Background:
- Joined FT 10+ years ago.
- Used to be a road warrior. Had CO Gold status several years up to 5 years ago including Plat for a year, then Silver status until 3 years ago. Now, no status & 2-3 personal trips a year from IAH.
- After business travel ceased & with some redemptions, I still had 275k OnePass miles.
- I won 100,000 miles in this summer's Continental 3 Million Mile Giveaway 2009

So, now I'm sitting on 375 thousand miles and no status. Is there a polite way to contact OnePass and say, "Hey, I'm a big winner. How about a year of Silver Elite so I can <brag / use miles / not feel like both a winner & a schlub / etc.>

Should I just call the OnePass center, or is there someone I should contact specifically? Is this worth the effort?

No. Unless you have status with another airline and then you can request a status match. Otherwise they're not going to give you even silver status based on your mileage balance and that you've been elite in the past. Why would it matter anyway if you're just going to be burning miles? You won't receive upgrades on award tickets. If you want free baggage allowance and priority boarding then apply for one of the credit cards. Otherwise just redeem for First/BusinessFirst awards or buy a revenue ticket and upgrade with miles.

I am curious about what is your tax liability?

I believe years ago a winner of 1 million AA miles ended up gave up his winning because the tax bill was huge. (AA did report the winning and tagged a ridiculous valuation to it.)

Just get the Chase Presidential Plus Card, it comes with most or all of the benefits of Silver.

I'd get a good tax lawyer before giving up such a prize. What the airlines charge to buy miles outright bears little relation to how we value the miles.

I decide whether to use miles or cash for family member tickets, using a valuation of 1.2 cents/mile. That would value this 100K prize at $1200.

+1

Just because an entity 1099's you (or threatens to 1099 you) for an amount, doesn't make it legit.

If it's cash, it's one thing. But on an item, there's discretion.

Exactly. Get a good accountant and just document the difference between the value on the 1099 and the value you impute, keep good records of how you calculated the value and proceed. Very little tax would be due if you know what you are doing and value miles correctly.

The most I can imagine they'd value the miles at would be pro-rated to what you can buy online. I believe AA is $0.028/mile on purchase, so I can't see how AA could value it greater then $28k. So taxable cost would be about $9.5k... I'd pay that for 1,000,000 RDMs and LT gold. Figure that's 10 international premium tickets, that should be worth $9.5k.

OP, what's the driver for Elite status. Elite seats, check-in, boarding, etc?

Yeah certainly talk to a CPA about the valuation. I don't even think you'd have to go as high as the purchase value on the open market. I'd think as a gift the value of it would be the cost basis to the airline for the miles. But, I'm not the kind of CPA that does taxes. Check it out.

Yes. If you fly 25,000 elite qualifying miles in one calendar year, you'll get Silver Elite. 50k gets you Gold, and 100k gets you Platinum.

Regarding the Presidential Plus card, that's a good suggestion for your situation. Assuming that with miles to burn, you plan on mostly award travel, then the Elite Access and Free Bags benefits would be the Silver Elite benefits you'd use anyway, as you'd not have much use for 25% bonus on paid travel or upgrades.

It is still only 75K for platinum, at least for now.

To the OP, why do you need the status? Just because you want it? Or something else?

i think most of us value miles higher than the airline would indicate on the 1099.. i'm getting a 1099 this year for 250,000 UA miles and some other goodies. pretty clear that they valued the miles at 2c each. i decided before entering the contest that the taxes on 2c/mi were a good price on a large block of miles.

also included were 12.5k EQM -- apparently taxed at $0. nice to know EQM are worthless. :-)

I was informed that I will receive a 1099 valuing the 100,000 miles at $600, which means they are worth $0.006 or 0.6� per mile. Frankly, I believe this is a bit of a lowball and not worth arguing down. As you all know, I could get 4 domestic SaverPass round-trips with advance planning or similar equivilant.

I thought if I could talk my way into Silver, I could take advantage of better seat availability for low milage trips, e.g. not need to use EasyPass to get to EWR. But after reading these posts, I am not planning on it.

Don't argue with that number, take it and be happy

AA screwed that guy royally (or tried to screw) who won the million miles

Why not buy cheap CO tickets for your own travel and use your miles for a spouse, friend or family member to travel with you. That way, you'll be accumulating EQM's for yourself.