Originally Posted by UrbaneGent

So....

After passing 1,000,000 ACTUAL miles on pre-merger United (and close to $1m in ticket revenue by the time of the merger), I received LIFETIME Premier Executive, 2nd tier, as a Million Mile Flyer. Continental "merges" with UA and takes away ALL my LIFETIME benefits and downgrades my and countless other loyal customers status to 3rd tier (whilst upgrading CO's "lifetimers" from 4th to 3rd tier).

I sued United and it went back and forth winning, losing, appealing...all the way to the 7th District Court. The 7th District Court sided with me HOWEVER stated that UA was deceptive to their customers, but as an airline, they could do whatever they wanted. It was out of their hands and it should be taken up with the Department of Transportation.

Those of us got to Lifetime Platinum by being loyal to Starwood and the program and recieving top tier for LIFE - after ten years of Platinum status and 500 nights. Having had to pay the legal bills fighting post-merger United, the reason I lost because UA was an airline and they could say one thing and do another - in other words, lie and cheat their customers and be untouchable.

If Starwood merges with Marriott and takes away LIFETIME Platinum (top tier) from Starwood members, it would be interesting to see what the courts would have to say about that considering it is NOT an airline - I can't imagine Marriott being as stupid as United's team as to devalue Starwood's LTP status.

But then again....anything is possible nowadays.