I had silver in 2009 & 2010 mostly because of a trip to India on United & Lufthansa in business class in March 2009. In 2010, I only flew 1 US roundtrip for around 2,000 miles and a roundtrip on Continental for around 3,000 miles. They kept my silver status for 2011 as a courtesy (unrequested)! It really didn't mean anything because I have not flown a paid trip this year on US and probably will not, my business travel has been cutback severely.