It *might* not be as bad as we think. As, I said in the main 2015 program thread:
Originally Posted by
boat9781
Originally Posted by
SF1K
2. Award travel will no longer carry the status of the person whose miles where used, instead status of person actually traveling. (I think this is a good thing).
Just to clarify, here is what was said:
Originally Posted by United.com
Complimentary Premier Access is determined by the Premier status of the traveler on the day of travel. Customers traveling on the same reservation as someone who is eligible to receive complimentary Premier Access will also receive complimentary Premier Access. As of April 15, 2015, complimentary Premier Access for travelers on award tickets is based on the traveler's Premier status on the day of travel, rather than the status of the member whose miles were used to purchase the award ticket.
First, this notice only calls out a change of the "inherit" bug/benefit for day-of-departure purposes.
If that's the case, then
I'd imagine that the pre check-in inherit bugs remain (i.e. CPUs and E+ if the miles come from a Gold or higher account).
Second, I'm thinking an easy way for them to implement this is to have the online check-in system verify that the MileagePlus number in the record matches the name of the traveler. That way fees (premier access, baggage) will be correctly collected if the traveler is non-elite.
Again, I have no idea how they're coding this. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part. We'll soon find out.