US & UA Club Reciprocity Ending... What to do?
 

I stopped in the UA Club West at DIA this morning before my flight home. The gate dragon is really nice (I sort of know her from many visits) and we were both sad that soon we won't be seeing each other any longer, after the debacle of a merger becomes final.

Anyway... I digress. She said they (UA) are already discussing when the reciprocity will end between US and UA. The "speculation" is that it will begin with any renewals after June 1, 2013. She said any renewals prior to that will be grandfathered for the duration of the term.

My US club expires in early April, so I'm wondering what the best course of action is?

What I think I'll do is this... wait until the last possible moment before expiration and hope that US brings back the 5K PQM bonus, replacing the lousy 1K bonus in place now.

Any thoughts?

First of all, agree or disagree with the merger it by no means is a debacle. They are actually doing things the right way this time around.

As to the the comments of the United Club agent, why would you even believe the statements of an airline customer service agent?!?! They rarely know the truth as to whats going on and seem to enjoy spreading rumors and unfounded information. Same applies to just about any airline employee (regardless of the airline).

I highly doubt anything will change until the 3rd quarter when they airlines actually "merge".

Seriously???
 

Are you telling us that you are taking what a UA CS Rep at club tells you be a fact?

I'm surprised he found one that said something beyond, "What do you want?" :D

As for the club access, it will exist as long as US is still in Star Alliance. You might see a stipulation introduced before then that requires a flight on a Star carrier to enter a United Club.

The only speculation that is happening is one UA Club Agent to another at the desk when they're bored.

You really think UA Management is emailing out to all the Club agents their thoughts?

:rolleyes:

You could hedge your bets, at least for the first year. Getting the AMEX Platinum card gives unlimited US club access (as well as AA and DL access on a ticketed flight). Then for UA Club access, get the UA MileagePlus Club card with the waived annual fee for the first year, which gives full UA Club (and Star Alliance) access. This allows access to all three potential lounges you'd encounter until the dust settles.

Did you ask said employee how THEIR debacle of a merger was going?:)

That's seems like a pretty good idea. And, from a cost perspective, it's pretty much a wash, +/- a few $$$'s. I appreciate the suggestion. And, it would certainly fit the bill, until we see how things play out.

I'm still holding out hope that they run the 5K/PQM offer here, though. That could be the difference between G and P for me this year, based on my projected travel. It would be nice to move to AA with that level, assuming that will even exist in the new regime.

I'll hang on until a few days before my Club expires, with fingers crossed :)

The best advice is to wait and see what's offered as the merger deal progresses. The variables include not only the closing date of the deal, but when the two carriers will move to a Single Operating Certificate, when *A will formally end for US, when the separate UA-US Club deal ends, when your current Club membership ends and so on.

What the Club agent told you is true in the long-term, but the Agent has no idea what that term is and you can have no idea what will and won't work downstream.

The entire issue of whether or not the AA deal is a "debacle" is completely irrelevant to the Club access issue. As with all changes, it will be a great thing for some and terrible for others.

I see several distinct issues here. For lounge access based on *A rules, such as *Gold traveling on an international itinerary, nothing will change until the day US officially leaves *A. However, some other access is based on reciprocity in lounge access between for those with UA and US paid lounge memberships. This could end whenever those airlines decide it will, subject to existing contract conditions between UA and US. The fine point in the lounge memberships probably says that the lists of locations and other terms can change at any time without notice to individual members.

Trying to predict the future and timing of any policies and changes is a futile effort at best.

Just wait and make the best decisions you can at the time with the information that is factually available. I think most posters are saying the UA greeter isn't considered a reliable source with which to make decisions.

I haven't looked into AA lounges but with the exception of my home airport in PHX and during some international trips in PHL I haven't used a club that wasn't UA. It just seems like there are more UA clubs where I fly a lot (DEN, ORD, DFW).

This was actually one of the things I was most dissapointed in losing with the merger. And at this point it is one of the only things I know I'll be losign for sure (and UA code shares).

I don't know if I have any real advice for you at this point besides wait and see. If it were me, the only way I would renew at this point not knowing the future is to get the 5K PQMs (which is the only reason I signed up in the first place).

You could check ebay for some United passes if you know you will really want to use the club in the meantime.

I think this about sums it up best.

And until we have actual facts, we're posting any merger-related discussion over in the master thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...on-thread.html

Now to do a thread cleanup... As always, it is possible to have a healthy discussion, even disagreeing on the facts without getting too personal with other posters.

Thanks.



aztimm