Nothing is more satisfying than having a bunch of benefits when you fly to your desired destination. United Airlines premier access benefits guide, all in one article. That’s right, folks! Who doesn’t want to enjoy all the benefits that your airline carrier offers to you, especially when you purchase their products and services? This is also true with United Airlines, which is one of America’s major airline carriers. In fact, their Premier Access lets you fly with no stress at all.
In this travel guide prepared by Treknova, we will take a look at the benefits of United Airlines Premier Access throughout your travel experience.
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A Brief Overview of United Premier Access
When you travel with United Airlines, you must have probably heard about their Premier Access program. Also, note that this program is in relation to the different Premier statuses i.e., Premier Silver, Premier Gold, Premier Platinum, and Premier 1K. So, if you already are a member of any one of these Premier statuses, you are entitled to enjoy the several benefits of the United Premier Access program.
Now, if we have to define what exactly is Premier Access, it could be no simpler. Thus, it is like a storehouse of several benefits that allow customers, particularly those who are Premier elite status members to travel with greater convenience and most importantly, avail of priority services.
In other words, when you purchase Premier Access on united, you are entitled to a hassle-free airport experience, right from the moment you check-in and until you’ve picked up your baggage.
In the following section, we will learn about the program eligibility and various benefits that are in store for you when you purchase United’s Premier Access program.
Know if You’re Eligible for Premier Access United Program
As always, before you can avail of the program’s benefits at the airport, you must first, be eligible. This means you must first meet the requirements that are set by United Airlines for the Premier Access program.
Given below are customers that qualify for the program’s eligibility criteria.
- MileagePlus Premier members
- MileagePlus Club and Presidential Plus credit cardholders
- Travelers in United Polaris Business class, United First and United Business
- Star Alliance Gold members
- Customers who purchase Premier Access for a particular flight
In addition to the above qualifying customers, persons traveling on the same reservation as those who are eligible to receive complimentary Premier Access will also get to avail of the benefits.
But if you are not eligible for premier access then the question arises that how to get premier access. It is very simple, you can purchase through the kiosk at the airport and also through the official website.
Thus, when you become eligible for the United Premier Access program, you can verify the same by looking at your boarding pass. At the top center of your boarding pass, you should see “Premier Access” printed in clear bold letters, which indicates that you are now ready to enjoy the benefits the program offers to you and your traveling companion(s) as well.
Benefits of United Airlines Premier Access
Now that you have got some idea about what is United Premier Access, here, we will also glance at what benefits it offers to you.
If you have purchased Premier Access at the time of booking your reservation, including additional reservations for your traveling companion(s), you get to avail yourself of the benefits given as follows.
Premier Access Check-in
When you arrive at the airport for departure, you will often notice that the check-in area is crowded and you just can’t help but stay in the queue for your turn to come. But, if you have Premier Access, you got premier access to the security lane and check-in through a designated area.
A great thing about Premier Access is that their check-in area does not have long queues as the standard public check-in area. So, you have a benefit here. Furthermore, the check-in area has separate lines based on your Premier elite status type. Also, regardless of your elite status type, you can still check in through the other queue for elite members, provided there are no persons waiting in that particular line.
Premier Access Security Lane
There is a separate Premier Access security line which has a much shorter queue than the TSA Pre-Check line and the standard security line available to other passengers.
However, bear in mind that both the Premier Access security line and TSA Pre-Check line may sometimes, not differ much. For instance, you can pass through these security checks quickly without having to remove or take out items, such as shoes, electronics, food items, etc.
United Airlines will offer Premier Access security line access to customers at select airports only. Thus, the airports where you can avail of this benefit are listed below in alphabetical order:
- Albuquerque (ABQ)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS)
- Anchorage (ANC)
- Austin (AUS)
- Baltimore-Washington International (BWI)
- Boston Logan (BOS)
- Brussels, Belgium (BRU)
- Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
- Cleveland (CLE)
- Columbus (CMH)
- Dallas Fort Worth (DFW)
- Denver (DEN)
- Detroit (DTW)
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
- Fort Myers (RSW)
- Guam (GUM)
- Harlingen (HRL)
- Hartford (BDL)
- Honolulu (HNL)
- Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
- Jacksonville (JAX)
- Kansas City (MCI)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Melbourne, Australia (MEL)
- Miami (MIA)
- Milan, Italy (MXP)
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP)
- Nashville (BNA)
- New York LaGuardia (LGA)
- New York/Newark (EWR)
- Oklahoma City (OKC)
- Orange County (SNA)
- Orlando (MCO)
- Panama City, Panama (PTY)
- Paris, France (CDG)
- Pensacola (PNS)
- Philadelphia (PHL)
- Phoenix (PHX)
- Pittsburgh (PIT)
- Portland, Oregon (PDX)
- Providence (PVD)
- Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
- Quebec City, QC Canada (YQB)
- Raleigh-Durham (RDU)
- Reno (RNO)
- Richmond (RIC)
- Rochester, NY (ROC)
- Sacramento (SMF)
- Salt Lake City (SLC)
- San Antonio (SAT)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- Savannah (SAV)
- Seattle (SEA)
- Singapore, Singapore (SIN)
- St. Louis (STL)
- Sydney, Australia (SYD)
- Tampa (TPA)
- Tulsa (TUL)
- Washington Dulles (IAD)
- Washington National (DCA)
- West Palm Beach (PBI)
In the future, other airports may also make it to this list.
Premier Access Priority Boarding
United Airlines offers priority boarding benefits to its Premier Access members at all airports that the airline serves. As we have already covered in our previous article, United has formed different groups that are based on the elite status of its customers are eligible for.
Thus, your boarding group is determined by your elite status type. For example, depending on your elite status, you could be boarding your flight in either Pre-boarding, Group 1, Group 2, Group 3, and up to Group 9 category along with other passengers (minors included). Again, taking another example, if you are a United credit cardholder and purchased Premier Access, then you can board your flight with Group 2.
If you want to know the different boarding groups along with their respective passengers/members as determined by United Airlines, then here is a list.
(a) Pre-boarding
This group includes:
- Unaccompanied minors
- Customers with disabilities
- Active members of the military
- United Global Services members
- Families traveling with children aged 2 and younger
- Premier 1K members
(b) Group 1
This group includes:
- Premier Platinum members
- Premier Gold members
- Star Alliance Gold members
- Customers seated in premium cabins: United Polaris, United First, and United Business
(c) Group 2
This group includes:
- Premier Silver members
- Star Alliance Silver members
- Customers who have purchased Premier Access or Priority Boarding
- United Explorer, Club, Presidential Plus, and Awards Cardmembers
(d) Groups 3-5
This group includes:
- Economy Plus
- United Economy
- Basic Economy
Premier Access Priority Baggage Handling
You can avail of the priority baggage handling benefit via United’s Premier Access. This benefit makes united premier access worth it and it is taken care of by the airport staff that manages passengers’ baggage. These staff will put a special tag on your baggage and take them to the priority baggage handling section.
The special tag placed on your baggage allows the airport’s staff members to easily identify baggage that belongs to Premier Access members (that is you). Also, the baggage of such members is the first one that is unloaded off of the plane. This means you will be among the first passengers to receive your baggage thus, minimizing the wait time.
Extra Baggage Allowance
This is one of the major united premier benefits that you are allowed to take some extra luggage. You can take extra two complimentary bags with you 72 pounds. The Premier Gold members also can take up to three complimentary bags up to 72 pounds which gives peace o mind to the premium customers.
It allows you to take your complimentary luggage to major destinations like the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, U.S.
Complimentary Drinks and Snacks
It is one of the most popular benefits which attracts customers towards itself. Food and drinks on the flight are way expensive and people hesitate to buy them on board. Few peoples also have to wish to eat in the middle of the clouds above the earth and this benefit does not let customers feel regret.
With the benefit of this premier feature, you are allowed to get one Complementary Drink and Snack for premier 1K® customers.
Access to most sold-out flights
While having Premier Access you are allowed to access most sold-out flights. Every different plan has different benefits such as:
- United Premier Silver gets access 24 hours before flight departure.
- United Premier Gold also gets access before 24 hours of flight departure.
- United Premier Platinum gets access before 2 hours of flight departure.
- United Premier 1K® gets access before 1.5 hours of flight departure.
Premier Access Priority Help Desk Phone Assistance
Finally, another useful benefit you can avail of as a Premier Access member is priority assistance from the United customer service center. If you have any queries and need assistance quickly, you can contact the airline’s customer support help desk their phone number is 1 800 864 8331. You can also find their help desk number printed on the back of the membership card.
FAQs
From where can I get PremierAccess?
First of all, Premier access is not available for customers who are traveling on a basic economy ticket. Customers can purchase and get premier access through the website of United Airlines at any time. If you are not tech-savvy then you can get through offline modes such as kiosks at the airport or you can make a call to the service center.
How do I know that I got Premier access?
In order to purchase premier access on the website or at the airport’s kiosk, you have to print a boarding pass at the airport at the time of check-in and then printed it on the boarding pass which you need to show at the security lane easy access.
Is Premier Access Non-refundable?
The answer is a big yes. If you purchase premier access and want to refund then this action will deny by the airlines. But in case of flight cancellation, you can make a request for a refund at united.com/refunds.
Premier Access is valid for multiple people on my itinerary?
You can purchase premier access for multiple people if available. Keep in mind that every time when you purchase premier access then purchase for each individual separately. To know more about the extra benefits of the premier access then click on this link click here.
Wind-up
As we see from the above-mentioned benefits, United Airlines does offer some, if not many, perks to its Premier Access members. However, the one benefit which you will not get as a United Premier Access member is access to United and United Express-operated lounges at airports. So, this may be quite a significant inconvenience for you and your traveling companion.
