I was quoting from memory, but I double-checked and I was correct. You can see it in the first item here. Silver and Gold get 5*, Plat and 1K (and GS, though it’s not mentioned) get President’s Circle.

Back on the thread’s topic, though: Marriott knows how many people are getting status from UA, and they know much much they’re staying, and there’s somebody there who can (but won’t ) tell you how profitable or unprofitable the promotion has been. If it’s been unprofitable, they’ll certainly change it. If not, they may well keep it the same (meaning, UA Gold -> Marriott Platinum).

Even if they do change it, it might be like the Hertz program where it’s multi-tiered; perhaps they’ll give Silver and Gold the new Marriott Gold and Plat, 1K, and GS the new Marriott Platinum. That would obviously be an upgrade for UA Silvers and a downgrade for UA Golds, but if they’re having a lounge capacity problem, that might address it.

Me too. In fact that inspired me to open a Marriott card to earn a bushel of points which I used to become Companion Pass on WN (travel package) and stop flying UA domestic. Thanks UA!

Reciprocity from the passenger / guest perspective has nothing to do with it. UA has decided that providing these benefits to Marriott Platinum customers is not profitable: they won’t generate enough new business to make up for the cost of providing these benefits. (Remember: UA has to pay actual cash to *A partners for every entry into a partner club).

PS: It wouldn’t do you any good on domestic trips anyway, where UA Gold doesn’t get United Club access. Not sure if you fly UA domestically or not.

Attaining any UA status — other than via the Marriott status match — requires 4 flights per year on UA aircraft.

I suspect that UA doesn’t make much money on Gold+ passengers who don’t actually fly UA flights. I would think that the outlays for the lounge would likely outweigh the payments they get for the frequent flyer miles they award you. Unless you’re traveling a lot of JV flights — TATL with LH group or AC; TPAC with NH or NZ — they may well come out behind.

The RewardsPlus mappings have been on a year-to-year basis from day 1. You won’t really know what your 2019 status will be until either (a) they make an announcement or (b) you check your account on February 1.

I’d choose an airline alliance based upon whether or not they fly you where you need to go at times that makes sense to you. For airport lounge access, consider Amex Platinum or Priority Pass. For hotel lounge access, if that’s an important perk for you (as opposed to buying up to the club level on the stays where you care most about it), and you don’t want to rely on UA and Marriott agreeing on something favorable to you every year, I think organic status at the chain that serves your needs the best is the way to go.

*A works well for me because it meets the first criterion, and UA is my choice from within *A because I do a lot of domestic UA flying. If you find *A is the right alliance, but you don’t care for MileagePlus, Aegean and Asiana both have the reputation of being easy carriers on which to earn *G.