Recognition of US status when flying United

So this might be already answered, but I did a search and this is all that came up. I'm flying to LAX in early April and the cheapest flights I could find and still get EQMs were on UA out of IAD. US wanted almost $550, and UA was around $400. At least they are widebodies coming and going (767 and 777). So my question is, besides checked bags which I won't have, do I get any perks as a US Gold? I think the standard answer is no. I'm really looking for E+, which I think is explicitly not a perk. But I got it returning from FRA to IAD in the Fall as a *G and didn't know if US elites were able to snag them if there were seats available. Or if they would let seats go out empty instead of giving them to lowly US elites.

What's been people's experiences?

My experience has always been that if you want E+ you have to pay for it. I haven't been too impressed with how UA treats *G. You will get to board early but that's about it.

I've occasionally seen it given to *G's who ask ever-so-politely and who happen to get a particularly pleasant gate agent...but we're talking one out of every 20 times here, probably.

The only other thing I've seen is when E- is oversold, *G's are among the first they'll op-up to E+ to make room in the back...definitely not something you can count on, but it happens from time to time.

I am US Gold this year and just flew PHX-DEN-AUS-IAH-PHX on all UA metal. I booked through Concur (because its a new travel policy). On the true UA or UAX metal, I was given Economy Plus at time of booking through Concur and had aisles in the first 3 rows of economy on the old CO metal that has not been upgraded to E+ yet. I was boarding group 3 and UA works those board groups quickly - there was not a mad dash at the gate like with US' 5 groups. I think UA has 7 or 8 groups. Anyway, the point is, I was able to select E+ seats when booking on Concur as a *G.

Old Continental treated *G well - same day confirmed change with no charge. UA will only do standby. Not impressed with the old UA or the new UA!!!

Don't get me started on the current same day change policies at UA.

I called in 2 hours before a flight i wanted to take (after being on hold for half an hour). The international call center told me that they were unable to do the change because i was required to be at the airport 3 hours in advance. i told them that was a lie. I asked for a supervisor, but by then, my cell phone ran out of batteries and i gave up.

With the new shares system, many UA agents are struggling with it. It took a heritage CO agent at the United Club to walk the UA agent on how to rebook me for missing a flight (maybe i should have arrived at the airport 3 hours prior to departure).

I walk up to the gate to standby for an earlier flight. I asked if i could be added to the list. They said no flight full. The agent then proceeded to clear 2 passengers (out of 6, 1 passenger left). I asked to be added to the list again, and he complied. Turns out, i got cleared, an aisle seat, plus an empty middle. So much for a full flight that i couldn't standby for.

UA is such a mess right now that I'm not going anywhere near them for the time being. And it's a real shame, too, I used to really like flying them in E+ and F, but operations are just too unreliable at the moment.

The only good thing about UA is their mobile website which allows you to see where you are on the standby list as well as the seats. This lets you see how many open seats there are.

To follow with the original poster. I am a US Air Silver, and while traveling on the last 2 flights with United, had a similar system glitch -- Except since I am only a silver, it shows nothing but the US Air membership number, but no Elite status. All my mileage came through correctly at the end of the trip, but I was dumped down to standard zone (the new united system has something like 8 zones, I believe I was in zone 6 or 7). Yuck. I had a similar experience as the OP as well when trying to get it fixed. I went to the US airways desk, and they said it showed I was Silver and "not my problem". I went to the united desk, and they said they could clearly see my member number was valid, but no Elite Status...so "not my problem, either".....Perhaps there is a Star Alliance helpdesk line that fixes said glitches?

Because you are Silver with US, UA does not really recognize that status until you hit "gold".

Star Alliance Silver is included in Premier Access boarding at the very least.

Before my days as a UA elite, I was *A sliver and later *A Gold; and during that time, I'd say that although you are not entitled to E+, chances are that the GA will bump you up to a E+ seat when the flight is full (and usually is for popular domestic flights). This usually happens just before boarding. when people get upgraded, they free up E+ seats, the GA will normally move *G up there in favor of people in the standby list.

I'm not expecting them to upgrade me to FC or anything like that , but I would like Premier Boarding. I believe that is supposed to happen. But, so far....it still doesn't. Maybe it just takes months for the system to catch on....or maybe the airport makes a difference...I don't know.

Yes, as a star silver you are included in premier boarding as per the published rules. Interestingly enough, US does not grant priority boarding of any sort to star alliance silver, which is a bit sketchy in my opinion. At the very least they should get to board after the CC holders!

I'm one of those CC holders, but also currently silver via A3 and prefer to credit there, so end up with a BP printed with some random kettle zone.

I keep thinking I should start collecting all the Airline related Credit cards to get better Zone status. I end up quite often on united instead of US Air, which is good for points, but annoying to go from preferred to what's happened so far (I'm sorry, yes I see your card, but it's not on the ticket, so please go back to the end of the line)