Originally Posted by sdsearch

Ok, I'll add. I'm not LT Plat, and I haven't flown United in close to a decade (ie, long before this tie-up between Marriott and United started). I did redeem UA miles once in recent times, almost 2 years ago, for partner flights. I've never ever yet done a paid UA flight in my life. I earn UA redeemable miles regularly from partner activities (dining, hotels, car rentals, etc). I had a UA credit card for a year, but cancelled it over a year ago.

I've gotten my Marriott Plat -> United Silver status auto-renewed every single year.

So please start a new theory. All existing theories I seem to disprove. (It only takes a single datapoint to disprove a theory. It takes a lot of datapoints to prove one.)