Rambuster

I guess the lifetime of UNITED will be the limiting factor !

andre1970

PS How 'bout the car semiotics on that other thread?!

totti

I think there is a good and realistic chance that your life will last a bit longer that uniteds

But I hope that united will keep on business for some time cause I just started my MP career.

flysurfer

UA was even incapable of "programming" their new 1K cards correctly. The new ones don't work with LH check-in systems, as they added the 2007 (year) to the membership number. So the number is now too long to be automatically processed (when swiped), and the agent has to enter your number manually for each flight. This, of course, leaves a lot of room for errors and typos - and miles not posting, eventually.

andre1970

I actually haven't gotten mine yet. I made 1K last year for the first time and nothing yet (now, let's hijack one more thread!)

alex0683de

Or at least the one that will test the relationship the soonest...

weero

Do I read that correctly: if the LH terminal does not read the card correctly,
UA did not 'program' the card properly. No leeway that the ancient LH software
in that humming box might be 'programmed' in an inadequate fashion?
You should have joined me for that BBQ the other day totti .. you might
have changed your mind on my lifetime seeing my eating habits.
Is this the "Mercedes and the FCT" thread that was taken over by the nuts?

andre1970

Yep!

weero

End of February is normal for the civilised portions of the world.
I had to use my 04 1K card until mid June and don't expect my new one much
earlier.
Which is a good thing as it triggers sympathy with the lounge wardens and
it gives me a real chance to get a card with the new status on it .

Rudi

the current rules are (as told to me this january 2006 at the LH downtown office in ZRH):

- 10 years uninterrupted SEN (at age > 60 & at the time of application to be 'granted' that lifetime status) &
- min 1.000.000 status miles accrued &
- no automatisme, costumer must apply

I will become lifetime SEN in 2009.

SleepOverGreenland

You take every single option to blame LH, do you?

Let me make some comments:

1) I remember the years very well, where UA was never able to process a M&M card or a LH SEN CC card. Not that long ago.

2) I even remember the times, where all *A, but United could use BP across. Only UA required to go with the BP issued by LH in FRA for UA domestic connection flight to the gate and let it re-issue. Very annoying.

3) I also remember the times, where UA was unable to read a BP upon lounge entry issued by LH (e.g. the UA FCL in SFO). Just resolved in 2005.

3) Adding the expiration year to the number is a nice idea. But why expecting, that it immediately works with all other *A carriers. Adding 4-digits (or even just 2) may require to change the data model behind and all data exchange procedures, of course. To me this looks more like a single-decision not coordinated process by United.

grayst

Thanks for the replies, all.

The reason for asking was that BMI are now offering lifetime Gold cards after 10 years. As has been pointed out, "lifetime" means the shorter of the lifetime of the cardholder or the airline! And in BMI's case, one not unlikely outcome is that it will one day become Lufthansa-GrossBritannien.

It looks 50:50 at best whether LH would be likely to honour this BMI offer, should they end up taking over the company and the FF scheme.

weero

Please grayst forgive me for stealing your thread for another minute.
Generally yes.
But in this case, it was the GrandMaster who automatically blamed UA for a
1K card not legible to LH systems.
Also my bias in this matter is not so much controlled by the dislikes of the
Wolf for once but by knowing two IT guys at LH Informatics who support the
notion that only LX has more ancient technology in use.
Sounds about right but I remember it worse: that LH was not even able to
print such boarding passes. As they were never able to print BPs for the
SQ or TG connection through SIN and BKK respectively (SQ and TG were not
able either, I have to concede).
No clear memories there on my side. But my recent BPs printed by LH are
swallowed by the UA readers with no problem.
That is the same assumption the GrandMaster made here. I do not know the
record descriptor for the card format. But I strongly assume that UA used
a documented extension of the format and as usual in modern IT, no one
implemented to documented extension. According to the universal rule in
software development: only code a promised feature once enough customers
do complain.

andre1970

LH machines never get my UA status correct. Always write "UAP" which stands for general MP member. Sure, I'm a newbie 1K, but still, even US Air gets it right.

Kiwi Flyer

Until the past year, every time I connected with UA they had to reprint BP because they couldnt read those issued by other airlines. Didnt matter who issued the BP - whether it be LH, NZ, BD, SQ.