Was just refused access to LGA UC if I didn’t put my OZ number on the flight.

As I didn’t want to deal with the potential lost E+ in the time period of changing back and forth, I just went across to AC. I was really looking forward to checking out the UC though

dinoscool3 That�s unacceptable- I would be upset! Did you show them the policy on the UA website which specifically says a membership card will do?

�If you belong to a frequent flyer program for another Star Alliance member airline, a valid Star Alliance Gold membership card and a same-day boarding pass for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport, OR a same-day boarding pass showing Star Alliance Gold status for travel on a flight operated by a Star Alliance member airline and departing from the same airport, are needed to access United Club locations at the departure airport.�

Personally haven�t had issues at EWR yet though some agents are confused I just say �manual star alliance entry�. IMO AC lounge at LGA has better food than UC at LGA though. So you�re not missing out on much!

I would be more angry if I didn�t have an alternative. I pushed back, but when they held their ground I just exited. We�ll see in DEN this afternoon and IAH this weekend. IAH I�d be especially annoyed.

The LGA agents have claimed it�s a new policy they have to follow when I said I�d done it several times before. I haven�t flown a domestic only itinerary in several months though.

I'm ready to eat crow.

Just tried in DEN, and the agent did a better job of explaining it. Apparently the process is now to print a fake boarding pass with your alternative FFN on it. But your main BP is not effected, and nothing is changed on the ticket. I just got into DEN using that method, and nothing appears wrong on my ticket, my E+ seat is intact, and I'm showing up on the upgrade list still.

And now I'm hitting myself for not getting into LGA. In my defense the UA agent in LGA did not explain it well.

dinoscool3 Well, that's new. Are passengers able to print this themselves (and if so how) or do you have to speak to a human agent to do it?

My assumption (always risky) is the verbiage around the BP indicating *A Gold OR a *A status card was to cover the case, which certainly happens, of the BP not having any FF info printed on it and presumably not loaded into the reservation. I doubt it's there to cover the odd edge case of an alternate FF number and status.

Doing it this way worked for me:

1. Check-in using the FF# that gives you lounge access and print the boarding pass at the kiosk.
2. Then get a gate agent to change the FF# in the booking to the program to which you want to accrue, and print you a new boarding pass. You dont really need the new board pass as the old one still works, but this way you can be sure it is done correctly because you'll see it on the new boarding pass. Then use the original boarding pass to enter the lounge.

I did have trouble getting this to work at one UA lounge, I'm not sure why, but I showed them my status card and they let me in based on that.

This was done directly at the lounge. I came up, said I was entering using a different number, she asked for my OZ number and original boarding pass, then printed out a new boarding pass that showed my OZ number but still showed me on the upgrade list, and E+ seat. I don't see a way passengers could do it themselves, still required talking to the lounge agent.


If the original boarding pass still works in your scenario, then I guess UA has standardized printing fake boarding passes that show the lounge access status, without actually changing the information on the back-end. It produces a new barcode I guess?

UA has now got a very bad habit in a couple of outstations with *G and the issues if they can't put the number in their system. Showed them both my virtual card and my almost worn out plastic one with my name, number and lifetime expiration date on it. Since the UA and OZ systems have issues with matching names (the way the OZ system Koreanizes names) no privileges. Still haven't heard back from CS when I cut and pasted after a month the *A policy to remind them so far. I did check with both OZ and ANA flying home from Tokyo last week and the OZ manager had a chat with a UA manager at the HND club who said that it was being investigated and it would likely be a month before they would even start to look at it. ANA manager told the UA manager that this was happening there an awful lot and wasn't helping relations within the alliance. The same thing was happening a couple years ago for a while and luckily at ICN one of the UA people was being a jerk when I was dealing with an upcoming connection at LAX was told by OZ, that reciprocity (or lack there of) was a two way street. Actually got a nice email from HQ when I got home and an apology at my home airport the next day when I picked up my bag that it somehow didn't make 3 hour layover at LAX for both CS issues.

I�m flying domestically in a few days and will have some extra time at the airport. I�m using my MP number on the ticket to access E+ (lifetime gold). I am also star gold on SQ. Could I show the lounge staff my digital SQ card to gain access to the lounge while still having the MP number on my ticket for E+ access? Does this work?

I forgot to update, for my flights home, the agents in both AUS and IAH tried to do the old way and it crashed their computers both times. At that point they just let me in. So not everyone has been told about this new method.

Yes this works, see upthread. The apparent new system is they will print a fake BP with your SQ number on it.

Got in with no problems at EWR with Premium Services agent, but at MCO UC the agent (who to their credit, was friendly and not condescending) denied me citing "double dipping not allowed", despite UA website stating Star Gold membership card + United boarding pass is sufficient). Thanks to the kind soul behind me who overheard and guested me, but I'm confused by the inconsistent policy. What could I have done in a similar situation?
I have non-United Star Gold, and was crediting to United for this trip.

Change to SAG for entry and then change it back prior to boarding. Should not be necessary, but can work when encountering MOLAs.

Yes, at IAH a few weeks back I was told the same thing, but the agent changed it to *G then changed it back no problem. Said a memo had gone around about double dipping.

It is moot for me as my last domestic travel is done for the year, and I will not have UA status next year.

Just a quick question, if I may: I'm planning to access United clubs with TK *A Gold status while crediting my (UA) flights to my Aeroplan account - any idea if I will have to work around the double-dipping restriction as well?

UA 1K and SQ Gold. Over the past month, I�ve successfully entered the UA Club in Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix on domestic only itineraries using my SQ Gold Digital Card without issue. Today, while entering the Club in Denver they just switched my FF# to SQ and let me in. I didn�t realize they did a full swap until I looked closer at the new boarding pass. I then tried to swap the FF# number back at the customer service desk (in the lounge) and they refused saying no double dipping. In the end, the gate agent changed it for me without issue right before boarding started. Fortunately, my E+ seat never changed even with the SQ number on th boarding pass. I didn�t check the upgrade list before/after because I knew there weren�t upgrades.

I didn�t realize how inconsistent UA was with this until I found this thread. While I was still earning SQ Gold (crediting flights to them) I used my UA *G to access the SQ lounges and they never had a problem.