Recognition of US status when flying United

So I'm flying IAD-LAX tomorrow evening on United, and I just checked in online. I'm Platinum with US, so *A Gold...when I checked in and printed out my boarding pass, beneath my US DM number it says "US *S".

All I can think of is that must mean it's saying US Star Alliance silver? I mean, it's obviously recognizing my US DM number if it's associating some sort of *A status with it, but why does it say *S?

Anyone else run into this when flying UA?

Did you make the booking before you attained US Plat?

Surely a talk with either the checkin or gate agents can fix this...

edit-it wouldn't have mattered if you made the booking before you reached Plat assuming you were Gold before as Gold=*G. But yeah US*S=star silver

I think I remember reading on the UA forum that this is a known glitch in the system.

I mean...in this case I don't think it matters--I'm not checking a bag, and I've still been assigned boarding zone 1. The only thing I care about is making sure my US DM # is associated with the reservation and that I get the miles, but it seems like I don't need to worry about that aspect of it.

I'll have to see if I can find anything else about it being a known glitch...

In your first post you wrote, "beneath my US DM number it says "US *S"." In your last one your wrote, " The only thing I care about is making sure my US DM # is associated with the reservation and that I get the miles."

If your DM number is on the boarding pass, I don't see why you wouldn't get the miles. Of course, hang onto it until you see the miles post. I sometimes will print one online to keep, then do kiosk at the airport to use, just in case one gets lost.

Basically, I'm saying this time, since I'm not checking any bags, I'm not worried about the *G recognition--if I was, I'd want to make sure I wasn't charged for a checked bag, which you aren't if you're *G, but I'm not sure is the case if you're *S. But for future trips, I'm curious as to why I'm only showing as *S.

The problem I've had before with getting my miles on UA is that I have an older DM # that is less digits than United thinks it needs to be, and I haven't always received credit without chasing after it. But you're right, in this case, it seems like even though I'm showing as *S, my number has been recognized by UA and I should get the miles.

Several people on other BB I recall mentioning similar glitches. It seems innocuous enough since you get the miles posted correctly, assuming you do, because you can always show your card for whatever other *G benefits you want. The system is not optimal IME.

So you would think showing your card would be enough, but apparently not! They called *G boarding and I got in line with my current and valid US Platinum (and clearly marked *G) card, and handed the card with my BP to the agent, but he would not let me board. He said "your BP says *S, that's what's in our system, so that's correct." I said "that's wrong, here's my current card clearly showing *G", but he didn't care. Had to wait on the side until the next boarding zone was called!

Ultimately not a big deal because I still got on early enough to get overhead bin space, except that everyone behind me in line probably thought I was a jerk trying to not play by the rules.

That may be the worst thing about this for me. I had the same thing happen on both LH and LO a few months ago but it did not matter because I was in C anyway, and me miles promptly and correctly posted. I would ahve been mortified in your situation. Sounds like a letter to DM at the minimum.

Don't think I'd be mortified? That seems a bit excessive. The OP said they weren't checking bags, only concerned with getting the miles posted. Heck, I've waited out in the airport a few times when I didn't have much, just so I didn't have to deal with all the mess on the plane, get on towards the end, sit down, and leave.

Now hopefully the miles will post correctly.

Well, same situation today LAX-ORD. I asked the ticket counter agent if she knew why it showed as *S instead of *G, and she disappeared for almost 10 minutes, only to return and say "you don't have enough miles in your account." Okay...so that wasn't any help.

Next, I asked the gate agent, hoping she could at least point me in the right direction towards figuring it out, and she said I need to contact US Airways, because she said it's most likely a problem with them not "reporting" my correct status over to United. That at least seems plausible to me, so I think I'll see what US has to say.

Update: Wrote Dividend Miles about this, and they responded basically by saying "We are aware of this problem." No solutions or new information, however.

Educating UA's gate agents and making them aware of the glitch would be a good workaround until it gets fixed.

I just want to know if it's a universal thing for all US preferreds, or if it's only some of us.

Well, checked in last night for an IAD-LHR flight on UA, and same problem! Still only showing on the boarding pass as Star Silver, despite being US Platinum/Star Gold all year (including way before I purchased the ticket)!

I realize this thread has turned into my own little forum to rant every couple months when I fly United, but I just want them to fix this!

I don't think there's much you're going to be able to accomplish other than continue to complain to United, since apparently that's where the problem is.

If the issue was boarding priority then I'd second SS255's response, educate the gate agent -- at the podium, before they get busy with the boarding process -- as to what your status is and the glitch in the system. I wouldn't be surprised if they're not all aware, but it couldn't hurt either way.

If you're checking bags though then it's another story... if they decide to charge you then you're going to have to fight that one after the fact. I'd give it a trial run regardless if you have the time and see what happens... could very well be that you'll get Gold priviledges even though it's spitting out Silver --- unlikely, but might as well find out now.

The biggest issue would come later if any changes are done to either the boarding process or perks for Silver. But other than threatening to stop flying United -- or actually doing it -- I'm not sure that you're going to get results.

The solution I have used with success is to add the requisite number of zeros ahead of my DM# to equal the current digit requirement. That works. BTW, Us.com does that automatically but not all *A do, so sometimes it happens. LH and partners have zero problem but US seems to have an unfixable issue.

Every time I complain to United, they tell me it's all on US's end and pass the buck back to them...it's an endless cirlce that gets me nowhere.

My main issue isn't boarding priority or bags, it's actually lounge access at the Lufthansa *A Gold lounge at IAD. Sometime's I'm able to get in despite my BP by showing my US Platinum/*Gold card, but I've been denied access before.

And beyond that, it's just the principle of it. This seems like a simple issue, so I don't know why they can't fix it.

I've actually tried that because I thought that would work as well, but in fact, I lose all recognition when I do that! When I add the four zeros, I go from being recognized as *Silver to having no status recognition at all. Ugh.

That is irritating but good to know. It worked for me, but it seems YMMV on this also. What a mess! Strange I have the same situation with OW as well. In the OW case there is no problem at all.

Well that's actually more serious, and I agree that even if you didn't want to visit the lounge, you should be able to -- not to mention that you might want to have access if you travel internationally.

It seems you're flying United with US status, so maybe you should approach it the other way and threaten US to leave them. It's strange though, because it shouldn't be that difficult for someone to make the necessary changes and just "make you" Gold, rather than translate the US Platinum status. Maybe that's something to consider as well... maybe try to find someone high enough in the totem pole -- maybe Randy can help ;-) -- and see if you get status-matched at the correct level, them dump US altogether.

But I realize there are other factors involved... if you're US Platinum because you're flying US on purpose (because of your home base or whatever) then it might be difficult to pursue other programs, even if you're matched.

Good luck with that mess though.

Slightly off-topic but I thought US silvers were entitled to free checked bags on united; in 2009, I remember that my checked bag was complimentry on UA even though I was a US silver. Does anyone have any insight?

Yes, US Silvers are Star Alliance Silvers and get one free checked bag (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52649,00.html). This is down from two free checked bags as of March 2011 I believe.

Yes It used to be two. I thought I heard the max weight changed, just a rumor or can someone confirm?

Well just to update my little saga, despite what my BP said, I was able to access the *Gold lounge in IAD and the *Gold lounge in Heathrow with no problems by showing my card. However, my miles haven't posted yet for the outbound leg, and I have a feeling they're not going to, because my wife's miles (who was on the same flight) posted on Saturday, and I've never had it take more than 3 days for UA miles to post.