Transcon35

As the OP, I hope you are right, because it is hard to fathom UA doing this. What a terrible, sloppy way to kick off the first year of their new elite program.

As I said earlier, OP/MPSC has certainly been wrong before. But this agent sounded very solid and sure, detailed how the decision had been communicated to them, and re-checked with her supervisor, who re-confirmed.

If she was wrong, I hope UAInsider chimes in soon to give the correct info, and assure us that UA is going to issue real cards before the expiration date.

Until then,

Happy Thanksgiving to All.

UA-NYC

The cheapness of it sure feels right though

exerda

Yes; I was asked for my 1K card at BCN and at BRU earlier this year.

GUWonder

Being required by lounge guardians to present the Star Gold card as a condition of access to the lounges even when the boarding pass shows *G status is not limited to experiences just in Europe. It also occurs in the Americas (North and South), amongst other continents where this occurs.

As an OAL*G departing on UA on a same-day UAL-only international itinerary, I've seen UA club staff make an issue over OAL *Gs with *G on the UA boarding passes but no current Star Gold card in hand.

halls120

The longer this goes unaddressed by UA, the more likely it is to be accurate. Of course, maybe UA doesn't mind these kind of negative stories making the rounds.

bmr12

If it anything like the 2012 rumored MP changes, it will be bad, but not as bad as the rumor . I just can't figure out how they will achieve this...perhaps stickers for 2P and new cards for *G levels (1P, 0P, 1K).

Weatherboy

What about United Club cards for renewals or new memberships now? Are they issuing new cards with OnePass numbers ...or are they holding off on sending out cards until everyone on UA migrates over to a CO Onepass #?

exerda

They are sending out new cards; some have reported that they had their OP # on them (even if they didn't sign up with their OP # and only have a linked OP account).

ajnz

This year alone I've had to physically show the *G card to LH, OS, SQ, and TG. SQ in SIN is particularly persnickety about it, and since November 2010 no matter what I do, they don't 'see' my status. They blame UA, UA blames SQ.

Not having a valid *G card next year will be mildly annoying for passengers, particularly those traveling outside of the USA. I'm covered by my NZ*G card, but that is broken in itself as the mag data shows it expiring in 2001 due to conflicting data loaded on it.

PTahCha

FWIW, I got a sticker from AA in 2001. Still have that card in the safe somewhere because it's just a white piece of paper, and made the card looked ridiculous. Or, as a marketing person would spin it, homemade and charming.

GUWonder

When AA did a sort of sticker thing for a substantial proportion of its elites in 2002, it was called "cheesy":

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-plat-kit.html

Have you considered making that mag stripe unreadable?

Lounge guardians can enter the appropriate data even when the card's mag stripe is damaged such that the mag data cannot be read.

Has anyone here had a recent issue where lounge guardians wouldn't allow entry when the airline status card presented doesn't match what is shown on the boarding pass (e.g., using Airline ABC's card/status to access the lounge while crediting the flight to Airline XYZ's program)? I used to see that happen from time to time, but that was some years ago.

ajnz

No - because that would render it useless at NZ kiosks and as a FlyBuys card, which is why the data is "broken". It seems that Star has a standard encoding format for mag stripes that NZ doesn't use, and where Star expects the expiry date it is hitting some FlyBuys data. A colleague's card reads as expiring in the 1930s.

Every lounge has frowned and gone "hmm" then ignored it, when the card reads incorrectly. Occasionally they mumble something, but it seems to be well enough known -- or the lounges where it would be a problem don't swipe the card anyway, they usually photocopy it (e.g. TG in KTM, HKG, etc).

Never had a problem. Prior to becoming 1P I used my NZ*G card for lounge access while crediting to UA. This only, very rarely, becomes a problem when the lounge is third party and are relying on a list supplied by the operating airline of eligible pax. This happened to me on AC in HNL using the JL lounge, but they understood the situation pretty quickly and let me in.

I use my NZ*G card for domestic RCC access in the US while crediting to UA, never had any RCC/PC/US Club agents bat an eye.

Shareholder

Yes, I remember getting one of those and sticking it onto my Plat card. It may have looked stupid but it saved AA a few million compared with the cost of issuing and mailing millions of elite cards in 2002.

However, I don't see why UA couldn't send full benefit year valid cards with our CO number on it for those who've matched accounts. Use this method for the rest. I dare say a high percentage of elites have now done the match, and an email reminder blitz could prompt others to do so.

Remember, UA will have to issue over 60 million new cards since anyone with an account will ultimately get one, if not for the new benefit year, at some point in 2012.

avidflyer

For what it is worth: I just completed a 1K challenge and got a note from the Status Match director informing me that my 2011 card was on the way and I would receive a new 2012 card before the end of January. She said they were going to start processing 2012 cards soon.

tarheelnj

I haven't flown AA in years, but as a lifetime MM Gold, I keep getting new cards every year with the new expiration date. Maybe they're hoping I'll come back? Unfortunately as a EWR captive now, there's nowhere to go on AA from here that would make it worth passing on the CO/UA alternative.

Still have around 500,000 miles I need to figure out how to use. There are always surveys, small $ purchases, or other ways I add a few miles each year to keep the account active.