How Nice
 

What a lovely thank you as a 1st post

Welcome to FT

Typo. Why does A need to be next to S...

I am *G (CO Plat). Just the temporary card that I can print out on CO.com still just shows Plat, nothing about *Gold.

OK, got it. :)

You may have to travel armed with printouts confirming that CO Plat = *G. Good luck!

Another issue:

CO.COM will not display fares/avaialbility for purchase or reward on SQ EWR-SIN for any dates.

Also, since I presume this will be corrected, can Scott confirm if we have reward access to SQ A345 flights EWR/LAX to SIN non-stop. I believe that SQ restricts this, but I want to be certain that is really the case for OnePass members as well.

With UA I didnt get any Elite Bonus on LH for my connecting flight to/from FRA to my final destination. seems you only get it with UA when flying LH to Europe from over here. that was close to 4k lost. but at least I got DEQMs on UA to FRA

Welcome to FT

If that was 200k Actual Miles and not via DEQM , I hear ya. If most was via DEQM you really flew only 100k and many people do that.

I know UA gave out its Bonuses even if earned via DEQMs, but I feel they shouldnt have, even thou I benefited because of it

SE Asia/Oceania rewards have previously requires a TPAC routing. I doubt that has changed. So the agent is likely correct.
I would doubt that reward inventory is going to be there. As you note, it is restricted by SQ. Revenue should be possible but I have no idea if co.com will sell it. No need to be tied to that sales channel though.

Scott - Thanks for the udate on the changes. A big ^ from me. When will we find out about our new relationship with UA and things like priority seating on UA, etc...? I assumed (we know what happens we we assume) we would find out this info today as well?

I would still like Scott's take on this. If true, it substantially reduces options. It takes connections to LH, OS, Swiss and others out of the picture. Respectfully, this is a new ballgame and I thought that the idea was to make things better.

If what you say is true, then one could only use UA for a FC cabin to Australia.

BTW, I have on hold 2 FC tickets on TG LHR-BKK-SYD and return for 180K each.

I would assume that the same holds true , if Europe is ones final destination then no flying West to go East = cant go via Asia

Yet Im sure 1 can still do a RTW by going West

I just made a phone-call reward reservation IND-ICN with a combination of *A airlines - US/UA/SQ/OZ (economy class)! Excited. There was no such thing as UA's starnet blocking at all on SFO-ICN-SFO (SQ/OZ) sectors. It's great to see CO offers CA's award availability because "ANA tool" does not show that. And the reward calendar is perfect and still fast! Hope OZ and SQ also show up on CO website soon.

I think that is one thing that really needs to change, especially with all the European carriers in *A that serve Asia from EU.

There are a LOT more TPAC partners available now than there used to be. That is a good thing, even if the TATL options for Oceania aren't permitted.

Not sure what the official answer some food for thought:My guess is that connection will be allowed through Europe although a mileage penalty will be applied to the flights. Likewise I also suspect direct flights, even if they have a "stop" in Europe will be counted as a TPAC flight for purposes of reward redemption.

Also to get to OZ from the US you have a choice of NZ (via AKL), OZ (via ICN), TG (via BKK*), SQ (via SIN), AC (YVR) as well as UA. You might even be able to EK (IAH-DXB-SYD) but that could be pushing it.

*LAX-BKK is a long-haul flight (longer than EWR-HKG even!) and space in reward C has always seemed readily available.

A UA guy here, stepping in on lounge access and a couple other things.

From reading the CO announcements, the wording makes me believe that the access is in parallel with what UA pax get. Here's my try at a translation.

RCC members get unlimited access to the RCCs around the world, although there are fewer and fewer non-domestic lounges. It sounds like UA and CO have made this access reciprocal for RCC and PC members. All get full access to all lounges. It also sounds like this is true of the US lounges, although this wasn't the case with UA in the past.

In addition, you'll get access to these lounges if you are *G and flying INLT, regardless of your membership in a club. I believe that INLT does not apply to Canada, and possibly Mexico, however. You can also bring in a guest, which I do all the time with no problem. This access is granted to all *G pax regardless of class of service - if your *G and flying INTL in Y you'll get access to the lounge.

Other *A lounges are a different matter completely. Most, but not all of them will have a *G logo at the door, and if you're *G you should be allowed to enter any of those clubs EXCEPT the domestic RCCs (and I'm guessing PCs) unless flying INTL.

There are a number of non-UA/US/CO *Lounges across the US, and there is a long thread on the UA forum about *G fliers having access to the LH lounge at IAD whether or not they're flying LH.

At most INTL airports UA uses a combined *A lounge, or a contracted lounge and in these cases your RCC (and probably PC) card is useless since it isn't an RCC - you need *G to get into those clubs.

Earlier I said *G will get you access to most *A lounges, but their are exceptions. Some LH lounges are excluded (and marked as such on the LH website) due to their small size. At times at FRA, LH will deny access to the Senator lounge and send you to the business lounge instead - this happens when the Senator lounge is extremely busy. In addition, the LH business lounges are marked with a *S logo, and I believe that all *S pax are allowed in, although I've never tested this as I've been *G for awhile.

Another example of an exeption is CDG, where there is a combined *A lounge, but UA maintains its own RCC. UA fliers aren't allowed into the *A lounge - even if *G, and are sent to the RCC instead. I have no idea what will happen with CO pax flying UA, but I'd guess they'll also be sent to the RCC. Another exception is LHR, where there is a combined *A lounge, but BD (BMI) has their own lounges and you'll be directed there when flying them.

From my experience, if you are *G and attempt to access one of the *A or contracted lounges with a guest, the guest will be allowed in only if flying on the same itin with you. Mrs. Milepig has been bounced out the the contract lounge at AMS since I was flying UA and she was on a different carrier.

Now - as to your temporary cards. I'll await a first-hand report, but LH in particular is ruthless about not accepting anything other than a card that has the *G logo on it - a printout is worthless to them. Maybe they're making an exception for CO during this transition.

As to miles and EQM earned. UA and LH have a unique agreement that only extends to TALT flights. You earn full UA benefits (although NOT the current DEQM, I believe) flying either airlines metal. I don't remember hearing whether or not CO is part of this deal at this point. Once you connect to LH in Europe you're back on their terms, and many LH flights earn either reduced or no mileage and certainly no elite bonuses - book carefully.

Oh - welcome to the world of *A. Once you learn the ropes I think you'll be largely happy with the network.

I heartily recommend the *A screensaver, that can be dowloaded here:

http://www.staralliance.com/en/servi...s/screensaver/

It is a great way to get familiar with the network. If you set it to "real time" mode it will display random flights (although it wasn't working for me yesterday).