I don't see why you would need two oneworld elite status accounts, but having moved to Vancouver, you will be better off with the AAdvantage program. You should just go for the Platinum Challenge -- do a search here for the dozens of links to this discussion, or go to Few Miles' site -- on your next trip. I have already filled you in on the many extra bonuses Canadian-based AAdvantage members get when flying CX, so this is a real no-brainer. Even doing the Challenge, you will get double flight miles -- but not Q-miles -- on the return portion of your itinerary, plus the special CX bonus miles I discussed on the Air Canada forum.

You could call CX's sales office in Vancouver and see if they will enroll you in the elite status promo which they had last year. However, I am not sure they would like to cannibalize their own Marco Polo members and send them to AA. And AA does not normally give elite status on a comp basis based on status in another oneworld carrier's program. Since you will earn Plat on your first trip with the Challenge, and you are not flying AA so won't miss out on any of the special benefits of status -- you can still use your Marco Polo card for priority check-in and lounge access [though flying in J, this is automatic] -- I can't see why you would not do it this way.

Call AA, set up a new account, and ask to participate in the Challenge.

But remember, in order to requalify in 2003/4 for Platinum, you will have to collect 35K Q-miles [the discounted level for Canadian-based AAdvantage members] and have at least 4 AA flight segments during 2002. If you do the Challenge in January or February of next year, you will earn about 25K in Q-miles, so will only have another one-way transPacific flight to requalify for the following year. Then you can consider if you want to go back to Marco Polo, or work on STARGold status with one of those carriers. Or continue towards 100K in AAdvantage, when the rewards get much better.