United Premier Gold perks mixed on Virgin Australia in Melbourne

LoyaltyLobby found United MileagePlus Premier Gold lounge access and an extra bag mostly worked on a Virgin Australia domestic flight from Melbourne, with priority check-in and boarding failing.

United lists lounge access and an extra bag for Premier Gold and above on Virgin Australia. The extra bag is excluded on Economy Lite fares. The LoyaltyLobby writer bought a non-Lite ticket on Trip.com and added a MileagePlus number in the Virgin Australia app. Preferred economy seats were free to select. Economy X still required payment. Melbourne domestic check-in was self-service bag-tag printing and drop with no dedicated Gold lane. The extra bag printed at the tag machine even though the app tried to sell more bags. The boarding pass showed Gold but lounge kiosk entry failed until staff checked live status and expiry in the United app. The pass showed Group 2 rather than priority boarding. The flight posted to MileagePlus the next day.

Add a MileagePlus number to a non-Lite Virgin Australia ticket for lounge access and an extra bag, and bring the United app to prove status rather than relying on priority check-in or boarding.