21A

I'm noticing that if I put in my UA 2P number, I get Zone 2 and the marking "Premier", whereas if I put in my CO Silver number I get "Star Silver" and zone 4. Wonder what the deal is with this? Is the pre-boarding only a benefit for UA 2P and not all *S?

PVDtoDEL

No, it is a computer glitch.

US has no shortage of them

skitch23

My mom and I flew HNL-PHX last night and had a little snag checking in at the airport. I'm silver, my mom has no status but when checking in our 4 bags the computer prompted the agent to charge us for my mom's 2 bags. After telling the agent that we were on the same PNR and all four bags should be free he made a few calls and was able to over-ride the system. My mom's boarding pass showed her as zone 5 and when we were boarding I had to inform the GA that we were together when the GA told her she had to wait for zone 5... the GA was still hesitant to let her board with me. Is this something that happens frequently, or did I just experience some kind of glitch coupled with the fact that all of the agents were staffed by Hawaiian Airlines unfamiliar with US' policies? We had no problems with online check-in going there, so I don't know why there would be an issue coming home.

Savio

I posted in a separate thread about this very issue minus your checked baggage issue.

I'm US Air Silver and bought a ticket for my wife on the same reservation and she ended up with Zone 5 on her ticket.

SkyTeam777

So Star Silvers from other airlines (CO) get to check one bag free on US. But, does everyone within the same record get to check one bag free or only the Star Silver member. How many people can be in one single record?

TimeToEarnMiles

Does *A Silver entitle me to a choice seat or any added perks on US Airways?

Flying on an award ticket today and haven't flown US Air in years...

Thanks in advance.

UAPremExecflyer

In short, no.
No choice seat as a defined benefit.
Though you might get one on day of departure if you ask nicely at check-in or the gate.
Same for US fliers on UA.
Also, this thread is right on topic http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...er-thread.html

TimeToEarnMiles

Thanks! I guess I need to get to gold then. ^

blue47

No joy for gold with respect to the choice seats.

TimeToEarnMiles

Maybe I should just stick with UA :-)

Superguy

Keep in mind that it's going to be that way pretty much on any *A carrier (with maybe the exception of the UA/LH tie up). *A carriers are pretty good about recognizing *G or *S and giving the agreed upon alliance benefits, but most will give little to anything more. Anything more you get will either be paid for the same as the Kettles or at the discretion of a very nice GA.

When I fly on UA, I don't get E+ without paying for it, but I get the rest of the *G benefits. There are exceptions where a nice UA agent may help a *G but it's not required or expected.

Your "home" airline will almost always treat you better than other *A carriers, and that's true whether you're on US, UA, LH ...

Rebmig

Flying LAX-CLT right now, and *S boarding with zone 2 is gone. Had to board with zone 4, barely got overhead space.

Yet another reason to avoid this airline. Which is too bad because the West coast staff and CLT people are amazing.

pbuntrock

I really hate these sorts of comments. The rules are very standard across all airlines and all alliances. Each airline gives first priority to their top tier elites first; in priority order. Then they give priority to other low level elites, credit card holders, alliance members and upsell customers (i.e. purchased priority access). US is treating you exactly as any other airline would; UA, AA, DL etc. US is not treating you badly, this just the way the world works.

TimeToEarnMiles

Update from my travel this weekend...

On my outbound (ORD to PHX) - I asked at the gate if *A Silver entitled me to a preferred seat, the GA said "no" but I could board early (which is the opposite of what people on this site said). It comes time to board and they didn't call *A Silver. I went up when they called preferred and they let me board. No questions asked.

On my return (PHX to ORD) - I asked the GA if *A entitled me to board early (I had Zone 5). They said no and they said it was dumb that US put "Star Alliance Silver" on my boarding pass since *A Silver can't board early. The GA went on to say that they always let *A Silver board with an earlier group (she said we earned it) even though the rules say *A Silver can't. They were very nice and I boarded with Zone 3.

Superguy

Bolding mine.

Where did anyone here say that? Multiple people have that you do not get preferred seating as a *S but you would get priority boarding. People have said that you MAY get preferred seating IF you find a really nice GA willing to bend the rules, but you certainly won't get it by right. If they DON'T give it to you as a courtesy.

*S does not necessarily give you priority boarding. An airline MAY offer it (and some do) to *S but they don't have to. It's only a published benefit for *G. Anything that's not listed on this page is given at the operating airlines' discretion.

http://www.staralliance.com/en/benef...silver-status/

Example: US gives *S one bag free, LH gives one bag free period to Y, and does not give *S anything extra. You have to be a *G to get an extra bag on LH, OZ, SQ, and others.

To most *A airlines, *S is nothing. IF you want perks to be near what you have on your airline carried over to another airline, you need to be *G. Sorry, that's just the way it works.