Sigh... 647 miles short.
Same old story. As of right now, I'm 2,087 miles short for Premier Silver in 2012. A roundtrip from ORD > ALB will leave me with a deficit of 647.
I'm not a business traveler; all my miles flown are leisure and paid for by me. I've gotten pretty used to having some form of elite status for the past couple of years (started with American, then did a match to move over to United.) As a mid-30s upper-lower-middle-class guy just trying to see the world, the perks are a nice touch.
I don't have a United credit card that yields EQMs. And a mileage run is problematic as it not only costs money (funds are tight; headed to Argentina for the holidays... on American... using miles), but also eats a vacation day and simply isn't always practical.
I'm not naive. I've got no hopes for United being nice and letting me pass with the deficit. This whole "buy-up" thing I've heard of though (I could be using the wrong term) sounds appealing as I can simply pay X for the EQMs (about the same as the cheapest quick-turn flight I've seen of the necessary minimal length) and be done with it.
Aside from a mileage run and the buy-up, what other options do I have? Can I "enhance" my flight to Albany?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts. And sorry for the surely redundant post. :-)