KML29

I apologize in advance if this isn't the appropriate place for this post.

I recently--as in earlier this week--acquired a Mileage Plus Explorer credit card as I anticipate flying at least once a month for the foreseeable future. Yesterday, I had a brief online chat with a United rep about whether any of the perks that come with the card (priority boarding, free checked bag, etc.) could be applied to forthcoming flights that had been booked before I acquired the card. The short answer was "no," which didn't surprise me. I was told it might be possible to rebook these flights, absorbing any cost penalty, with a refund issued for the already booked tickets. I said thanks, but the ticket for one of those flights--the one I was most interested in adjusting--had been "purchased" with miles.

But something occurred to me after I concluded the chat. The implication of what I was told by the United rep is that the traveling perks associated with the credit card only apply to flights booked with that card...but a flight booked by using miles isn't, strictly speaking, a flight paid for using a credit card...unless simply paying for the relatively small, minor fees for a "miles-booked flight," using said credit card, is all it takes to retain the perks.

I have a hard time believing that the airline wouldn't honor the perks associated with the card for its highest use customers, but rather than trying to engage (and explain what I'm asking to) another United rep, I thought I'd ask the question here: do perks apply to card-holding travelers for flights booked with miles?