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Help us out: your experiences of using two frequent flyer numbers with the same booking

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We have had a LOT of emails, article comments and forum posts in recent weeks from readers who are trying to juggle two frequent flyer accounts on the same booking.

It’s not easy, and to add to the complexity there are two totally opposite reasons why you may want to do it.

We’d like your input if you have been in this situation recently.

using two frequent flyer numbers with the same booking

Here are the two scenarios you could be in:

Scenario 1

You want to earn Avios in British Airways Executive Club whilst using another oneworld frequent flyer programme where you have status for lounge access, free seat selection etc.

Most likely to apply to: people who got Royal Jordanian elite status via the ongoing hotel status match and want free seat selection etc whilst still earning Avios.

Your problem: you need to have your non-BA frequent flyer number in your booking to get free seat selection, but need to change it over at some point to your BA number in order to earn Avios – whilst still trying to get lounge access, fast track security, use of business class check-in desks etc from your non-BA status card.

Scenario 2

You want to earn status tier points in another oneworld frequent flyer programme whilst using your existing British Airways Executive Club elite card for lounge access, free seat selection etc.

Most likely to apply to: current BA status holders who cannot retain their status from 1st April in British Airways Club and are moving to another oneworld frequent flyer scheme where it is easier to earn status (probably Iberia, Royal Jordanian, Malaysia)

Your problem: you need to have your BA frequent flyer number in your booking to get free seat selection via your current status but need to change it over to your non-BA number to earn status credit with your replacement programme – whilst still trying to get lounge access, fast track security, use of business class check-in desks etc on the back of your BA status.

using two frequent flyer numbers with the same booking

In theory this shouldn’t be a problem, but it is

When Amadeus (the back-end ticketing system used by most airlines) was designed, they DID think that this could be an issue.

Your BA flight ticket data contains two fields, which by default are filled with the same number which you added when booking or via Manage My Booking:

  • FQTV: the frequent flyer number you want to use to earn miles
  • FQTS: the frequent flyer number you want to use for claiming status benefits

The problem is that your chance of finding a check-in or call centre agent who knows about FQTV and FQTS, yet alone knows how to amend your data correctly, is low.

I think that Singapore Airlines is the only carrier which allows you to enter two frequent flyer numbers for bookings.

How have you got around this?

Whilst Scenario 2 will be the most common after 1st April, as many readers start trying to earn status in a different oneworld frequent flyer programme, there are currently a lot of readers in Scenario 1 thanks to the Royal Jordanian status match.

If you’re in Scenario 1:

For people in Scenario 1, I have been saying that – at least for short haul flights – you should forget about earning Avios. Put your Royal Jordanian number in your BA booking from the start and keep it there. It will save you a lot of trouble trying to swap numbers over, and the relatively small number of Avios you will forfeit isn’t worth worrying about. You will be earning Royal Jordanian miles instead which can be redeemed on BA.

using two frequent flyer numbers with the same booking

Of course, if you are on a long haul flight then you might want your Avios. At what point do you swap your frequent flyer number for the BA one? After check in? Whilst in the lounge? Could you use fast track security or priority boarding by showing your Royal Jordanian card on your phone whilst having the BA number on your boarding pass?

Let us know in the comments.

If you’re in Scenario 2:

This is a bit trickier. You should be able to get into a BA lounge by showing your BA Gold or Silver membership card on your phone, even if your ‘no status’ Iberia / Royal Jordanian / Malaysia etc number is in your booking.

Can you get away with this at fast track security though? Or when trying to get priority boarding? Do you keep your BA number in your account until the last minute and call BA to swap it from the lounge?

Again, let us know in the comments.

How to change the frequent flyer number in your booking

This is as good a place as any to cover this. Most airlines, including BA, disable the Amadeus functionality which allows you to change your frequent flyer number via Manage My Booking. One that doesn’t is Royal Air Maroc.

You can go on the Royal Air Maroc website and pull up a BA flight booking using the 6-character booking reference. One of the options allows you to change the frequent flyer number.

Thank you for your contributions

We look forward to hearing about your experiences of swapping frequent flyer numbers in the comments. We will run a fresh article next week summarising your feedback.

Category

British Airways and Avios, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (136)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Michael Jennings says:
    14 Mar14 March 12:12

    How to change the FF number from BA to Iberia for a BA flight using the Royal Air Maroc site is the most useful thing I have learned today. On the other hand, getting it to work for the 5 letter non-Amadeus PNRs used by Iberia at least some of the time may take a phone call.

    Thanks though.

  • London RJBA says:
    14 Mar14 March 12:26

    I had experience of both successfully and unsuccessfully pulling this off.

    Experience 1:
    CX Flight sequence DXB-HKG-MNL. Gave RJ number with Sapphire Status at Checkin, was given lounge access. During boarding, I wanted to credit pointa to BA so agent changed it, system asking for payment as I have extra bags which were checked in free per RJ Sapphire. Supervisor had to be called to waive charges. Upon arrival in HKG, I just had to show RJ digital card at the Pier CX lounge. All credited to BA.

    Experience 2:
    Qantas flight MNL-SYD. I tried the same strategy, then at boarding, they cannot waive the charges for extra bag so I conceded and credited to RJ, points never came. Tried claiming via RJ missing points site, unsuccessful.

  • L Allen says:
    14 Mar14 March 12:45

    I recently used the Royal Air Maroc site to change FFP from BA to AY about a week or so before a BA flight booked via BAH. It worked very well and my AY number was printed on the BP. My partner tried to do the same but within the check in window (albeit before checking in). This didn’t filter through the systems in time so we believe the flights will still credit to BA. However that did mean we got to enjoy the GGL perks. We were only away for a weekend (3 night stay) and the AY change didn’t update on the ticket before our return flight.

  • Owen says:
    14 Mar14 March 13:04

    Semi-related… but on a long haul BA economy flight, where is the best place to credit my Avios? Is it all the same? I’d want to move them into my Executive Club account. Thinking about Iberia, Qatar etc…

    • AL says:
      14 Mar14 March 14:22

      wheretocredit.com is your best resource for this type of question. Crediting to your operating airline isn’t always the best idea.

  • AL says:
    14 Mar14 March 14:22

    Being pedantic, FQTS and FQTV are, nowadays, IATA SSRs implemented by Amadeus. The other GDS’ also implement them, too, because it’s these fields that dictate how ticketing systems all talk to each other.

    Deltamatic supports FQTV and FQTS, and Deltamatic-using airline agents (so, DL, VS and maybe AFKL) can make changes to other SkyTeam PNRs through it, although you need to find someone who’s happy with being flexible on policy to do it.

    • Throwawayname says:
      14 Mar14 March 21:37

      I couldn’t find anyone at AFKL, including the WhatsApp chat and the dedicated elite phone numbers, to do that for your own tickets, even if they were happy to honour the benefits. VS were even worse.

  • Lumma says:
    14 Mar14 March 17:22

    One other thing I’ve just noticed. In Salzburg this weekend on an avios redemption. Put my RJ Gold number in via Royal Air Maroc. Wanted to check if I could move to one of the later flights for the flight back on Sunday and it won’t let me even check or cancel the booking

    “To cancel or change this booking, the Executive Club member who paid either in full or in part with Avios, or a frequent flyer voucher, must be logged in to their account. Select ‘View or change an existing booking’ to make changes.”

  • Luke says:
    14 Mar14 March 17:50

    I’ve had this experience many times, like so many others, with RJ and BA. I was attempting to use RJ for the benefits, but every time I went to reserve a seat I kept getting an error message. I Had to contact BA directly every single time, and every time no ond had a clue what was going on ever, they often would just reserve the seats for free for me, but would require such an effort. As they were avios redemptions my BA number was automatically added and I kept running into issues to change this on my end.

  • Simon says:
    14 Mar14 March 18:58

    A couple of fairly recent examples, I’m lowly BAEC blue, RJ Silver (so OW Ruby):

    Redemption flights in CE LGW-FNC return, used Royal Air Maroc to change from BAEC to RJ (for seat reservation 7 days ahead and club check-in).
    RAM was the only place/website this was possible, I tired a bunch of (other) forum suggestions that didn’t allow the change (RJ, Finnair etc).
    All worked fine for both legs, no need to change back to BAEC after check-in as it was a redemption booking.

    Revenue flight LHR-PHL WTP out, CW back.
    Again RAM to change from BAEC to RJ worked fine for seat selection.
    Requested switch to credit to BAEC at LHR check-in, took a couple of minutes, but completed fine showed on boarding pass, and all points since received).
    System seemed to remember RJ and allowed return seat selection 7 days out.
    Check-in at PHL requested ensuring flight credited to BAEC, assured it was complete and “both were in the system”. Realised boarding pass still showed RJ, so requested change at lounge desk. Boarding pass now showing BAEC and flight credited correctly.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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