I recently started a thread here about *Gold reciprocity on UA, (I am US Chairman). Ironically, my rant was that I could not get a decent seat on UA and that the phone agents could offer no help, (one even going so far as to say that US fliers got treated poorly on UA because UA fliers get treated poorly on US). About half the replies suggested that everyone gets treated poorly on UA and about half suggested that I was a US whiner. I utilize UA for about 5% of my annual flights and always use my US number.

At the end of the day, I think those of us who are elite on a certain carrier tend to defend that carrier. Unfortunately, I think we also expect to receive at least some elevated treatment on a reciprocal carrier - but the reality is that Star Alliance, and I suspect One World means very little in the domestic market.