Applying US DM# to United Flights while both 1K and Chairman's
May 25, 2013, 11:33 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: AA ExecPlat
Posts: 35
Applying US DM# to United Flights while both 1K and Chairman's
I'm currently Chairman's on US Airways (from last year), and just reached 1K on United this year. For the rest of the year I've got several United flights, but want to credit them to my US Airways Dividend Miles # to re-qualify for Chairman's.
My understanding is that despite holding 1K status, so long as that MP# is not on the reservation, I won't get any 1K benefits, or for that matter any benefits since UA does not give *G's much of anything in-flight (not even E+).
My current plan for these flights is to keep my UA MP# on them right up until check-in.
1. Since I've chosen E+ exit row seats for these flights, will I be "downgraded" out of these seats as soon as I check in with the US DM#? If so, am I able to choose the seat I'm downgraded into?
2. If I'm upgraded to first class before I check-in (while still having UA MP# applied), and then switch it to the US DM# at check-in, what happens exactly? Is there some auto-downgrade, and if so is it to a regular economy (non E+) seat? If so, am I able to choose that seat?
3. In #1 and #2, assuming I'd be downgraded, what happens if only Economy Plus seats are *available*? The possibility of this is why if anything it makes sense to check-in with the US DM# as late as possible, right?
4. What about if I use an RPU or GPU on a flight, then switch to my US DM#. Will I retain the upgrade, or what happens there?
5. On some of these flights I am traveling on a separate PNR (but same flights) with a friend who is United Platinum. If we were to combine PNRs, would I effectively be in the same upgrade line?
The important thing for #1 and #2 is that if I know for sure I'm going to be downgraded to regular Economy upon checking in with my US DM#, I'd almost rather just switch the flights to US DM# now so I can at least be sure to select a decent E- seat. I'm afraid I'll get downgraded right after check-in where I'd normally be choosing seats, and they'll stick me in a middle E- seat. Then again, since many of these flights are mileage runs for which I hang my head in shame, perhaps I deserve to sit there in punishment (and I accept my punishment).
Since I should have over 200,000 BIS miles between the two anyways this year, I may just wait for upgrades to clear on long flights and if they clear, keep the US MP#, otherwise switch to US DM#. Is that something people do in this situation?
Basically looking for some pointers from anyone who hits 1K then starts crediting to US Airways. I've searched a lot but this doesn't seem to be a common situation.
My understanding is that despite holding 1K status, so long as that MP# is not on the reservation, I won't get any 1K benefits, or for that matter any benefits since UA does not give *G's much of anything in-flight (not even E+).
My current plan for these flights is to keep my UA MP# on them right up until check-in.
1. Since I've chosen E+ exit row seats for these flights, will I be "downgraded" out of these seats as soon as I check in with the US DM#? If so, am I able to choose the seat I'm downgraded into?
2. If I'm upgraded to first class before I check-in (while still having UA MP# applied), and then switch it to the US DM# at check-in, what happens exactly? Is there some auto-downgrade, and if so is it to a regular economy (non E+) seat? If so, am I able to choose that seat?
3. In #1 and #2, assuming I'd be downgraded, what happens if only Economy Plus seats are *available*? The possibility of this is why if anything it makes sense to check-in with the US DM# as late as possible, right?
4. What about if I use an RPU or GPU on a flight, then switch to my US DM#. Will I retain the upgrade, or what happens there?
5. On some of these flights I am traveling on a separate PNR (but same flights) with a friend who is United Platinum. If we were to combine PNRs, would I effectively be in the same upgrade line?
The important thing for #1 and #2 is that if I know for sure I'm going to be downgraded to regular Economy upon checking in with my US DM#, I'd almost rather just switch the flights to US DM# now so I can at least be sure to select a decent E- seat. I'm afraid I'll get downgraded right after check-in where I'd normally be choosing seats, and they'll stick me in a middle E- seat. Then again, since many of these flights are mileage runs for which I hang my head in shame, perhaps I deserve to sit there in punishment (and I accept my punishment).
Since I should have over 200,000 BIS miles between the two anyways this year, I may just wait for upgrades to clear on long flights and if they clear, keep the US MP#, otherwise switch to US DM#. Is that something people do in this situation?
Basically looking for some pointers from anyone who hits 1K then starts crediting to US Airways. I've searched a lot but this doesn't seem to be a common situation.
Last edited by rubiety; May 26, 2013 at 1:07 am
May 26, 2013, 12:15 am
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: US CP ; LH FTL ; *G
Posts: 1,630
You cannot "combine" PNRs.
May 28, 2013, 4:41 am
#4
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: United Premier 1K 1MM; AA Plat Pro; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Platinum; Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,528
I guess my broader question is why not work to re-qualify for 1K status since you can outright buy Chairman's status at US?
May 28, 2013, 5:01 am
#5
Join Date: Jun 2007
Programs: UA, AA, LH, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Hertz
Posts: 1,759
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 5: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350 Safari/8536.25)
Because he already did.
OP, I'd just wait for the last possible minute to change the FF number. Do it once you're in the airport. Just keep in mind that once you do it on the outbound the number will be changed for the entire trip and you will lose your upgrade priority for the inbound flights. At that point you can either change back once you land or just hope no schedule changes or irrops happen.
As far as GPU/RPUs go, you can use them regardless of the FF number so that shouldn't be an issue.
Originally Posted by mh3265a
I guess my broader question is why not work to re-qualify for 1K status since you can outright buy Chairman's status at US?
OP, I'd just wait for the last possible minute to change the FF number. Do it once you're in the airport. Just keep in mind that once you do it on the outbound the number will be changed for the entire trip and you will lose your upgrade priority for the inbound flights. At that point you can either change back once you land or just hope no schedule changes or irrops happen.
As far as GPU/RPUs go, you can use them regardless of the FF number so that shouldn't be an issue.