Originally Posted by
pinniped
??? The United status is the single biggest benefit of Titanium for me. The ability to access the entire Star Alliance and get passable treatment opens up a whole ton of flight options I'd never consider without it. I have AA LT Gold...add Star Silver and I have pretty decent coverage in most parts of the world. Since OW is still my primary, it's unlikely I'd ever reach a Star status without Marriott. (The Aegean fast track of years ago was somewhat closed with the requirement that you actually *fly* on Aegean metal.)
At least the United status is a real, recognized status. I have no such expectations of the MGM partnership. They only gave a low status to Hyatt Globalists, and that's a tough status to get.
What I meant is different. Many with Marriott status already have UA status and thus get nothing from the reciprocal benefit there. Also, UA gold only matches to Marriott Gold, which is largely useless. Star Silver doesn't give much benefit as well--it's really very minor--nice, but not a huge luxury. I also don't expect MGM to match to lounge access at Marriott when so many already have lounge access.
Originally Posted by
hoangtri1
The status matching would likely be reciprocated. Meaning if Titanium matches to MGM Platinum, MGM Platinum would match to Titanium. I don't think this will happen. Most likely, the highest status that can be earned is MGM Gold for anyone with Platinum Status or higher and Marriott Platinum for MGM Gold or higher.
It's not symmetric in the UA-Marriott match. Marriott only matches to the LOWEST United status. UA gold matches to Marriott Gold, which used to give lounge access, but now it is just more points. And if you look at what status matching expectations you have, I think mine are the same.
Originally Posted by
gudugan
I agree.
United Silver gets me SDC (super valuable), 1 free bag 70lb (I never have more than 1 bag), almost always get E+ bulkhead at checkin, Group 2 vs Group 1 boarding doesn't matter. I've even gotten upgrades but generally am fine flying Y.
I kind of want UA Gold because *A Gold is super valuable outside of the US (would save me more than an hour on some occasions). But Plat, 1K, or GS is useless to me, I would rather fly different airlines.
SDC may or may not be valuable. For me, it's useless. I never check bags, so that is useless. E+ at check in is good, but if you transit between large business cities (e.g., SFO, JFK, SEA), you'll find that you only get a middle seat at best for E+ and that group 2 boarding is HUGELY different from group 1. Everybody with any status or a credit card gets group 2. In major business-travel locations (as listed already), more than half the plane has preboarding or group 1 already. The rest of the plane has group 2. So if you have group 2, you need to push the be a the front of the front of that line or else you don't even get to put your carry-on back in the overhead bin!