There is a current thread about status match. Question: Is it a good idea to get a status match if you are going to fly the airline just a few times next year? Or, is status match a one time thing and you "use up" your once-in-a-lifetime chance to get status match?

In 1999, I was UA Premier. I got CO to status match me, which was great because I was flying on NW about twice a month. Once matched, I was upgraded to first about 95%. Also that year, I wrote NW and got a status match. I did this because this was just before CO/NW started unlimited free upgrades and I got 4 upgrade coupons from each. I think I only used 6 of the 8 coupons before they changed to unlimited, but, at the time, it was the right move.

In the reply letter, NW said this would be a "one time only" thing.

In 2000, I was PremEx on UA and got status matched again on CO (I earned Silver, but got Gold in the match). There was no point in getting matched on NW and, due to their reply letter, I figured it wasn't worth pushing it.

In 2001 and 2002, I was Premier on UA and Silver on CO, actually based on butt-in-seat. In 2003, my flying patterns changed and I was only Premier on UA.

I've also been able to status match with Frontier, both by letter (previous years) and by their Quick Ascent program (for 2004).

My question is... if I wrote CO and tried to get status match for 2004, would I be "using up" my chances to get future status matches, assuming that I am going to fly <25k with them next year? Odds are not great that I will fly CO or NW much in 2004, but, it would be nice to get first class if I could for as much as I might use them.