US Airways Dividend Miles - *G lounge access without card for int'l flight?

Hi all,

Sorry if this covers a few other threads. Did a lot of searching and didn't find all of my info in any one place so wondering if I could get a few pointers.

I'm flying out of GIG tonight back to my home airport via 4 segments (1 int'l, 3 domestic) all on US Metal. When I departed for GIG, I was US Silver/*Silver and now that I am returning, I am US Gold/*Gold (but no proof of this - except if printed on the boarding pass/online/looking up the FF #).

My GIG-CLT flight will be coach and the other three are upgraded. My understanding is that I have access to a *Alliance lounge like the TAM lounge in GIG on my way out. Is that correct? Will I be able to do this easily despite only having a boarding pass that says I'm *G?

However, if I had been *G on the way to GIG, I maybe could have accessed lounges in PHX and CLT? But once my international leg is over on the return, I won't have access to the lounges in PHX and CLT?

Thanks!

My experience (which doesn't cover GIG, but does cover plenty of other Star Alliance lounges) is that you won't get into the lounge without your Gold card. Perhaps if you explain that you just made Gold and haven't had a chance to get the card yet they'll let you in, but I wouldn't count on it. Once you get to the US, you should have much better luck as the US clubs can just look you up in their system. However, if you're going somewhere that only has UA clubs, you almost certainly won't get in without your card (though I've found that to be more lenient than international Star Alliance lounges).

My experience (which doesn't cover GIG, but does cover plenty of other Star Alliance lounges) is that you won't get into the lounge without your Gold card. Perhaps if you explain that you just made Gold and haven't had a chance to get the card yet they'll let you in, but I wouldn't count on it.


Just wanted to say I am writing this from the TAM lounge in GIG (thought I saw it was better than the smiles one? In any case...). You were spot on in that they didn't really want to let me in with just the boarding pass that said gold. I explained that I made gold flying to GIG and they really were only satisfied once they saw my *Silver card and corroborated the FF # (maybe doing something on a computer? I don't know).

They didn't really give me a harder time than I expected - especially since I don't really look "first class" or "star gold" anyway so usually people in CS and FA's, GA's,etc kind of give me the "you're in the wrong line" look/talk before I open my mouth. So it was pretty much more of the same of that. So, maybe useful to know for those of you using int'l destinations to get BIS for status (like me).

My experience (which doesn't cover GIG, but does cover plenty of other Star Alliance lounges) is that you won't get into the lounge without your Gold card. Perhaps if you explain that you just made Gold and haven't had a chance to get the card yet they'll let you in, but I wouldn't count on it. Once you get to the US, you should have much better luck as the US clubs can just look you up in their system. However, if you're going somewhere that only has UA clubs, you almost certainly won't get in without your card (though I've found that to be more lenient than international Star Alliance lounges).

I concur. If it was LH, you'd never get in.

US will fax or PDF a letter on request. But, as others note, the rules say "card" and some carriers such as LH take "card" to mean "card" and will simply tell you that if the rules meant "fax" they would say "fax."

Final update as I am on the end of my 28 hour "mileage walk" (SFO-GIG via PHX,LAS,CLT):

Yes, they let me in at TAM as stated above. Not too much hassle. Having the star silver card plus the boarding pass plus matching FF#s helped.

What I'm less clear on is I gambled at both CLT (C/D lounge - happened to be closest) and PHX (A-high) and they both let me in.

First case, CLT: she just assumed I was envoy - some combination of an upgraded F on my domestic legs and the fact that my seat would normally be an envoy seat on the planes with 4 envoy rows and let me right in.

PHX: She hemmed and hawed, questioned me about my origin, destination, etc but typed a bunch of stuff in her computer and let me in.

Didn't bother with trying to find United lounge in LAS.

In all cases, all I had were my BPs and a star silver card. Again, I'm not even sure which lounges were kosher (seems like TAM was but I'm still not sure about PHX/CLT) and which weren't since there was the whole "gateway city" ordeal that others have experienced. But just thought I'd share my happy experience.

BTW - my strategy if you can call it that was to ask "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to come in, can you tell me..." etc. Not sure if this is a good strategy or not but was genuine for me (because I'm still not sure!). I actually was holding a couple free day passes on me but it seemed ideal to save those for a time when there are flights with delays, etc.