United Airlines has several partners outside of Star Alliance with or without benefits beyond miles earnings, such as Azul and Virgin Australia.
I tend to be in Brazil several times a year and fly with all the three airlines here that have partnered with one of the US airlines with elite benefits: Azul & United, GOL & American Airlines, and LATAM & Delta.
You can access United’s page for partner airlines here.
United is a partner with Azul, whose founder, David Neeleman, has started several airlines, and I have had an issue getting elite benefits correctly applied.
United’s page for Azul:
MileagePlus members can earn award miles and Premier qualifying credits on eligible Azul flights. To receive mileage credit, present your MileagePlus number when you make reservations and make sure that it appears on your boarding pass at check-in. Additionally, MileagePlus members receive the following benefits on Azul-operated flights:
- Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K® members are eligible for priority check-in, boarding and baggage delivery
- Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K members receive one additional complimentary checked bag
- Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K members can access the Azul lounge at Viracopos International Airport (VCP) in Sao Paulo prior to travel on Azul international flights
- The issue starts with the fact that you cannot add a partner airline frequent flier number before checking in for the flight on Azul’s website or app.
Looking at their partners, you would think that it is surprising that Azul is not yet a Star Alliance member.
You can successfully add the United number, and it will record it.
But then there is no change in the allowed checked bag. The fare that I purchased included one, and United Gold adds another bag, so the number here should be two.
So, yesterday at the domestic airport in Rio de Janeiro, the agent printed out the boarding pass that didn’t have the United Frequent Flier number correctly applied.
The boarding group is incorrect. The United Frequent Flyer number is not displayed on the boarding pass, and it lacks the ELITE designation.
The agent claimed that the number was on the reservation, and she also showed me her screen, and it was there.
She asked a supervisor to assist her, who claimed it was correctly inserted, but that was not the case.
I pulled up one of the earlier boarding passes from Azul flights that had all this information correctly applied. He took a photo of the image and disappeared into the back room for a minute or two.
Well. Then, I had the correct boarding pass. There is supposedly another system or another way to insert the number correctly, and this information should be displayed on the boarding pass.
The main benefits of the correctly recorded status are the extra checked bag + Diamond boarding (Diamante in Portuguese).
There were only two passengers on the Diamond line yesterday that boarded the plane after Priority passengers, those with kids and elderly (some grey hair appears to be enough).
Conclusion
I have had mixed success with these Azul flights posting to United, but it is not worth my time to waste time chasing them, as the number you earn for these short hops is abysmal.
The Azul, however, should fix its website and app so that you can insert the partner number correctly into the reservation. This would then reflect the correct number of checked bags and boarding priority.
It is a hassle at the airport to have these fixed, and I once had to pay an extra bag charge when the agent didn’t do their job and have my United status correctly reflected.
Have you had challenges getting your elite benefits honored by Azul, GOL, and LATAM? Please comment below.
