I fly a lot.. stupidly I have never been in any frequent flyer program.
I just come back from Europe to Korea last week flying Emirates, flew there 2.5 months ago on China Southern, apart from low cost airlines I flew Air France once whilst in the EU.
Have been in the air at least 80 hours over the last 12 months, maybe more.
So any hope of claiming already flown miles? At least the Emirates one's would be good.
Airlines often allow you retroactive credit for previous flights when you sign up, BUT it is usually only flights you took within the last month or so. Emirates allows you to go back two months. You can look in the frequent flyer FAQs for any other airline you are considering to see what their policy is.
How ever it never hurts to ask about older flights, especially if you can document a frequent flyer pattern on a specific airline (ie you have been taking a flight every month all year or a series of long hauls, etc). Having flown on a bunch of different airlines is not much leverage.
For Emirates - you can definitely claim your miles and you can do so for up to two months of travel.
Just sign up online and add your prior travel (you'll need your e-ticket number, which is printed on your boarding pass).
China Southern is not part of Skywards (the Emirates loyalty program) so you won't be able to claim your miles flown on your Skywards account. For a list of airlines and other partners see this page at the Skywards website.
