Elite Plus Skyteam members not eligible for lounge,etc?

Elite Plus Skyteam members not eligible for lounge,etc?

Holding CI Emerald card which equals to Skyteam Elite Plus but was rejected on my flight on Delta Chicago - JFK connecting China Airlines JFK - Taipei with transit in JFK airport . Told to pay US$25.00 for my luggage at Chicago airport , NO lounge can be used at JFK airport even transit , NO priority boarding at Chicago airport , NO priority luggage tag . If so, Skyteam should change their service as advertised. Completely opposite and not treated WELCOME 

What's your question?

Delta is usually pretty good with Sky Priority, if you've entered your number correctly it shows on the boarding pass. Soungs like the number had been entered wrong or the wrong airline chosen. Did you try showing the card?

I did tell them but they just said the system is not connected and they cannot check with CI themselves. I showed them the card too 

I find it's always best to call the operating carrier to confirm what their system is saying about your status.

Even on OW it often happens due to timing issues of system reconciliation or the lack of effective reconciliation for historical bookings.

What I want to say is that even they saw my card, they just said (You need to call China Airlines because we are Delta Airlines) and gave me an impression that they are totally NOT connected within Skyteam. Or maybe they are not informed of the services they were supposd to p rovide ??

I'm sorry. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. So let me repeat.

Airlines as with all other big organisation work on the basis of systems. Certain systems have been designed so as to allow trained monkey to perform task (with very little pay). As such, at times flashing of cards does not help because said monkey have been programmed/condition to only do what their computer screen tells them.

So, how do we ensure that their computer screen tell them what we expect them to do?

Easy, we call the operating airline to confirm what their computer system is saying about your booking. The way these systems are design allows the user to determine a passenger's status as recorded in the system. The treatment of the passenger and their bags is all driven by the status of the passenger as recorded in the system. No amount of card flashing can dislodged a trained monkey when they are programmed to abide by what the computer system tells them.

Benefits of checking with the operating carrier before flying:

You can corroborate your status with the operating carrier and flag any cases of inconsistency.

If checking occurs in a timely manner, you will be able to escalate the matter with your airline (CI) so that they can contact DL to get the problem resolved.

Airlines within an alliance have designated contact points within their organisation to escalate and resolve with any issues resulting with inconsistency and non-compliance with the alliance's policy. It all comes down to whether you are patient and willing to work with the alliance when its f**ks up.

Of course some alliances does perform better than others. There is a reason why Sky Team is not the most popular alliance out there. One wonders if they have invested in resources to be able to resolve these matters that arise.

Thank you for your advise which I did not realised and will take care in future if travelling again on Sky Team on connecting flight. Totally agreed with what you said