I flew on a Varig Codeshared flight from Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires expecting to earn United MileagePlus miles, but United did not honor my flight miles. The flight was a Codeshared flight with TAM Airlines and did not qualify. I was not aware of this codeshare situation until I actually was on the plane. I checked-in at a Varig counter and was given a Varig boarding pass, but flew on TAM aircraft. To me this was very deceiving. Has anyone had the same experience and complained with successful response from the airlines' frequent flyer program?

I really don't have a good knowledge of UA policies on codeshares, so perhaps somebody else will ve able to help you more with your question, but I could tell you how AA codeshares work. AA will give you 100% miles and any and all elite bonuses, as well the base miles will qualify for status, IF the ticket and BP has AA flight #. If the ticket and BP has the operating airline flight # then you only get whatever the agreement is between the airline and AA. Just because it's a codeshare, the fact in itself does not give you anything unless you have AA flight # on your ticket.
Again, I'm not sure if it works the same with UA, but I assume it's something similar.
Good luck!

Sometimes it's a crapshoot!

I flew from Nairobi to the Seychelles, on a Seychelles handwritten ticket, paid to Air Seychelles - but the flight was on BA equipment. And the Boarding Pass given to me on BA stock had the HM flight number.

So when I retuned home, I copied the BP and original ticket and sent to AA and asked for miles. It wasn't a lot, but sure enough they credited my account with 1201 miles each way.

Likewise, I flew SA (who codeshares with Delta) to South Africa, gave SA my Delta FF number and received my almost 20K miles (including intra- and inter-country flights). All had SA boarding passes and SA flight numbers.

AAFF - Varig is a UA partner, but I have info that says that TAM is a AA partner. Couldn't our friend try to get AA miles? I would at least try!

But all this goes to show, is you have to check before you book who is sleeping with who and what one gets for sleeping around!

It seems to me that the OP has a Varig BP, so I don't think it's going to work. He could contact TAM and see if they would credit his AA account, but doubt very much. He must have bought a ticket through Varig, which in turn paid TAM for the seat. TAM gets less money in this situation so they will not be eager to pay AA for miles. Also depending on what fare the OP flew, as some discounted economy fares only earn 50% AA miles when flying TAM.

Again, I don't know the UA situation, but I would say his chance to at least get something(AA miles) out of this mess are slim at best. Just because he sat on a TAM plane does not entitle him to AA miles. He would have to buy the ticket from TAM. That's my take on it, but the OP could always ask. All they could say is no.

Try FlyerTalk.com, United forum.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forumcgi/fo...&DaysPrune

The UA FFs there may be able to come up with some suggestions.

AAFF - Well it's a shot, but as the passenger you do have to check before flying as who gives what, if any. For us, we're familiar with not always getting 100% of miles on certain tickets - but we knew in advance.

Interestinly, this is another good reason for working thru a travel agent - good ones know the programs, or can definitely check the details for their clients. Of course, we can do our own checking, but with so many plans that are different and constantly changing miles required, partners, etc. you've got to stay on top of it.

Live and learn, I guess.

Thank you all for your responses. I will contact customer service at United MileagePlus again and see what they can do if anything.