After having flown over a million miles on United, I decided to bail on them when they served me one of those sh***y box lunches in business class. As I was Premier Exec for life, I figured that, when I needed United, I had status. Continental gave me Platinum Elite Status for a year and I have already requalified. Now Continental is joining *A and I am in a quandry. If I fly United, I want my miles to be credited to Continental. Easy enough. But I would also like to sit in Economy Plus, which I am entitled to do as a Premier Exec. They don't allow *A Gold or Silvers in Economy Plus anymore. Has anyone figured out how to do this? I though about making my reservation with my UA number and then, after checking in, asking the gate agent to change my number to my Continental number. Will this work?

It will but often the change of FF program doesn't take so make sure you get a new boarding pass with the CO number showing. If you try to change your FF number at OLCI or even at the kiosks, you will be defaulted out of your E+ seat into the regular coach section. Keeping both an AC/AE and UA/MP account, I've been doing this sort of juggling for a while, though now pretty much direct all my UA flights into my MP account.

Yes. Problem solved.

So you left UA because you got a cold lunch in domestic business?

To those of you who juggle this, how often are you stuck with a middle seat in E+? With all the 3Ps and DEQM elite lites out there, I've noticed E+ is filling up on most flights.

Yes, after a fashion. I was just getting sick of United cutting back and selling everything. You can buy your way into the priority line, Economy Plus was the most crowded place to sit AND the section where it seems more likely to have someone in the middle seat. When I started on United 11 years ago, they used to often block the seat next to frequent fliers. The box lunch in business was the proverbial last straw. I love CO. Even in coach they serve real food. It, too, is often sh***y, but at least the service is a distraction. Their first class is nicer. They still do a full drink service before takeoff in first. They upgrade you without all of those stupid coupons. I am upgraded over 70% of my flights. In the President's Club, well drinks and beer are free versus the six bucks a pop in the Red Carpet Club. While I do need to fly more connectors, I actually enjoy it on CO as the connections are really tight, I have never had a flight delay in my first 80,000 miles, and I don't mind the opportunity to stretch my legs. It just feels more like United felt before they started cutting back.