WineCountryUA

It appears you may have been two boundary cases.
1) On travel crediting to UA? but using another *A status to enter UC
2) Using a virtual TK *G card

The rules on 1) are a bit vague and while it will work most of the time, you should expect an occasional issue.
For 2), even with UA doing this for 2018, there will be a transition period for agents to get use to this.

So, while you may have not been doing anything wrong, you need to be realistic and expect a few odd looks / questions. You are not traveling in a standard way.

And don't bother call TK, the UC agents are not going take the word of an unknown voice on the phone. Rather they will do what they did, and research it via the tools they have available. One should expect such when using these tricks / travel hacks.

mdbe

WineCountryUA

Did not say it wasn't but (as has been reported multiple times on FT) it may occasionally create an issue. Glad you have avoided that issue.

In The 216

Half the time they don't know what to make of what's on their screen anyway so I wouldn't worry about it.

NoDestinations

Thanks for all of the insight. It was just odd because the whole interaction happened 30+ minutes after I entered the lounge. If they were going to verify my access, I would expect it to occur right after I entered, (or even before they let me in). That being said, the agents I am talking about were super nice and helpful.

DJ_Iceman

It could have played out like this (just a theory).

You checked in with the TK virtual gold card and asked for a boarding pass where they saw you were earning UA miles. The agent could have thought that was odd or wasn't sure if it was okay, but she let you in and then went about researching it. Part of that would include calling up your UA MP profile which probably includes flight history, etc. Twenty minutes later another staff member came on duty and asked what her associate was doing. "Oh, there was this guy who came in earlier with a TK gold card but was earning miles on UA. In fact, he flies UA all the time so I wonder why he's not gold with us or hasn't bought a club membership! See, here..." They look at the computer. "That's weird," the new one says, "Print it out again and see if it switched to his TK number." They print it out, you come walking up and ask for your gate number...

NoDestinations

Interesting... I actually explained to them that I fly TK intra-europe, and that's why I'm only Silver with UA, but Elite on TK. I think she understood then... but they both seemed a little bit skeptical. Is it part of their jobs to reactively (vs. proactively) investigate lounge access after they had already admitted someone?

garykung

DJ_Iceman's version is very plausible.

FWIW - many non-new existing features could be new to the employees handling them. For example, sometime after the merger, a EWR supervisor has to check if I had to pay for SDC fee. I was a UA Platinum at that time.

WineCountryUA

The reason for the skepticism might be due to there has been a "travel hack" to get TK Gold status without flying TK for the purpose of getting UC access on domestic flights by UA flyers. Some of the travel bloggers promoted this for some time. Understand TK has tighten that up a bit but memories linger.

NoDestinations

Yes, but mine was completely valid. I think they might have been confused because my TK status reset (after the year), and the agents saw it on the screen as having no elite miles or segments, that may have been why they were skeptical. While I am confident I did nothing wrong, what would you think the repercussions would be for someone who did do this "travel hack" you are talking about? Wouldn't you say that as long as the status is valid, and under your name, it doesn't matter how you obtained it?

Example: UA gives out plenty of free elite status. From corporate contracts to MM companions... and UA elites are accessing lounges all over the world. Isn't it hypocritical that if an airline gives their customers a complimentary elite status level, that UA would reject that?

Two Bee

So what are they looking at that sometimes seems to take them forever to let me in?
I'm "Lifetime", and you'd think it would be some sort of a green "O.K." message!
I keep meaning to ask at my UC, and will do so on my next visit.
It almost seems like sometimes they are really doing me a BIG PERSONAL, one time exception to grant me admittance.

WineCountryUA

The TK status issue has been discussed widely else. It was mentioned here just as a potential reason for the agent's curiosity.

NoDestinations

This is why they are called "lounge dragons" as if their life would be so much better if no one entered the club.

Two Bee

Especially in DEN if you try to enter via a kaput elevator, & God forbid, mention it to them!

raehl311

Not to rain on your snark parade, but it makes complete sense - there is nothing that says whatever credentials you used to get through security match whatever credentials you're trying to use to get into the lounge.