lipoff

I fly *A a fair amount (~60K annually), but have a transcon on US Airways coming up next month and I have a couple questions:

I appear to be able to still credit US miles to my *A FFP, in this case A3. I would like to do that, but assume that I won't receive any *G benefits flying on US any longer.

I am also an authorized user on a US Airways Dividend Miles MasterCard. There is a card in my name, but I am not the primary account holder. I made sure to book the ticket using this card. Am I entitled to any benefits, such as priority check-in, a free checked bag, or priority boarding?

sdsearch

US's current partnership with A3 has nothing do with *A (except historically). It's just an individual airline partnership:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...lp-thread.html

Since the partnership has nothing to with *A, you can't get *A/*G benefits from it.

Every airline that's in an alliance has some partners outside that alliance. But except for very rare exceptions (such as AS with both AA and DL), there are no benefits that transfer between such non-alliance partners.

And since US's partner list is quite different from AA's, and the US FFP program is folding into the AA FFP program (rather than vice versa), I'm not sure how long that partnership will continue (since AA itself doesn't partner with A3).

lipoff

Thanks --- that's exactly what I thought regarding *G on US.

I thought I might have a better shot with the Dividend Miles Mastercard. Reading the T&C it reads as though an authorized user (not traveling with the primary account holder) get bupkis, it's not 100% clear to me whether that's even true de jure, and especially not if simply waving the card gives some of those benefits, de facto.

sdsearch

The way the credit card benefits work (at all airlines that have credit cards that give benefits) is that the credit card company "tells" the airline that this person has the credit card (in their name), and the airline sets a "flag" in their system saying that this person is entitled to the benefits from that credit card.

Generally, the person who has the credit card in their name has to be on the ticket, and other people on the ticket get the benefit only when flying together with the person who has the credit card.

The airline does not see an authorized user. It only sees the user who gets miles from purchases on the card, and whose FFP account is therefore linked to the card. Authorized users are known only to the credit card company itself.

Thus I severely doubt that an authorized user traveling by themselves has access to any benefits from the credit card.

And I also severely doubt that showing the credit card does any good. The airport staff are not trained to know what benefits a credit card gives, their system automatically tells them whether you are entitled to benefits or not, depending on how your account is set up.

Furthermore, since the credit card benefits are tied to a US FFP, I'm not sure if even the credit card account holder themselves would get any benefits on a booking credited to A3. At the very least, they might need to make the booking originally credit to US, and only after the benefits were achieved, try to change their earning to A3. (But that might mean the gate is the last place one can do that, and that might mean giving up on priority boarding, if they reissue the boarding pass as a result of the change of earning.)

MSPeconomist

OP should check the current US/A3 partnership rules carefully. It might just apply for redeeming miles, or perhaps just for earning redeemable (but not status) miles. I would want to start by understanding this before adding the credit card complexity to the mix.

lipoff

Yes it appears that the current US/A3 partnership is only for earning redeemable miles, not status miles. I have enough status miles for the highest tier of A3's FFP this year, but this transcon on US should give me just enough redeemable miles for an award ticket I've been looking for.

I've never used a credit card tied to an airline's FFP before, and have only rarely flown US, so I really appreciate the advice.

denCSA

One clarification point though, any *A elite bookings made on US prior to the OW changeover will still have certain benefits honored on US up to a year after US exited Star. It's a contractual thing with Star. I don't what the details are, if it's baggage, seating, boarding, what, but the Star tiers are still recognized by US if the booking was made prior to the OW change.