I had a very strange experience- phoned Delta SkyMiles (I let my medallion status elapse once NW joined SkyTeam as I have PE with NW) to burn up my remaining 140K miles on a F class ticket from VCE-CDG-BKK w/Air France. The rep advised no availability- I said I would call NW and see if there would be any difference using WP miles with PE status. She asked me to hold and called the "SkyTeam Elite HelpDesk". I have never heard of this before- she said it was run by SkyTeam- not DL or NW etc. They were able to use my DL points- but override flight restrictions due to PE status. This is new to me- dont know if it will work everytime but if it does...SkyTeam beats the other alliances hands down! Try telling LH that your GlobalServices card with United means anything at all....