saitojohn

As a current Asiana Diamond member, I'd like to clear up an issue regarding Star Alliance Gold privileges on partner flights redeemed using miles from a non-Oz FF program. Besides Oz, I do not have any other SA elite status. Here's what happened to me last week.

I redeemed an Air Canada reward flight (YYZ-HND) using my United Airlines FF miles. When I checked in at Pearson’s Air Canada priority SA Gold counter and showed the agent my Oz Diamond card, I was told that I was not entitled to SA Gold privileges (such as priority baggage tag) on the basis that I was not accruing any miles to my Oz account. Also, I should have checked in at the economy counter instead of the priority counter.

She commented that when she looked up my reservation on her system, it was hard-linked to my UA FF number (which has no status) and she was unable to replace it with my Oz Diamond number, therefore she couldn't allow me SA Gold privileges.

As a side note, this is the first time I've redeemed an AC flight using UA miles. In the past when I redeemed AC flights using AC Aeroplan miles, I did not encounter this issue at all. The agents always allowed me SA Gold privileges even though I was not accruing any miles to my Oz account given that it was a reward ticket.

My questions:

1) Was the AC agent correct in this case, in that I was not entitled to SA Gold privileges on the basis that I was not accruing any miles to my Oz account?

2) Let's say I paid for a ticket which is eligible for mileage accrual. If I want to put those miles in a non-Oz FF account (eg. Aeroplan), would it still be possible to enjoy SA Gold privileges by showing the agent my Oz Diamond card, even though the FF number linked to the reservation is non-Oz?

jon503

To my knowledge, no and yes. Star Alliance privileges just require you to have status in general and board on a Star Alliance flight the same day. I am not aware of any restrictions regarding where miles are accrued or whether it's a miles redemption or paid flight.

I have flown UA using UA miles before and my OZ status was recognized without any problems.

My take on what you experienced is that your situation is relatively uncommon, so airline staff and apparently possibly also the computer system aren't adequately prepared for it. This leads to a lot of misinformation. In such a situation, I would recommend politely suggesting to the agent that she double check with her supervisor.

saitojohn

For paid flights, what I usually experience is that the agent wouldn't apply SA Gold privileges if I show them my Oz Diamond card but accrue the flight miles to a non-Oz FFP. They allow it only if I accrue the flight miles to Oz FFP.

Yes, same for me. When I flew AC using AC Aeroplan miles, my OZ status was always recognized.

jon503

Strange, this is not the Star Alliance policy I'm aware of. I tried looking it up on the *A website, but it changed and is now so minimalistic that there's almost no information.

I did find this on lounge use though, which I believe extends to other privileges:

Source

Kiwi Flyer

Some (all?) *A airlines have fields for two FF numbers to be entered - one for mileage earning (FQTV) and one for status benefits (FQTS).

saitojohn

That's useful information. But where and how do you enter the second FF number? When booking flights online, I've only seen one FF number entry field available.

Do I have to call airline reservations to have the second FF number linked? Or when checking in at airport counter, I ask the check-in agent to enter my Aeroplan number for FQTV mileage earning, and Oz Diamond number for FQTS status benefits?

Last week the AC agent who processed my UA reward ticket went as far as saying "you can't accrue your miles in a non-Gold FFP and then then try to get Gold status privileges from your Oz Diamond that you're not putting miles into. That's DOUBLE-DIPPING." How should I have responded?

saitojohn

I haven't had any issues accessing SA lounges using my Oz Diamond card either, even with that AC ticket redeemed with UA miles. When the AC Maple Leaf Lounge agent scanned my boarding pass, at first she said it was linked to my UA FF which has no status. But she manually overrode it when I showed her my Oz Diamond card and let me in.

Where I encountered trouble was only at the check-in counter, where my request for priority luggage tag was denied. While the priority luggage tag isn't a big deal, this could potentially be an issue if I had overweight luggage or extra pieces that are allowed for free as a Gold privilege but would otherwise incur fees for travellers without status.

jon503, what has been your experience? Do you receive Gold privileges linked to your Oz Diamond for a paid ticket, even if you accrue the flight mileage to another of your non-Gold FFP?

jon503

I'm afraid I can't contribute much to that question. Apart from the mileage redemption flight on UA I mentioned earlier, I have always sent the miles to my OZ account. I'm only actively using one FFP now and even that UA flight happened shortly after I transitioned to OZ and still had miles to burn on UA.

Kiwi Flyer

Yes call centre or at check in to register the 2nd FFP. None of the airline website have this ability.

saitojohn

Update:
I flew in on AC6 from HND into YYZ yesterday on an Aeroplan reward ticket. I showed the AC check-in agent my Oz Diamond card and I got the priority baggage tag with no hassle. Upon further inquiry, the agent told me that while the Aeroplan FF number was hard-coded to the reservation and she could not replace it with my Oz number, she granted me the *G baggage privileges by virtue of me showing her my Oz Diamond card. Out of curiosity after reading the comments on this thread, I asked her if it'd be possible to register my Oz number via a "secondary non-accrual field," but she became confused and had no idea what I was talking about. Since there was a queue behind me and I got the *G privileges I needed, I didn't press on any further.

jon503

I remember reading a thread on this somewhere on this forum several years ago. While I unfortunately couldn't find the thread through the search function, I do remember the gist of the discussion. The conclusion was that such a field exists, but many people had extreme difficulty getting the check-in staff to apply it. This must be some detail left out of training in many instances that only some supervisors know exists. I remember someone reporting spending some absurd amount of time convincing the check-in agent that the field exists with multiple supervisors involved.