TheEngineer

Now I don't want to have a rant (even though that is the prefix) but I thought *A Gold was supposed to give you things like priority on rebooked flights?

OK what we have at the moment is unprecedented but according to US there is no benefit being given to *A Golds

In truth there are people flying who probably should take priority over me (weddings, funerals and a host of other reasons) but I would have thought being Gold would count for something when you are stuck a long way from home.

Ho hum

RAPC

Well they can't start to prioritise anything until they know when and where they will be able to re-schedule flights.

At that point they can start to prioritise passengers when they know what they have to deal with. At that point your *G status will count for something.

At the moment when they don't know anything concrete of course they are not able to prioritise anything for you, the same as for anybody else.

littlevoices

If there were any flights running then maybe your priority would count for something?

Don't mean to be rude but with pretty much most of Northern Europe closed for 4 days there aren't many more alternatives than flying into Madrid and getting a hire car to Calais, grabbing a bike and then getting on the ferry ;D

Gold or no gold, if there isn't a flight you can't be prioritised above anyone else.

Unless you'd like to be on one of the "test" flights when they tell the world's media that the volcanic ash isn't dangerous (buzz...crack.... well, 747s can run on 3...2...1 engine right?)

G_G

I would not expect that in case of global chaos like that : I feel that to be common sense

ajamieson

Specifically which benefits are being denied to you? I'm not aware of an airline suspending elite benefits, not least since I cannot imagine why they would need to. This would be an interesting development...curious to know what US have said.

lhr baby

Have privilages been withdrawn? I'd expect lounge access to be allowed, the offer of op-ups to fill seats and to get some priority if there was a direct competition for a seat with an equivalent passenger that had been waiting just as long but who had no status. However, if this refers to priority getting home do you really expect a single business traveller with a Gold card that was due to fly yesterday to get a seat ahead of a family with two small kids that has been waiting since last Wednesday? Where would you draw the line? In this situation I would be pretty disappointed if they allowed a significant amount of queue jumping to passengers waiting for seats. In any case, I'd expect US to look after Dividend Miles Preferred Members first, so I imagine it would be several days after the flights restart before this should really be considered an issue for the DC Forum.

Sherwood Hampton

The OP did say there were a host of reasons why other people should get priority, although I myself don't see why, just because somebody doesn't have children they should be at a disadvantage of someone who does.

lhr baby

I didn't say that

What I quite clearly meant was that someone who has been waiting almost no time at all shouldn't get whisked off straight away, whilst others in a difficult position that have been waiting a very long time and are possibly suffering a certain degree of hardship and discomfort have to continue to wait. This is not exactly a normal situation and I wouldn't expect anyone to wait an excessive amount of time just so that Gold card holders can have the pleasure of feeling one up on every one else.

As I also said, if the question was only about lounge access then I see no reason why these privilages shouldn't be honoured and if there is one seat left on a flight and its a dead heat on all reasonable criteria then fine give it to the *A Gold card holder.

I heard they are now running ferries with 10% more people than lifeboat spaces for the first time since the Titanic went down. I wonder if there's a Frequent Sailor forum somewhere arguing that Gold card holders get priority over lifeboat spaces.

aidanc

Agreed unprecedented. Even so, here in JNB the local SAA call center told me on Monday morning that BD*G was no use (priority) on the waitlist for tonight's JNB-FRA flight.

If you look over on the M&M forum, some of the LH SEN priority benefits were suspended for a few days this week.

I believe that in principal this week, *G passengers have been treated the same as non-status passengers, which is OK given the conditions, but also being *G has "helped" with individual agents (in my experience).*

Aidan

* Am I being contradictary? I don't mean to be.

PPS - Still stuck in JNB! Didn't make it off tonight's waitlist.

Efrem

I have been given top standby priority by UA and US, when my flights were impacted by weather (within normal bounds) or mechanical problems, as a result of being *G via BMI. I don't think that's changed.

The recent situation in Europe was unprecedented. Coping with it required non-standard actions that didn't always conform to the usual policy. I wouldn't draw any conclusions about general policies from anything that happened there.

AJO

My *G mate was top of the standby list on UA last Wednesday at IAD, flying to ZRH, even though 4 other people were on the list before he checked in. However, some non-status UA pax was confirmed on the flight before him

In the end, we (both BD*G) got away with the exit row seats though (20AB IIRC).

TheEngineer

Come back to eat a bit of humble pie!

Was able to use the Envoy check-in at PHL and avoid the (up to) 4 hour queue of people wanting to rebook. Was put on standby for Brussels and bumped, initially, to the top of the list. When we got to check in I was no longer at the top but I think I was 5 or 6. As with AJO I got a bulkhead seat (even if it was a middle).

Had to go back to BRU rather than LHR but managed to get one of the last Eurostar seats that afternoon so all in all a good result given the chaos.

Now off to eat more pie!

RAPC

Glad you've made it back at last. Welcome home! ^

Sherwood Hampton

You wrote it to imply that because the family had two children they deserved priority treatment.

However, if this refers to priority getting home do you really expect a single business traveller with a Gold card that was due to fly yesterday to get a seat ahead of a family with two small kids that has been waiting since last Wednesday?

If you had two families, but one was just a couple and the other had two children, are you saying that the couple with two children should automatically get priority?

I don't see why, just because somebody chooses to have children as a lifestyle choice, they should then get priority over people who choose not to have children.

Tiger_lily

From our perspective, I would expect that we would be in the queue along with everybody else in order of when we were due to fly, not because of status or the fact that we have 2 small kids.

Then again, it's up to the individual airline to decide their policy for handling things too, and if they choose to give priority to status or other criteria, it's up to them.

We actually don't mind stuff like this (except maybe when TG go cancelling flights and reinstating them willy nilly for no good reason), it is what it is. Maybe more people should take a chill pill.