Can I add my customer's frequent flyer number when I book a flight so they get their miles?

Yes, in most cases you can pass a frequent flyer number when you make the booking through our flight booking API, and it will be sent to the airline along with the passenger name. The field sits with the rest of the traveller details, so you collect the programme and the membership number at the same time you collect the passport name and date of birth, and it goes across in the same booking request.

What happens after that is up to the airline, and this is the part worth being honest about. Most full service carriers accept the number and show it in the booking, but some will only accept it if the name on the ticket matches the name on the loyalty account exactly, and a few will quietly drop it. Many low cost airlines do not have a loyalty programme at all, or they run their own points scheme that cannot be fed from a booking request. Partner airlines in an alliance may also have their own rules about which fares earn miles and how many, so a cheap promotional fare might earn very little or nothing even when the number goes through correctly.

We also cannot confirm that the miles have actually been credited, because that sits in the airline's loyalty system and not in the booking. If the number was missed or rejected, your customer can usually claim the miles afterwards by sending the airline their boarding pass and ticket number, which you will have in the booking record.

Before you go live, check which of the airlines you sell most often accept loyalty numbers in our test environment, and tell your staff to type the member name exactly as it appears on the loyalty card.