Originally Posted by beltway

I'm often in the same boat (having to fly US), so here's a tip for maximizing your redeemable and elite-qualification mile yield:

• create a CO account if you don't have one already
• link your UA and CO accounts online
• wait (~1 week) for your UA status to be reflected in your CO account (at the corresponding CO level)
• start crediting any US flights to your CO account.

What's the benefit? CO elites, unlike UA elites, get a minimum of 500 miles (redeemable and elite-qual) for US flight segments. So those crappy US short-hauls to LGA, BOS, CLT, etc. will be worth more to you (in 2011, at least). And yes, the UA & CO systems automatically combine your EQM totals in both accounts in calculating status for 2012.