COPA & UNITED Status - Question on how they work together
 

Hey All, I'm a united mileage plus member (no status) although I do have the UA Credit Card, BUT I am a Copa Connect SILVER status. I'm confused on how my Copa status transfers/works when I would book a United flight. Few Questions
1) When booking United flight, will my Silver Copa Status transfer automatically? If not, do I utilize my Copa Connect Number when booking?
2) I find I'm able to gain status on Copa alot easier than United, Should I only use on rewards program? ie. when buying a United ticket should I use my Copa Connect mileage number?

Any clarification on how the star alliance / both programs work together is appreciated.

1) You have UA silver status with the United CC? If so, then that’s good to get E+ seating upon checkin for any UA flight (along with a checked bag and whatever else they offer). You would need to list your CM FF number on any United booking that you want to earn ConnectMiles miles on. However, if you do this, then you might not be able to obtain E+ seating etc. You can chop and change your number to suit conditions though (or at least you used to be able to). If you have 0 United status, then just enter your CM FF number each time you book a ticket on UA (making sure to select Copa/ConnectMiles in the drop down)
2) Generally I would recommend someone to only accrue on one airline. Otherwise you might have a meaningless amount of points across 2 airlines, vs a decent amount of points on 1 program

THANKS makes perfect sense. Yes i have zero status on United, and Silver on Copa, so basically i'll use my COPA CONNECT # when booked united flights. And moving forward focus on keeping my Copa status vs. both like you said.

THANKS

Hello and welcome to FlyerTalk!

As you have no status with UA, and in the case you travel mostly in leisure fares, it will be easier to gain status and redeemable miles on CM, since it is still a distance based program.

As a CM Silver (StarAlliance Silver) the reciprocal benefits are minimal on partner airlines (mainly waitlist priority) so there are no expectations in that front.

And yes, to accrue the miles on CM you should add your ConnectMiles number to your UA tickets.

Gotcha.. so my CM silver status (for upgrades) really won't do much on UA tickets... BUT using my CM # on United or any star alliance will still give me my points and help keep status on CM, correct?

@nutshellml

Take that in consideration, I totally skipped it in my suggestions. Even if you are a base member in UA's Mileage Plus, the credit card gives you those benefits. But in that case you'll have to keep you UA FF # and maybe make some juggling later if you want to credit the flight to CM, which I consider better for your case.

Exactly :tu: