I flew SFO-YYZ over Xmas. When I checked in at the AC desk, I was finally able to get seat assignment. (Fortunately not a middle seat, even though plane was over 90% full ) I asked about lounge access and was told to use the UA RCC. Now this is ridiculous advice, since AC uses Concourse B, and the UA lounges are in Concourses F and G. Finally I was told I could use the Delta Crown Room, which is very nice. It is on the 2nd floor and interestingly is before security. Flight was fine - no E+ of course. I had a (mini)bottle of AC's red wine - a Vin de Pays D'Oc - worth the $5. On the return, I was unable to get seat assignment at check-in or in the MLL. However I was told there were oversold in Y. I reminded them I was *G and travelling alone. After a glass of wine in the MLL (which unlike the North American RCCs, provides Internet access), I went to the gate and was told to have a seat, they were working on seat assignment. A few minutes later I was paged and upgraded to Executive Class .

However after waiting 2 weeks for the miles to post, I phoned UA. They told me they had no record of my flying these segments. Would I FAX in my boarding passes. Fortunately I never throw these out until the miles post. A week later I received the full 4,508 miles, which are status miles on UA, thank goodness. So, all's well that ends well, I suppose.