Unable to Change Award Ticket FF#
 

The Mrs. is flying PHL-ORD-PEK tomorrow on a one-way UA award using her sister's miles. The wife is a US Gold, and therefore *G, so we want to ensure she gets the appropriate benefits, chiefly baggage and lounges.

When booked by phone, the agent stated that she could only put in her sister's UA FF# on the res but it could be changed later. This seemed weird to me, but whatever - the award inventory was there and we wanted to grab it. Trying to change to her US # on the web site tells us it will work, but when you call up the reservation after "saving" the change, her sister's (non-status) UA MP# is still in there. Two call center reps and a supervisor across two separate calls all agreed that changing it is a good idea, but were unable to get their systems to save the change, just as we saw on the web site.

Maybe this is a non-issue, as she has her US Gold card handy, but of course we'd like to avoid the potential for hassles related to this.

Sorry if this has been answered, nothing came up in search. Any thoughts? I assume we're deep into SHARES low priority bugs here.

For the new UA, the status of the award passagner ticket is based on the source of the miles, not the traveling passagner.

as long as she has her *G card, she will be fine.

I actually really like this new "benefit," as it allows family members traveling with me to enjoy early boarding, etc. without my having to explain that they are "with" me, helping them avoid potential scowls from gate agents.

I can see the benefit there, but in this case she's a Star Alliance status passenger whose travel is paid by a non-status source.

That's what I've assumed, especially since LH lounges aren't in the mix, but I wanted to verify, thanks. Naturally, it'd be nice if the phone agents had a clue or the web site did something other than fail silently.

Interesting. I did not realize this. It explains why I cannot change the MP number for my partner on an award ticket. Pre-merger award shows both MP numbers as mine (miles originated from my account). Thanks.