Reader Question: Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue Denies GOL Flight Credit?

A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us an Air France – KLM Flying Blue flight credit denial case from a GOL flight marketed by Aerolineas Argentinas.

Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll cover them here several times a week.

You can access Flying Blue here.

Reader’s Question:

I recently took a flight with Gol airlines from São Paulo to Buenos Aires but I bought it with Aerolineas Argentinas as part of a larger itinerary.

The GRU-AEP leg wasn’t credited to my account, neither the miles nor the XP, the code of the flight was AR7717.

When I contacted FB they said only flights marketed by AR and operated by Skyteam members can accrue miles.

But that’s odd because on their website, in the AR section it states all the flight numbers that don’t accrue miles, but this is not one of them.

Furthermore i believe Gol is a partner of FB, even though their flights don’t give you XP anymore, they do accrue miles.

So I don’t get what’s going on here, what am I missing?

The reader attached a copy of the Flying Blue’s Aerolineas Argentinas page:

With Aerolíneas Argentinas, you can:

• Earn Miles
• Gain XP on eligible flights
• Earn Elite bonus Miles
• Spend Miles
• Extend the overall validity of your Miles
• Enjoy SkyTeam benefits worldwide

EARN MILES AND GAIN XP

Earn Miles and gain XP on flights marketed as Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR) and operated by one of the SkyTeam airline partners, as per the earning scheme below.

Earning Miles and gaining XP isn’t possible for:

• Tickets with a booking class not mentioned in the earning scheme below
• Reward tickets (tickets booked using Miles)
• These flights:
• AR0001 – AR0999, AR3000 – AR6999, AR7900 – AR7999 (Not in use)
• AR1000 – AR1099, AR2000 – AR2099 (Ferry)
• AR1950 – AR1999, AR2950 – AR2999 (Charter)

These codeshares are a real minefield when it comes to earning miles, and only Star Alliance is crystal clear on this. You ALWAYS earn miles based on the operating carrier. However, it can sometimes be difficult to find the underlying operating carrier’s booked class.

Both Oneworld and SkyTeam credit flights per Marketing Carrier, and you really need to be careful with these.

The reply from Flying Blue customer service is, unfortunately, correct.

GOL is not a SkyTeam member airline, and it recently emerged from bankruptcy. Air France – KLM still appears to own a small stake in it.

Only flights that are marketed by Aerolineas Argentinas and operated by them or by any other SkyTeam airline are eligible for Flying Blue credit.

It doesn’t matter that both airlines are Flying Blue partners; only GOL flights marketed and operated by GOL or marketed by Air France or KLM and operated by GOL are eligible for credit.

Conclusion

You need to be careful with these codeshares, especially if the flights are not both operated and marketed by alliance partners.

The only anomaly is Star Alliance, where codeshares don’t matter at all; only the operating airline does.

Source