Originally Posted by
Statguy
Ugh...I was afraid of this. Since my yearly travels usually begin towards the end summer, it will be hard to accrue enough miles to earn any Elite status by the end of the calendar year. I know such miles would not expire as long as you keep your account active, but is there any benefit to keeping miles earned in the prior calendar year if you don't reach Elite status? I suppose you could still redeem them for discounted travel and other products that cost miles.
They are two different things. Elite miles are just used as a measure of how much you flew in the Jan 1 - Dec 31 year, the next year they are reset to zero again as a counter for the next year. Your elite status is based on what level you hit before Dec 31st.
Whenever you fly, you are given miles that can be redeemed for rewards. These do not reset every year and you can accumulate them from flying, credit cards, car rental, etc. All of these activities contribute to your total number of miles, which you can redeem for flights, etc. They are irrelevant to your elite status.
Hope this helps.