Originally Posted by
kodalip
I currently have united gold status for the next 2 months, but I am looking to book Syd-AKL in June. I was wondering if there are any star alliance gold benefits that I can use at the time of booking, such as free seat selection.
AirNZ used to allow this in the past, but closed this off around 2018.
When holding TG*G, I would book and then call AirNZ, and politely ask for seat assignment as a ‘Gold’. Staff never declined my request. YMMV.
I would have scoped out the desired seats on ExpertFlyer in advance to save time.
Priority seating for other carrier’s Golds is not a specified Star Alliance benefit. Some carriers do it, some don’t.