saitojohn

As a current Asiana Diamond *G member, I'd like to clear up an issue regarding the eligibility to Star Alliance Gold privileges if you are crediting the miles to another non-*G FFP, or on partner flights redeemed using miles from a non-Oz FF program. Besides Oz, I do not have any other SA elite status.

While I haven't had any trouble at all accessing *A lounges using my *G card while crediting miles to another non-*G FFP, *G perks at the check-in counter (such as baggage priority tag) are consistently denied to me if my *G number isn't linked to the reservation in the system.

Here's what happened to me last week while checking in for an Air Canada flight redeemed using United Airlines miles.

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I redeemed an Air Canada reward flight (YYZ-HND) using my United Airlines FF miles. When I checked in at Pearson’s Air Canada priority SA Gold counter and showed the agent my Oz Diamond card, I was told that I was not entitled to SA Gold privileges (such as priority baggage tag) on the basis that I was not accruing any miles to my Oz account. Also, I should have checked in at the economy counter instead of the priority counter.

She commented that when she looked up my reservation on her system, it was hard-linked to my UA FF number (which has no status) and she was unable to replace it with my Oz Diamond number, therefore she couldn't allow me SA Gold privileges such as priority baggage tags.

She even said "you can't accrue your miles in a non-Gold FFP and then try to get Gold privileges from your Oz Diamond that you're not putting miles into. That's DOUBLE-DIPPING."

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While the priority luggage tag isn't a big deal, this could potentially be an issue if I had overweight luggage or extra pieces that are allowed for free as a Gold privilege but would otherwise incur fees for travellers without status. So I'd like to clear this up and get advice on how to handle such situations.

Any thoughts?

Jma12

I think UA made a new rule that you can not change your FFP number anymore. For me, when I redeem my aeroplan miles with carriers other than AC, I was able to put any FFP number in the system and in case of IIROP I will get priority over non-status passengers, and I can use the lounge when travelling in Y award tickets.

NWIFlyer

Because this thread isn't directly related to A3 status, and is raising a very interesting and important issue, I'm going to split it out and re-direct it to the Star Alliance forum where it should be exposed to a broader audience and possibly more responses from members with direct experience of UA/AC policies.

NWIFlyer
Moderator
Aegean M+B

sol95

this post is in the OZ forum so mods, please close this as there's more discussion in the other thread.

IluvSQ

Check-in agent was wrong. You are entitled to the benefits by showing your valid
Gold card, period. I would just summon a supervisor.

Many redemptions do not carry FF numbers, and AC does not even allow them to be entered when you have booked from someone else's account, but you are entitled to the benefits by showing your card.

tmac100

Yes, and it IS important to carry your card and to make sure it is an up-to-date card! Last week I was denied access into the BA lounge in DXB when flying QR when I showed my BAEC Silver card - because it was expired (it was last year's card) and I lost the current card.

The problem was solved when I pulled out my BA boarding pass from my LHR-DXB flight with BA which clearly showed my Silver status. Then the lounge entry folks let me in! ^

When I got "home", I quickly applied for a new BAEC Silver card to be sent to me!

saitojohn

A couple more things to add from my experience. These are not one-off but consistent patterns.

- When I redeemed AC flights using AC Aeroplan miles, I had no issues at all. The AC agents always allowed me *G priority baggage privileges even though I was not accruing any miles to my Oz account given that it was a reward ticket. Simply flashing my Oz Diamond card was sufficient.

- For paid flights, the agent wouldn't apply *G priority baggage privileges if I show my Oz Diamond card but accrue the flight miles to another non-*G FFP. They allow priority baggage only if I accrue the flight miles to Oz FFP. I've experienced this in YYZ, HKG, TPE and TYO.

IluvSQ: So in the second scenario involving the paid ticket, if I summon the check-in counter supervisor, she would likely know about entering my non-*G number in the FQTV field, and my Oz number in the non-accrual FQTS field?

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As a side note, I do realize that a fairly successful solution in most cases is to check in with my *G Oz FFP, and then at the gate switch back to the non-*G FFP to which I wish to accrue the miles, thereby circumventing pushback at check-in. However, this solution still has 2 limitations that I can think of:

1) As demonstrated in the case of my AC reward flight redeemed using UA miles, my non-*G UA number was hard-coded in the reservation and could not be changed to my *G Oz number. As Jma12 pointed out in post #2, perhaps this issue is specific to scenarios involving UA due to its new rule forbidding FFP number changes?

2) In some countries, such as mainland China, you only have one chance to link your FFP to your Star Alliance flight (let's say Air China or Shenzhen Airlines), and that's during check-in. After you get to the gate, you wouldn't be able to change your FFP on the reservation, either due to incapability of the gate's IT system or unwillingness of the gate staff. I have attempted this many times but to no avail.