Flying 19,000 Miles and No Frequent Flier Credit?

June 4, 2010— -- Dear Tim— I was unpleasantly surprised when Singapore [Airlines] refused to credit my United Mileage Plus account for my trip from Los Angeles to Tokyo to Denpasar, [Indonesia] and back to San Francisco because they said my flights were "ineligible" for mileage. I usually buy my tickets online myself but on this rare occasion, I used an agent whom I was careful to ask if the Singapore flights he suggested would accrue miles the same as United. I had no reason to check this since I had earned mileage before on Singapore. His initial itinerary clearly stated mileage would be accrued, and when I told him what had happened he said that the Singapore agent must have "lied" to him.

Had I known of any selective mileage exclusions, I would never have chosen to fly on a Star Alliance airline rather than United. I have written to the agent and spoken and written to Singapore and no one has offered to compensate me. The fare I paid was not excessively discounted (compared to other years), I was given no "Premier Economy" benefits, and from Tokyo to Denpasar I paid almost $300 for my third bag which was full of donated medical supplies for a clinic in Bali. I've made this trip for the past five years and never encountered mileage excluded flights or such excessive baggage charges. (That $300 would have meant a lot more to the clinic my NGO was setting up in Haiti.)

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Is this just my tough luck/buyer beware, or do I have recourse other than to boycott this agent and never fly Singapore again? Previous to this experience I had concurred with the popular opinion that Singapore was one of the best airlines anywhere, and I elected to fly with them because of previous excellent experiences. I hope you can suggest some positive action I can take so I don't forfeit these thousands of miles.

-- Nancy