I'm interested in being comped to elite - probably Preferred Plus. I'm Gold Medallion on DL and will be travelling a lot in the south-east for the remainder of this year. I would stick to DL, but at a lot of the airports I'm flying to, US is the only airline to offer jet service.

So, if anyone has been comped or knows anything about it, please let me know what the best course of action is to follow. Thanks for your help ... !

One other thing - I would be able to requalify for Preferred Plus this year.

Can't comment specifically about US Air, but for comps to a preferred status level with any airline, I would contact the airline's FF program service center. Tell them how much you have flown DL, your plans for the immediate and not to distant future, why you want to switch (i.e. you've been a loyal DL flyer and a colleague has suggested you try US Air, etc.), and the reason why switching to US Air doesn't make sense unless you have equal status (i.e. DL gives you upgrades, quick check-in, etc). They will probably want to see a copy of your current DL card and your end of year FF statement showing you flew the miles. Let us know how this works out.

Thanks a lot for the advice, Mile King. I just called the Dividend Miles service center and they told me to send a fax to their manager. I did that and was told that there shouldn't be a problem and to expect a reply within a week. I'll inform you of the outcome.

Well, now I'm beginning to wonder leroy11. Since when has the Dividend Miles service center been open on the weekend. As far as I know, they run a M-F operation. Hmmm!

Woops! Mistype. I called the regular reservations number and was told to send a fax to Ms. Carole Blazer at the service center. Sorry for the confusion and I'll let you know of the outcome!

I'm Silver Medallion on DL, was Priority Gold in US in 1993 and 1994. About a month ago, my 12 year old son was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and DL really has no decent service or connections RDU-BWI or any WAS airport. I sent a FAX to US Dividend Miles service center explaining the situation, that I would be flying two RT per week, and had a good amount of discretionary carrier business travel later in the year. Carole Blazer called me on my cell phone woithin 24 hours, and the next day they upgraded me to Preferred. Very nice of them.

I moved from San Fran to Boston last month. I am silver on Continental and GOld on American. I called US Air and asked if they would comp me to preferred since I would be living in Boston and expected to be flying Boston to Washington a fair bit. I also mentioned that I usually flew full fare coach. THey told me to write the DMSC with copies of my other statements. About 3 weeks later I got a call from them saying they had comped me to Preferred..

Darin

Still haven't heard from them! This is getting painful ...

Leroy,

Just last week, I called DMSC to see if I could be comped to Perferred. I am currently Silver with CO and with my job promotion, I will be flying to Charleston, WV from SoCal a lot.

I was told to fax a letter to Ms Carole Blazer explaining the above along with my CO flight history. Within a week, I received a phone mail message at home telling me that I have been comped to Preferred.

I just finished the first leg of my first trip. I called to see if I could be upgraded to FC and to check if I was actually Preferred Status. NO FC seats available but yes, the computer showed me at Preferred. However, after entering the counter at SNA by using the Preferred line, the counter agent told me that my name does not me as Preferred in the computer and that the line I used was only for the Preferred customers.

I just sucked it up for my first trip on US. The service was great! I did call again to check things out and 3 days after my first leg of flights, my Preferred miles along with the bonus miles are posted on the website along with the words "Preferred Status".

Give them a call and fax a letter to Ms Blazer, it should work.



[This message has been edited by newself (edited 04-22-99).]

I finally got a Preferred pack in the mail today. However, since I'm Gold Medallion with Delta which has more perks than Preferred (US Airways' Preferred Plus is the equivalent to this,) I don't think I'll make the change after all - it's not worth losing the extra perks over. These include 100% mileage bonus as opposed to 50% as Preferred and upgrade confirmations 72 hours prior to departure. Anyway, thank you very much to everyone who replied on this thread!

I had the same thing happen to me. I am Continental Platinum and USAir only comped me to Preferred status, and it is a loss of to many benefits. So, although I did appreciate the gesture, it really wasn't equivilant and I will be sticking with my old airline.

Most airlines do not comp to their mid or top elite status levels. It takes a lot for them to be convinced to do so (ie. faxing copies of milage statments to show how much you fly, etc.) it's pretty rare...