Originally Posted by
schalliol
I'm Premier Gold traveling with my immediate family of 5 in economy, but because I had a credit, I'm on a separate PNRs for the same flights.
I've received some conflicting information from United agents, and I wondered if you can point me in the right direction on the following:
- Bags: We'll have more than my 2 free bags, and one agent told me that the ticket counter agent will waive the fees for the others on the other PNR. Another one told me that's not true.
- Premier Access: Lines this summer are long, and on the bags we'll need to go together to the counter if they will waive bag fees. I'm assuming we can all use the Premier Access lane, but I'm not sure if that's true.
- Boarding Group: I'll be 1, but they'll be 3. One agent told me we can just come up together at 1. Is that true?
- United Club: I have a UC membership. Will my family be considered "with me" for entry purposes?
- Preferred Seating: A phone agent already allowed us to be together with a couple of us in E+ if we wanted in preferred seating, but I thought it would be good to log for future reference.
Thanks for any thoughts!
Based on my experience and the rules:
- Free bags will only apply to the passenger(s) with the premier on the PNR. While an agent might waive the fee for the other travelers, I wouldn't count on it, AFAIK, that is not permitted by the rules, but an agent may waive them. YMMV.
- Agents will almost surely check you in together.
- GA will allow you to board together in the highest boarding group (ie, 1)
- For UA Club, surely your family is your family. I'm not sure if there is a limit to family guests or not, however.
- Based on the fact that the agent allowed 2 in E+, I assume you are gold (Platinum allows up to 8, gold just 2). Typically, agents will allow companions on a separate PNR to join a premier in E+ based on the amount allowed - at least all the reports in here over the years seem to reflect that- though typically, the rules only say 'companion' - I have never seen a separate PNR mentioned at all - either allowed or not. That said, watch the flight on a regular basis - any flight change (flight number, time change, and especially aircraft type/configuration change) often results in the non-PNR companion getting booted from E+. If there are no flight changes prior to departure, it shouldn't change.