There is no such program as *G. (That's what you have listed as your program, but it can't be.) *G is something you get from a *A member airline. You are *G only as an adjunct to having status in a particular *A member airline. The program you belong to is not *G, it is some member airline that then gives you *G benefits. (And which benefits those are, exactly, depends on which *A member airline that is!)

So what happens if you get your *A status through an airline in Greece (Aegean was the one being mentioned in the message you replied to)? Isn't flying within the USA "international" from a Greek perspective??? "Domestic" for a Greek airline is flying within Greece, not flying within the USA!

To be clear:

If you are a *G with a US airline (UA, CO or US) you only get lounge access in the US on international itineraries. If you are *G with a non-US airline you always get lounge access even on purely US domestic itineraries.

And actually, IIRC, even as a UA/CO/US *G, you can use non-US Star Alliance partners' lounges (e.g. the LH lounge at IAD) on US domestic itineraries. You just can't use UA/CO/US lounges.

I personally wouldn't count UA out, because as a tall guy, I really value E+. Even though this will become a benefit only at check-in next year, I have hope that 25K folks will still get a decent amount of E+. I guess we'll see.

+1 IME being able to pre-reserve exit rows as AA Gold will more than make up for loss of E+ on UA. And it is far easier for low level elites on AA to upgrade with e500s than it is for low level UA elites to snag a UDU on popular domestic flights. As a 1P I am zero for XX on transcon upgrades even on full fare tix :td:

+1 The all-USA call centre is huge compared to UA's incompetent ICC.

DL used to be great for upgrades, but the skypesos are fairly worthless for saver awards, so if you want to use the few miles you get at 25k level than go with AA. I have almost never had a problem redeeming on AA or its partners.

I am *G from both UA and CO, and live in Houston, so I checked the Continental President's Club access policy on their website:

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...ge/access.aspx

Credentials required to enter for *G:

OnePass Platinum or Gold Elite card or MileagePlus Premier Executive or 1K card
Photo ID
One of the following:
Departing international Star Alliance boarding pass
Domestic Star Alliance boarding pass connecting to a same-day international Star Alliance itinerary


SO, to tie in back to the OP ... if you're A3 *G flying on an economy ticket within the US (say LAX-IAH-ORD), you would not be allowed into the PC in IAH. This is why many *G's who travel domestic USA buy club memberships.

Dude, you are not getting it. Those are access rules for *Gs in the UA, US and CO mileage programs.

The alliance-wide rule is as follows:

http://www.staralliance.com/en/benef...access-policy/

This is Wrong:
This is Correct:

Agree. But if you're cutting it close, watch out for fare classes on some *A partners that don't credit 100% to Aegean.

And yes, you get lounge access not just domestically (whether Greek "domestic" or US "domestic," but lounge access -- period.)

You are quoting rules which only apply to earning *G through a USA-based airline. I regularly get access to domestic USA lounges when traveling domestically due to being *G in bmi.

I think it is YOU who is mistaken here. Any *G member of a non-US carrier may use the lounge of any US *A carrier (UA|US|CO) regardless of whether the itinerary is a purely domestic one.

Correct. I've accessed all three with bmi Gold and Air New Zealand Gold cards.

It's hard to say and I'm sure it will vary heavily by route. I imagine 2P's will be often forced to decide between an E- aisle and an E+ middle.

Will UA create a 2nd standby list at the gate? As 1K/1P clear the F standby list, will they have an automatically-ranked list of 2P's not yet in an E+ aisle or window seat who automatically get reseated to the E+ seat the 1K/1P vacated?

If I always flew solo, I might not mind the UA situation so much. I fly a lot out of MCI where, if you avoid peak business travel flights, a 2P probably still gets an E+ aisle at check-in. But getting a couple seats together is probably somewhat more difficult.

I will likely avoid UA metal for 2012 unless I'm traveling solo and avoiding UA makes for a longer travel day. My native statuses in 2012 will be AA, WN, and US. So I'll look for those three plus Continental planes that haven't been retrofitted with E+ yet.

This is a little different from the OP's question, but here goes.

I currently have DL Gold status through a combination of credit card MQMs and flying. If I really make a run I could probably hit Plat. But alternatively, I could let miles roll over and start 2013 pretty close to Silver.

Next year, with some effort, I could probably get up to Gold or even Plat (depends on how much business travel I have, but I could probably get to Gold again just on personal travel, maybe with a MR or two).

But I've been a little annoyed with the difficulty of redeeming DL miles. So I'm considering switching programs. Here are my main options:

1) Roll over ~20k miles on DL this year and make a run for DL Gold or Plat next year.

2) Make a run for DL Plat this year and start over at close to zero next year on DL. If I'm back at zero, I can try to make a run on another airline. I can almost certainly hit low tier and maybe mid tier.

I'm in NYC so any area airport is fine for me.

I most value upgrades, and then E+ seating. Other things (priority boarding, no checked bag fees, etc.) are not important to me.

So should I continue on DL, or is there a good case to be made for switching allegiance? One thing that keeps me from switching: I don't fully understand how upgrades work on other airlines.

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat as you. I've decided to hold short of 50K for this year (I'm at about 43.8K so I can still do a transcon round trip without going over).

My GM status is good until Feb 28 2013, so I'm going to move up some March travel to try to regain Gold before the end of February. That way, I'll limit the amount of time I'm stuck at Silver. I also value EC and Sky Priority the most so I want to avoid FO.

I'll then try to hit Plat by mid-year so that I can see what status matches are available after July 1, where matches are good for 18 months instead of 6 months if you do them on June 30. Also, my PM status will be good through 2/2015 instead of 2/2014. In my mind, that's forgoing 6 months of PM now for 12 months of status later. Plus as I begin to move Skypesos out of my account, PM will help with award changes/cancellations for free before T-72.

As for matches, AA does challenges but only up to PLT (50K level). You have to use 500-mile upgrade stickers for non-EXP elites there, so it's not an automatic upgrade, though you get to pick and choose which flights you want to upgrade, which means that mid-tier upgrades have a better shot. There a ton of EXPs valid through the end of next year (because of Jan 2012 DEQM and TEQM) so UGs may not be the greatest.

UA does status challenges now and DL PM can challenge for their 75K PP level. I don't really get the UA UG system, but I'm interested in that for the ability to change awards for free (since I have a lot of UR/UA miles from credit cards).

If UGs are your thing, I know US Silvers who get decent UG %. But there's no EC/MCE/E+ for when you don't get the UG.

For me, domestic upgrades are nice, but I'm fine with extended legroom coach seats. To me, the award change rules and better earnings of more usable miles are what are attracting me to other programs.

Can you explain this? I'm at 58k, and my GM status is good till 2/28/2013. But I thought I only had until 12/31/2012 to hit 75k for PM? If I have an additional two months my calculus might change.

This is a really good point. My wife and I have over 500k DL miles between us and have just not found the kinds of redemptions we want. So hitting PM now (which would be good through 2/28/2014) might be a good way to get flexibility in canceling award tickets while I transition to another program.

With regard to AA, how do the 500 mile upgrades work? As I see on the website, you can buy one for $30. Let's assume it's 3000 miles transcon. Does this mean I can upgrade r/t transcon for $180 each way? If so that seems like a pretty good deal.

As I said the wild card is my work travel schedule. That's the difference for me between first-tier and mid-tier...