US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - They upgraded my companion and I wasn't on his flight?!

I think this is a loophole and I discovered it completely unintentionally...

My friend and I were booked on the same outbound PHL-LAX flight together, but returning on different flights/different days. I should also note that he does not even have a DM account with US.

I called to get us both upgraded on the outbound with success. They also put me in the queue for an upgrade on my return segment, which I never got. I think it's the first time in over a year that I did not clear the upgrade list on a 757 from LAX to PHL.

My friend flew home a few days later than me and thanked me for the upgrade on HIS red-eye from LAX to PHL. I looked at him befuddlingly and then realized that the agent must have marked his whole itnerary for upgrade with US1 status (they didn't ask him for certs), even though I told her that I was flying home on a different flight.

Mistake, or goodwill? My guess is it was a mistake, because effectively that put out any other preferred DM members.

It happens all the time. If you get his itin linked with yours, he pretty much gets your status the whole flight. Has happened to me several times. I don't ask, don't tell.

How about when a US1 uses points to get a non-DM member a ticket? I did that once too. The person was travelling alone, but was given what she described as priority service from curbside check-in to the flight. No upgrade, though.

That's not my experience. A friend, who is a US1, recently booked 3 tix to SJU for my family. They received no special treatment. (In fact, at the outbound gate, they practically got strip searched!) I returned home with them and my Gold status got all the bags checked as priority, but no other recognition.