After Marriott and SPG synced their programs to allow elite members to profit from their corresponding status in both programs, those who now have Platinum Status with Marriott can also match to United Airlines.
The Rewards Plus partnership with United Airlines allowed members of both Mileage Plus and Marriott Rewards Platinum to transfer status to the partner program.
Even though the status benefit transfer is a bit uneven in terms of who gets what I find it quite useful as for example even United Premier Silver (which is what Marriott Platinums get) allows for complimentary Economy Plus seating and reduced fees.
It’s a little off because because United Premier Gold, Platinum and 1K members receive Marriott Gold which is a pretty useful status that grants lounge access, breakfast and decent upgrades. Marriott Platinum on the other hand get United Premier Silver which is worth very little.
The chances of getting a complimentary upgrade as Premier Silver though are slim to none. Ok the option to select Economy Plus at Check-In is nice but apart from that the value is rather small.
Nevertheless I decided to match up my accounts over the Rewards Plus website Marriott provides (access here).
You are prompted to enter your United Mileage Plus account details and it shows that the processing might take up to two weeks.
After less than 48 hours though my Mileage Plus account reflected the Premier status:
I’m not flying United that much anymore and if I do then I usually credit the miles to another program such as SQ KrisFlyer where I pool most of my Star Alliance miles. It might come in handy though so why not as long as it’s complimentary. Every once in a while you might be able to snatch an upgrade at a gate on leisure flights with very few elite fliers.
A few weeks ago John also wrote an article about all the reciprocal benefits that are available to Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards members through the merger (see here).
Conclusion
These goodies certainly sweeten the case of the Marriott-SPG merger; lets see how long these positive feelings will prevail but at least until the end of 2017 elites should be able to enjoy the best of both worlds. I had my first Marriott stay for a long time the other day at one of their Bali properties and was pleasantly surprised.
While Marriott partnered up with United, SPG Platinum Members can enjoy benefits at Emirates and Delta Airlines for the time being. There were also some rumors of partnership talks with China Southern but I never heard any details after the initial reports.
