Originally Posted by
pkimball
How quaint! In reality, we pay the annual fee, and we should get the benefits. It's an artificial restriction on UA/Chase's part based on which one of us happened to fill out the application form. And we don't want two accounts - I prefer having one account to track all of our spending. I'd rather pay double the annual fee for one account so we can both get full benefits.
But if the answer is that there aren't any cards out there that provide equal benefits to all users on the account, then so be it. Anyone else know of one?
The fact that there aren't really any cards that do that should be an indication of something. It is not UA/Chase, it's every airline/hotel/bank I can think of. The only ones I can think of are the Citi Prestige card and the AMEX Platinum cards, and they're still limited benefits, and the AF for the primary is very high, and there's a discounted AF for each AU (hence the limited benefits).
I don't mean to be adversarial, but your name, social, and income went on the application. That means you alone are financially liable for the charges on the card, and you alone are a benefactor of the rewards it offers. Chase does understand that to an extent, which is why the baggage waiver and boarding priority apply to the primary cardholder + companion travelling with him. I'm in the same boat with my wife. She's flying next month without me, and she doesn't get the benefits of my AA Exec card, even as an AU (AC access, baggage waiver). As I said before, you do not have to use both cards. If it really is just a matter of tracking spending, put her card in a sock drawer after MSing the minimum spend. As long as she has a UA MPE card open/linked to her FF account, she gets all the benefits. You're just paying a double AF like you wanted, and the first year free and 55K miles is an added bonus.