I did call the Chairman's line today to ask about this "buying one's status" feature and the agent seemed to want me to try to fly to get the miles. In fact, she was all but trying to talk me out of buying up.

This Angel was very friendly, however, and she said that they do have a lot of people (did not quantify "a lot") who buy status.

One thing that she did tell me that did not seem apparent from the web site is that if you are a Chairman's, then and only then can you buy Chairman's status. Unless I misread the web site, that did not seem obvious to me.

So, basically, if you are not currently a Chairman's, then you cannot buy it. (So, current Plat, Gold, and Silvers are apparently out of luck, according to the Angel I talked to this morning.)

I dunno....just reporting what I was told.