I am pretty certain that either it was a contract lounge (in which case you may not have access as *G if flying other Star carriers) or the staff were just badly trained and lied to cover up their lackings.

Rest assured, as Kuma said, NH does really take care of Star Golds when actually flying NH.
Even in Y, I had the economy purser personally thank me for flying ANA (last time, with an apology for not visiting me earlier on in the flight!) plus the more-than-average priority benefits.

Interesting point about UA 1K taking priority over 1P members, on Varig. Is the actual status noted, or just the fact that it is *G? As far as I'm aware, the only visibility that RG would have on their system is whether a pax is *G or not, they can't actually see their status within their member airline. For airlines where more than one elite level has *G status, this is probably one benefit you use when travelling within the alliance. Maybe, as people have suggested before, it's time for a higher level * status?

star_world

It happened only twice to me. Once in EZE the gate agent simply gathered all the *G customers (eight ?) and politely asked to please provide the Card from the original Carrier. It was awkward but then I (and all of us) realized what was for. Initially it seemed a little messy but then after realizing the aim, highly professional. At least, my opinion.

I have had a few experiences with UA and my LH M&M number. Some service reps, be it on the phone or in person know how to enter the info. Then it prints out on the BP with the approriate designation (LH*S or LH*G). However I also have had people who were unable to get the number into the UA system at all. Then nothing was credited and I had to send in the stubs to LH.

Once in a while the links seem to be down, then while the number may print, it may not indicate status. (This even happened once with LH in YVR.)

Once checking in with AC, I presented my LH VISA card which doubles as the frequent flyer card. (LH gives you a different number each time; they are all linked to a customer number)The check-in agent was trying to tell me it was a credit card and the number too long. I politely asked her to please try it anyway. Of course it worked and showeed my status--she was surprised!

Nobbi

Nobbi,

I had the same expiriences as you with UA. A lot of phone agents do not know how to enter the LH number into the reservation. I then at checkin insist that my boarding pass has my number on it in order for the crediting to work out w/out me having to send in the BP's. The UA system automatically then prints the gold BP's with your status on it. It is noted as LH*G on your stub and written out on the bigger part that the agents keeps at boarding.

I usually have my M&M number on my UA bp - together with * G

AN usually puts UA*G on my BP's with the number underneath. One recent tix somehow got a bit screwed up and it ended up saying "AN*G"

In fact I just have some e-ticket receitpts here and they say "FFLYER UA*G" on them.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

[This message has been edited by RichardMEL (edited 08-29-2001).]

I am ua 1k and in the past four months have recieved comp upgrades from AC from econ to business and on LH from business to first. This is the first year I have ever received comp upgrades from other star carriers.

Richard,

I have had similar things happen with AN before and was not overly good news when the AN*G happens.

What happened in my case is that the my agent would upload my profile in the booking which has NZ, AN, QF, UA etc numbers and the like in it, and then note that NZ was the one to use.

Unfortunately, the AN computer system sees the AN number and fixates on that, and was impossible to get out of the system - they simply could not delete it, even though the agent had manually deleted it!

It seemed to grab gold status from NZ*G but saw the AN number so printed AN*G and sent the miles to AN. All was resolved with a letter to NZ and I received miles in both places which was great but would have prefered not to have the hassle for a 494 point trip MEL/SYD.

Now that my old AN number does not appear in my profile, I have never had this problem.

I find this to be a flaw in the xx*G system in that you do not really know if your number is in just that you have a number that has *G status. I have had this where the NZ checkin agent saw that the numbers did not match but coincidentally the wrong number also was NZ*G!

Would have been okay, if having AN*G meant any preferential treatment but alas not

Mark

I didn't have anything like that. It said AN*G and had my UA # underneath it on the bp. I got credit just fine (but I never give my AN number anyway - the only time I use it is to request an upgrade in the GW Club, and am sure to ask "please make sure my UA# stays in the PNR for points" and they understand fine, and I never leave the desk until I see my UA# on the bp. They are pretty good about it.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.