received any miles on my USAirways div.miles account, but they seemed to be having problems with the computer in putting in the numbers, so I've held tight to my boarding passes and receipts.

Those boarding passes are so important. I don't know WHY USAIR can't just look in the computer to see that "jane doe" did indeed fly that itinerary!! I can't tell you how many times I have had to gather all the proof to send in for my parents. In fact, the last time they flew, they flew UAL, but wanted their USAIR miles...at the UAL ticket counter they were told to go to the USAIR counter in order to have the miles deposited correctly. At the USAIR counter the agent got very short with them, telling them to go back to the UAL counter because THAT is what their tickets were!!! Ridiculous!

Suzanne is right in that often times airlines change partnership and if you buy long in advance, you might not get credit for miles flown if particular airlines are no longer partners. Good luck in getting the miles credited. There are all sorts of strange partnerships out there. It does not matter which airline issued the tickets since most of the airlines have "interline" agreements where they can all issue each other's tickets much like a travel agent. There are strange mileage partnerships out there though - ie you can earn Delta miles (not elite qualifying miles though) by flying Singapore Airlines even though Singapore is part of Star Alliance while Delta is part of Skyteam.

Sheri, US cannot "see" if you've flown on different airlines since its not their system. UA was ridiculous in telling your parents to go talk to US to make sure their miles get credited to US since there is nothing that the US ticket agent can do to ensure that, the UA agent just needed to make sure that their US numbers were in the Frequent Flyer number field.

Boarding passes and ticket receipts are important things to hang on to since without them the airline that you want the miles on has no way to be certain that you actually flew and at a mileage earning fare (all US based airlines give miles for all revenue tickets but many of the international ones particularly the Asian ones do not give miles for "deep discount" tickets).

Well, crud. If I don't get the miles, then I guess it will be due to my own stupidity. But since Mark flew on Delta miles, I needed to have a Delta ticket so they could be "tied together". Oh well, I got part of them anyway.

It certainly was ridiculous for them to send my parents on a wild goose chase! My stepfather doesn't know TO ask about FF miles and my mom gets confused about what and where to ask....it makes it easy for them to get yanked around!

As far as "seeing" them in the system, Peter, I guess I thought that they all used a common system such as Sabre or something. Especially those who are partners. But, noooo, THAT would be too easy!! :D

That's interesting about DL and SQ....I am glad we have a resident FF expert here! :)

Pam - I don't know what to advise you. I did a search on Flyertalk and found this "As of April 1, 2006, South African Airways will no longer participate in the SkyMiles program. SkyMiles members have the opportunity to earn miles on South African flights until March 31, 2006. Miles can be redeemed on South African flights until August 31, 2006, and travel must be completed by August 31, 2007." And SAA doesn't show up anymore on http://www.delta.com/skymiles/ways_to_get_miles/earning_miles_partners/airline_partners/index.jsp .

Particularly for the JNB-ATL flight, what was the flight designated as on your ticket & boarding pass - a SAA flight number or a DL flight number? If it was a DL flight number, I might push DL customer service for credit. If it was a SAA flight number, you probably won't get anywhere with DL and might want to not push the issue since you got the oubound. With an SAA flight number, you can go ahead and get the flight miles credited to either UA or US since they're all in Star Alliance. If you don't plan on flying either of those often, I would advise you put it in US since their miles don't expire where UA's do if there is no activity on the account in 3 years.

Peter, thanks. That explains why I didn't get miles for my flight from JNB to PLZ. I had thought that since my boarding card did show skymiles number that I was still going to get miles. As it is only 500 miles, I won't try to fight it.

Peter, all our flights had Delta flight numbers; we had paper tickets that Delta had issued. The JNB/ATL flight # is DL 799. JNB/CPT was DL7798.

I paid Delta nearly $8k (7995.07 to be exact) for my ticket, so I thought I should get Delta miles. The tickets were reissued on April 9, '06, by Delta, because of a small routing change (a few minute change in a couple of flights).

Pam - I would probably push it with DL in that case since if it was a DL codeshare, you should get DL miles. However, please double check the JNB-ATL flight number since DL 799 should be a DL operated flight and probably not even an international one. Since this is a DL flight number, scratch my earlier suggestion about crediting it to a US or UA account - won't work.

Oops, part of a number missing on the ticket receipt. Looks like that was 7799 instead of 799.

I'm not going to make a big stink over it, I called and supposedly they have entered a request and hopefully the miles will show up in a given amount of days. I'll be tactful if I end up calling again.

US and UA don't really have enough flights out of Memphis to pursue a relationship with them.

Thanks!

I just found the email request at delta.com, and sent a request in. Within 15 minutes, I had credit for the JNB/ATL flight. I didn't even try on the JNB/CPT because I don't know what the flight number was. I'm thrilled to get what I got, that one flight might get me Silver Medallion for the rest of the year (which will be great if we come up with another Delta flight; British Isles is on Continental).

Way to go Pam!!!!!!

Yeah, Pam!! But go for the rest of the miles--the flight number ought to be on your ticket receipt, but if not, look it up on the SAA web site. Happy to say I got AA miles for the flight from JNB to Livingstone and back. Not a long flight, but miles are miles :)

Peggy, we missed the flight that was on our ticket receipt because we were delayed in Atlanta and SAA rebooked us. At that point, I imagine we lost any Delta codeshare number. When I made the phone call, the supervisor said she requested that credit, so if it comes through that's great but if it doesn't, that's okay, too.

I think if she requested the miles, it will probably happen. Now you just need to take some more Delta flights to take advantage of your Silver status. Don't know about you, but I love being able to get on the plane first :D

Pam - Continental flights can earn Delta miles (including Medallion qualification miles) since they are "full" partners in Skyteam. Just make sure to put your DL number on the CO record.

Oh, Peter! That is great! We haven't flown any really long trips since all this "partnership" thing started, so I am totally ignorant on what to put where.

Thanks!