Originally Posted by Venezuela-Miami

Hello and welcome to FlyerTalk!

As you have no status with UA, and in the case you travel mostly in leisure fares, it will be easier to gain status and redeemable miles on CM, since it is still a distance based program.

As a CM Silver (StarAlliance Silver) the reciprocal benefits are minimal on partner airlines (mainly waitlist priority) so there are no expectations in that front.

And yes, to accrue the miles on CM you should add your ConnectMiles number to your UA tickets.