When I book my flights through lufthansa.com my UA Gold status never gets recognized automatically. The boarding pass only shows UAP until a check-in agent changes it manually to UA*G. And even then only for the segment, not the reservation.

Which means I do not have benefits of higher priority for rebookings in emergencies like last weeks volcano drama, I have no access to priority seats when I check-in online.

It's a different story when I make reservations on a different reservation system. A ticket bought on Swiss's website will pull the status also for a LH segment of the reservation. But on lufthansa.com - no way I can get my status on the record.

How are your experiences with lufthansa.com as status customers from other airlines? Same thing? Or is this something limited to United customers like me?

I have been trying to get this resolved with LH customer service, but they take forever to respond, then only with replies like "We can confirm you entered your number correctly". So no help there.

I am beginning to believe LH does this on purpose, as I cannot imagine a technical reason for status recognition not to work when it does work through channels like Swiss and others.

Star Gold is only worth half if it's not recognized from the very beginning. And if LH does this with full intent, to keep the load of passengers requiring special attention low so that they can focus on their own SENs and HONs, then we should do something about it ...

Let's hear it.
All the best
Claus