I have not been traveling for a couple of years but I am back at it. I thought I would share what I was able to accomplish in getting my old status' back.

The first thing I did was contact AA. I used to be Platinum. When I did not travel for a year they sent me another Platinum card for the following year anyway, but the year after they only sent me a Gold. When I contacted them they put me on a Platinum challenge, which I met, so I got my Platinum status back at AA through Feb '05. (An unexpected bonus... they gave me the 100% mileage bonus on the trip that qualified me... I thought the 100% bonus would start the flight after).

Then... I called UA. "Will you match AA?". They told me to fax in my activity and they would evaluate. They also advised me they would only match once per member. I did not have the heart to tell them they already did an AA match for me back in 2000. Two days later I logged into the UA site and it said I was Premier Executive--and I have not even flown a single flight on UA for three years!

NWA also gave me a FAX number to send in a copy of three months of AA statements. I only really have two months of activity this year. I faxed that in but so far no change (FAX# 218.254.7566 ATTN Emily)

Then I read this thread and I decided to start calling the hotels. Here's what happened.

At Hyatt, where I used to be Diamond, they put be back at Platinum without a blink.

At Hilton, where I used to be Gold they put me at Silver, but they blinked.

And Starwood, where I was Gold, put me at Preferred Plus.

Not bad for a few phone calls, thought I.

[This message has been edited by pushback (edited Jan 22, 2004).]