Managed to complete a neat scenario this week:
1. Last year i achieved United lifetime gold. Merger with Continental was huge for me as I had a lot of United/Lufthansa flights in First to Europe in my history and all the bonuses got converted to lifetime miles since that was what Continental did.
2. Made my wife my companion with Gold.
3. Got a status match for my wife on Alaska so when she flies to Hawaii she can get exit rows and free bags. Applied on October 1 so it would be effective for the rest of 2015 and all of 2016.
4. The Alaska status will then be honored by American so she can also get exit rows and free bags on American for the rest of this year and 2016.
Agree with some of the posters that it is becoming increasingly difficult to use United miles, especially if you want the lower priced tickets. However, for us, exit rows and free bags are a great benefit as we take long trips several times a yearso we have a lot of checked bags.