Since it appears that you'll get at least Silver on segments, you might consider signing up for the Silver trial - fly 10 segments (at most 5 round trips, less if connecting) within 90 days. That gets you Silver from the start, which could get you free upgrades and I think the 500 mile minimum per segment (someone will correct me if the latter is wrong). It used to be that you could sign up for the Silver trial but get whatever status you earned in the trial period - 20 segments = Gold, 30 = Platinum, 40 = Chairmans (with mileage equivalents for each level. I don't know whether US has closed that loophole or not.
Jim