Will Air Canada Elite get me preferred seating on Star Alliance?
Dec 8, 2011, 4:25 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 38
Will Air Canada Elite get me preferred seating on Star Alliance?
Travel experts,
I hold Air Canada Elite status - Star Alliance Gold.
But, can I use that to get preferred seating (e.g,. bulk head, exit row) on other Star Alliance partners? (e.g, Luftansa, South African Airways)
And, could this be in advance - or only at check-in?
Thanks.
I hold Air Canada Elite status - Star Alliance Gold.
But, can I use that to get preferred seating (e.g,. bulk head, exit row) on other Star Alliance partners? (e.g, Luftansa, South African Airways)
And, could this be in advance - or only at check-in?
Thanks.
Dec 8, 2011, 7:28 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: OSL
Programs: EBG
Posts: 123
I don't know, but if you join M&M you could pick your seat from their webpage. I'm EBG without any points on my M&M account and do that frequently on different members of Star Alliance, but you'll need the Amadeus confirmation number. It doesn't work with LX though, as they use another ticketing system.
Dec 8, 2011, 8:25 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,764
On some airlines, yes. On some airlines no. On some airlines, it's really convoluted - for example, on US Airways, you get preferred seating if you have a *G number in the reservation and you don't pick a seat, but the seats aren't available for you to choose.
Dec 8, 2011, 11:45 pm
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: FRA
Programs: AC SE 1MM, UA PP, Hilton LT Diamond, Marriott Gold Elite, Avis PC
Posts: 2,948
I don't know, but if you join M&M you could pick your seat from their webpage. I'm EBG without any points on my M&M account and do that frequently on different members of Star Alliance, but you'll need the Amadeus confirmation number. It doesn't work with LX though, as they use another ticketing system.
Dec 9, 2011, 1:38 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
Obviously preferred seating is not a *G benefit, my experience so far has been:
LX:
- generally do a great job at extending benefits to *G members
- exit rows bookable for *G in advance
- *G can often also book the "blocked" seats in C and F (very useful as LX usually blocks the single seats in C and window seats in F)
LH:
-no recognizion at all
NZ:
- *G members have access to Space Plus seating similar to UAs E+ (my last experience was a year ago, not sure whether NZ still has Space Plus with the new seating configs)
UA:
- Booking E+ seats no longer is available to *G members, but IME many UA F agents will give you an E+ seat at the airport. particularly on routes with fewer UA/CO elites (read: Canada-US)
LX:
- generally do a great job at extending benefits to *G members
- exit rows bookable for *G in advance
- *G can often also book the "blocked" seats in C and F (very useful as LX usually blocks the single seats in C and window seats in F)
LH:
-no recognizion at all
NZ:
- *G members have access to Space Plus seating similar to UAs E+ (my last experience was a year ago, not sure whether NZ still has Space Plus with the new seating configs)
UA:
- Booking E+ seats no longer is available to *G members, but IME many UA F agents will give you an E+ seat at the airport. particularly on routes with fewer UA/CO elites (read: Canada-US)
Dec 9, 2011, 4:03 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
Programs: TK ELPL (*G), AS 100K (OWE), BA Gold (OWE), Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, IHG Plat
Posts: 7,764
Dec 10, 2011, 3:05 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: FRA
Programs: AC SE 1MM, UA PP, Hilton LT Diamond, Marriott Gold Elite, Avis PC
Posts: 2,948
No surprises there, both played by the book. As it was said before, preferred seating is not a published benefit of *G status.