my clinics were incredibly busy over the last few weeks, and because of that, my daily trolling of the flyertalk was on the low side. reading through this thread, it appears that united airlines is devaluing arguably one of the most lucrative parts of the star gold experience.
under the rules of the star alliance, star gold members are required to get an extra free checked bag (or 50lbs if based on the weight system). it used to be that on domestic itineraries (canada counts as international in this case), you would have to pay for your first checked bag if you were a non-elite. star alliance silver status would exempt you from having to pay for your first checked bag. star alliance gold gave you three free pieces of checked luggage.
now, under these changes, star alliance gold status will get you only one free piece of checked luggage, weighing no more than 50lbs. this is the bare minimum to be in accordance with star alliance rules. members of united mileage plus who receive star gold status (i.e., premier gold, platinum, and 1k), continue to receive 3 pieces of checked luggage. star alliance silver status no longer gets you any free bags at all, unless you earned your star silver status through mileage plus, which would allow you one free bag.
i consider this to be the most lucrative aspect of the star gold program because this is the only part of the program where you can actually assign a dollar value. people will value lounge access, priority boarding, and priority baggage different dollar amounts, but one cannot deny the cost of having that extra piece of luggage with you. i suspect that other airlines will be following suit soon.
in verifying this, i got to play with united's fast and very helpful baggage calculator, which can be found here.
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