Originally Posted by The Tsar
Indirectly related question re upgrades. I currently live in Central Asia, book here with LH for flights to FRA connecting to AC for FRA- YUL. I am Elite. When I phone AC ahead to get on the waitlist for UG I am told that since my booking is with LH (even though a major part of the trip is on AC) they cannot list me, and tell me 'to try on check-in' which I do and it occasionally works. Same thing coming back, even in Canada they wont waitlist me because my original booking was with LH. Any way around this? I always try to get to the check-in early to improve my chances but basically this means if you are AC Elite but living in a place without an AC office or flights, you are disrciminated against. Help anyone.
When you "try on check-in" does that mean at BKK or when you get to FRA to join the AC sector?
One would think with all the "seamless travel experience" promoted by the alliances there would be a way round this. It works with UA - I made a booking with AC but on UA metal from SMF-DEN-ORD-YYZ in December and after booking just phoned UA and got u/g to E+. There was no BS about the original booking not being made with UA or anything.
As a matter of interest, why not make the whole booking with AC?