Help Lindsay's father, on SAA

[Lindsay Wilson]

My father is going over to the Australian's cricket tour of South Africa, on a guided tour (Terry Alderman, the past Australian test player is the tour leader). He missed out getting onto the tour guided by Kerry O'Keeffe.

Ticket is part of a group booking, on SAA ticket stock:

08/03/06 QF767 BNE/PER (G)
09/03/06 SA281 PER/JNB (S)
09/03/06 SA579 JNB/DUE (Y)
11/03/06 SA554 DUE/JNB (Y)
14/03/06 SA337 JNB/CPT (Y)
22/03/06 SA322 CPT/JNB (Y)
25/03/06 SA7700 JNB/SYD (S)
26/03/06 QF536 SYD/BNE (G)

Fare basis on SAA sectors are:

SA281 PER/JNB (S), SA322 CPT/JNB (Y), SA7700 JNB/SYD (S): SL1GRP
SA579 JNB/DUE (Y), SA554 DUE/JNB (Y), SA337 JNB/CPT (Y): HAUSPL

Now, the QF sectors I have been able to locate QF's reloc and tried to upgrade him to J, no luck yet as full flight, but I'll be checking every day and taking him to the BNE QC and looking for an On Departure upgrade (so no help needed on those sectors).

But rather than see a whole lot of flights not collect points (he's a mere Bronze QFF, not a QC member), I was thinking firstly to try and get him on the QF codeshare flight numbers. Unfortunately, couldn't get QF codeshare flights, as it's a group booking. No go said the TA. Also she said they have been booked in non mileage earning fare buckets - as I know nothing about SAA Voyager, don't know whether she's telling stories...so I decided to check out for myself.

So with all the SAA flights, is it worth crediting them to a SAA Voyager FF account. It's a pity that the flights aren't after SAA join *A, but I hope that perhaps they might be able to be used in the future on *A flights (well, Air NZ flight to New Zealand or South-West Pacific perhaps, it's not as if there'll be a lot of points collected).

What are his (best) options??

Actually, just found hidden deep in the Voyager rules:

2.2.8 The following tickets are not eligible for earning Miles:
• Travel industry reduced rates, including tour operator tickets.

So this may rule out SAA Voyager FFP. Are there any other FFP's that will credit the mileage (even at a discounted value)??

Now just checked out bmi, and it seems that they do credit these fares:

other airline partners x3.0 miles x2.0 miles x1.5 miles x1.0 miles         x0.5 miles x0.25 miles 
South African Airways      f,a         j,c,z       -     y,m,k,h,s,b,q t,     v,l,x      -

so bmi Diamond Club looks OK. What do others think??

[Kiwi Flyer]

Very doubtful. If SAA wont credit to its own program then no other program with SAA as a partner will credit it, for the simple reason they wont get paid by SAA for the miles.

[JamesF]

Lindsay, you could maybe credit to UA - they say they credit S and Y fares on SAA at 100%. Then 20,000 miles gets a free trip to NZ. Might be worth looking at.

Link to UA is here:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51396,00.html

Earning miles
South African Airways serves destinations on five continents from their hub in Johannesburg. As the leading African airline they serve the African continent from Washington, New York and Atlanta. Simply present your Mileage Plus number when making reservations on these flights and you can earn a mileage accrual of:

Discounted Economy 50% (T,V,L,X)
Paid Economy 100%(Y,B.M,H,Q,S,E,U)
Discounted Business 100% (Z)
Business Class 125% (C,D,J)
First Class 150% (F, A)

There is a 500-mile minimum accrual for travel originating worldwide to any city served South African Airways.

Good luck
James

[Kiwi Flyer]

Sorry I should have spelled it out more clearly. Most if not all FFPs exclude earning from travel industry and certain consolidator fares. This supercedes any earning based on booking class.

If SAA wont credit it to Voyager then I think you will have to be very lucky to get it credited to any other FFP.

[Lindsay Wilson]

Thanks JamesF and Kiwi Flyer. Hmmm, some very interesting answers giving much food for thought, along with Aisle Seat H's:

You rang m'lord ! More than happy to help.

I think you mailed me cos of my BD knowledge, but you inadvertently mailed the very right person cos I am also a SAA Voyager member ! Indeed it was my first FF prog., when I lived 2 years in SA, so I know it well too (though am a bit rusty on most recent developments). Almost spent all my miles, so may not be for long.

Right, here goes ! ...

SAA - IF, and only if of course, these tickets earn miles, then SAA may be the way to go. Silver status is earned after 25,000 qual. miles, and these SAA trips alone get half way there. So if they are going to SAA again in 2006, its the way to go.

The earning rules and mileage charts are here. It does not say exactly which international fares are non-earning, so you had better call SAA Voyager in Oz and ask them directly (they are quite good at the Sydney office). It does say which domestic ones do (see small print at bottom) - all the ones you posted will earn 500 Tier miles.

And if the international fares do earn miles, SAA Silver is good to earn - it gets lounge access when flying SAA, but also with BD and LH. And remember that when SAA join *A (which officially happens in April) this will be converted into *A status too.

The other thing to remember here is that the QF flights would also earn on SAA (as an FF partner), though not for status, so if they want all the miles in one place they could do it this way too.

BD - As you posted. Not sure I can add much, espec. as you know all the pros and cons of BD scheme from our previous conversation.

UA - Just noticed, in latest mail, that SAA is now a redemption partner for them too. So, along the logic of my previous advise, they may be a good option, depending on the priorities and future likely travel plans of the travellers.

And as you will see here, S earns 100% on UA. Which makes me think that they will also earn (at least 50%, but maybe 100%) on SAA itself... so make that call to Voyager !

and, of course... QF !!! - SAA is a QF FF partner, so if they already have QF FF accounts they can just put it into that. S earns 100% in the QF FF scheme - another reason why I'm sure they will earn on SAA Voyager too.

Lots to think about, with not much time. Going to make the call to SAA Voyager first, but my gut feeling is to credit to QF (miles are more important than status), unless he can credit to UA and somehow do a "family transfer" of points to my brother's UA account (see his thread). There they would be of better use. My dad's not likely to fly *A and one free trip to NZ won't help (my mother won't be happy )

[Lindsay Wilson]

Sorry I should have spelled it out more clearly. Most if not all FFPs exclude earning from travel industry and certain consolidator fares. This supercedes any earning based on booking class.

True, however there isn't anything in the tour code box on the ticket...oh, decisions, decisions

[Lindsay Wilson]

Update: Well, finally decided it was best to get whatever he could through on his QFF account (mileage more important that a non-existent increase in status with these flights).

The BNE/PER flight posted perfectly - the next day. But still waiting for any of his SAA flights to post - I suspect will take 10 days but at what point do I follow up. Anybody had experience with how long it takes for SAA flights to post to their account??

Saw the old man and my uncle in Foxtel coverage of the 2nd One Day match, but only saw a quick shot (of the tour group) in the last OD match, so not enough time to pick them out.

Well at least we know they arrived safely - not that he's rung home to advise his wife that he was okay :roll: :?

[Lindsay Wilson]

Update #2:

On his return, he had misplaced most of his SAA BP's, other than his return JNB/SYD flight (because it was a codeshare flight, on QF metal, with QF boarding passes showing {sold as SA7700} and he had just flown it). After admonishing my father for his oversight, he emailed QF on 3 April (well, I did really :wink as most of the SAA sectors hadn't posted:

Hi Qantas Frequent Flyer Service Centre,

It appears that I haven't been credited with any of the flights on a recent trip to South Africa. The ticket was on SAA ticket stock. The SAA reloc is xxxxxx, in conjunction with QF's reloc xxxxxx (for my QF BNE/PER & SYD/BNE flights) These QF flights have credited to my account, however my other SAA flight have not credited.

Unfortunately, I mislaid the other SAA flight boarding passes during my trip, so I understand that I may not receive credit for those flights as I cannot produce the original boarding passes. However I have retained my JNB/SYD boarding pass, so I have scanned and attached a copy of it, together with my ticket.

As expected, his QF metal BNE/PER & SYD/BNE flights posted automatically. On Tuesday, his JNB/SYD flight posted (apparently automatically):

04 APR 06 SA 7700 ECONOMY 25MAR06 JOHANNESBURG/SYDNEY 6,846 - - 6,846 0
28 MAR 06 SA 322 ECONOMY 22MAR06 CAPE TOWN/JOHANNESBURG 790 - - 790 0
26 MAR 06 QF 536 ECONOMY 26MAR06 SYDNEY/BRISBANE 468 - - 1,000 10
09 MAR 06 QF 767 ECONOMY 08MAR06 BRISBANE/PERTH 2,244 - - 2,244 20

The reply from QFF service Centre received today was eye opening:

Please note, the information regarding your South African flights have been referred for confirmation. We'll credit you with all qualifying flights as soon as the details are confirmed. This can take a few weeks.

Whilst on this occasion we have referred your flight to our partner airline without supporting documentation, for future reference to investigate claims for points omitted from your account for flights undertaken with our partner airlines, we require the tickets and boarding passes. To ensure the automatic crediting of flights to your account, the Frequent Flyer number has to be placed into the booking by your travel or reservations agent. When you receive the boarding pass it should show the Frequent Flyer number, if it has been entered correctly.

We recommend that you keep the ticket and boarding passes until you can confirm that the points have been credited. Points should appear on the account within 7 days after a flight has been completed.

Now that has left me wondering whether this means (see bolded comment) a change in QFF's position, in that QF may be be able to credit FF points for those sectors on partner airlines or even QF metal (whereas previous my understanding is that they would only follow up and agree to credit where you did retain your BP as proof)??

I'm looking forward to seeing if SAA will be able to confirm that my father took the flights and whether QF will credit him points...PER/JNB would be nice, not as worried about the internal sectors as much (not that many points)..

[Lindsay Wilson]

Well, with no copies of BP's to assist the confirmation process (but a copy of his paper ticket), QF and SAA have come through on crediting the points:

18 APR 06 SA 281 ECONOMY 09MAR06 PERTH/JOHANNESBURG 5,159 - - 5,159 0
18 APR 06 SA 579 ECONOMY 09MAR06 JOHANNESBURG/DURBAN 312 - - 312 0
18 APR 06 SA 554 ECONOMY 11MAR06 DURBAN/JOHANNESBURG 312 - - 312 0
18 APR 06 SA 337 ECONOMY 14MAR06 JOHANNESBURG/CAPE TOWN 790 - - 790 0


So all sectors posted...kudos to QFF and SAA (perhaps this restores some of the faith I have lost with them recently ).

Now I can send him away again ... but on an award ticket