New job w/ 70% travel weekly:Free lounge access anytime? UA challenge? best tips?
 

I fly out to a new location in North America weekly and it will likely include international locations very soon.

They choose hotel(random), carrier(united usually) and location(anywhere) while utilizing an very elite mileage card to pay for tickets(Nearly all workers travel like this, I.T network engineering firm) so I assume I get 1.5 miles or maybe free lounge benefits already.

Mostly domestic economy fares(F?) round trip, nothing special.

I see the yearly price is $500-ish.

1. What premier status allows me to get free lounge access on any flight type?

2. What about other carrier lounges part of the flyer mile alliance?

3. Is there any challenges like AA for quickly jumping premier levels?

4. What other major bonus do I get from premier levels?

I'm 100% re-reimbursed for all travel expenses including food, taxi, car storage, car rentals, gas, hotels, bag fees, etc so money saving perks are a non issue. In some locations we will have zero time to see the sights or tourist attractions but we won't know until we get there and likely will have the ticket to the next location ready.

I assume that only leaves lounge access, line skipping TSA, and free plane rides....can someone advise me one what I should look forward too?

5. At what status can I expect to get bumped to business or first class regularly?

6. A co-worker asked another long term-er about what amazing things he would get with frequent flyer miles. He was told:

"All you get is a bag of peanuts and told to to shut da **** up".

I'm beginning to suspect this might be true.....the amount of effort to get these benefits is staggering for all who aren't being paid to fly regularly it seems. I'm hoping for some advice on how to quickly get elite asap...if it's even worth it at all.

None and none. If you spend enough to get GS, then your chances for domestic upgrades increase significantly.

If you're traveling that much, and a lot of it is domestic, just get the Visa Club Card.

The $395 annual fee one?


What's the point of an elite lounge if you have to pay to to get entry? I assumed it was a backdoor way if you don't fly often enough.

2. If you get a United Club membership, you can also access many *A lounges. Most of these are outside of the US.

3. You can apply for a status match if you have status with another FFP:
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps...omoCode=TB8230

Is the card used to pay for the flights in your name or the company's?

Is this for the card? Which card?

No UA premier status allows free lounge access in the US. Status on another *A carrier may allow lounge access (I'm not completely sure). If you are *G (or flying business or first), you'll get lounge access before a departing international flight. If you are Gold or better on UA (or flying business or first on UA), you should get access on all domestic connecting legs for an international trip.

If you are *G or gold or better on UA, you will get lounge access (on other *A lounges) in connection with international flights

As far as I know, UA doesn't have challenges except if you are already elite, there might be either a status challenge or a match (check other posts for answers to this).

4. Check UA's website for elite benefits.

5. Global services might get you regularly upgraded. Note, there are no free upgrades on international flights.

skipping TSA (or going through the pre-check line) comes only with either pre-check or global entry or nexus

On UA the only way to get status is to fly (or status match). Some airlines you can get a certain amount of qualifying miles by credit card spend.

In the US, all lounges are membership fee based. the only way to get in without a membership (other than being a guest) is in connection with an international flight if you are in business or first or if you are *G

Wow, there's a lot here. A few thoughts from another domestic traveler (typically 85-95 segments per year) to get you started. I'm assuming UA Is your choice.

1. For domestic travel, you have to buy a membership. For me, it's been worth it over the last few years, but others will say not worth the money. For international, you need to have gold with UA (or buy the membership) which is Star Alliance Gold and gets you lounge access. There is also a club access credit card.

2. Check out the Star Alliance website for a full list of partners

3. Sometimes. Call UA, tell them you're starting to travel a lot, and ask for a status challenge. IMO, your goal should be to get to Gold status ASAP.

4. Too much to list here, suggest you check out the benefits on the UA website.

5. "Regularly" won't happen for most people. Most people report little success with free upgrades until they get to 1K status (100,000 qualifying miles). And then it depends on your routes and other factors.

6. To some extent this is true when you compare to 5-10 years ago. But when you travel as often as you will, lots of stuff goes wrong. Having status makes you much less miserable than those without status, and I think you'll appreciate it most then.

Unless your work has connections you generally need status in another airline to qualify for a challenge.

You get Economy+, extra baggage & waived award change fees, oh and waived fees for same day change or standby.

I think in your post you referring to the United Visa Club card that gives you United Club membership. The annual fee is just shy of $500 per year. It may be worth it if you would want to access the lounges during your domestic flying.

You can go to the United web site or to the Wiki associated with this United forum to learn more about the benefits of the various levels of elite status with United, but in short, the chances of an upgrade to first class depend on a combination of elite status and how much you paid for the ticket and of course whether United was able to sell the seats in first class via offers to upgrade to check in to flyers with no status.

Otherwise, with elite status you get priority boarding, and check in. Also, once you have gold status with United, you get free lounge access on all international itineraries. You can also access any Star Alliance Gold lounge when traveling overseas.

There are other benefits to status, but like I said, check out the United web site or this forum for more details.

Whose card is it?

Lounge access with status on UA/AA is international-only. Otherwise, the lounges would be insanely full or they'd have to build even more. It's just the model that was settled on.

It's not an elite lounge. It's a fee based membership lounge. United doesn't have a lounge that is intended for elites. They have the fee based United Lounge, as well as the Global First Lounge, which is for passengers in the most premier cabin on international flights.

There are two "backdoor ways" to gain entry if you are not a paying member. One of these is to gain elite status (Gold), but that only works for international flights.

The other way is to get a UA Club credit card. $395 annual fee for the card is less than the annual membership fee for most folks, and you get 1.5 miles for every dollar spent on the card, plus some other perks.

Depending on your home airport, you might want to consider getting an Amex Platinum card instead of the UA Club card. Amex Centurion lounges are much nicer that United Clubs, IMHO, but there aren't a whole lot of them around.

You're missing one method: elite status on another star carrier.

There is no "Elite Lounge". Yes, just get the $395 card if you're travelling a lot domestically. It'll also get you reciprocal privileges at *A lounges.

The Visa Club Card is not really a "back door way". It actually provides a United Club membership as a benefit.

The best "back door" way is status matching to an overseas *A carrier. You need status and a history of flying their routes to get their attention though.

There's a *A carrier out there that'll match anyone to Gold for a 2 year term with no history. Well documented, but sometimes difficult to hear back, or even GET your credentials.