I will be starting at 11K and earning 16K on an itinerary including partners, which should get me to around 27K (Classic Plus). I understand that I then need 40K from that point to reach Elite.

Two questions:

1. Will I start with 2K toward Elite status or zero?

2. Does the counter to 40K include the retroactive mileage for each segment if there is a lag in posting the miles that get me to Classic Plus, or a lag between when the miles are posted and then the status is updated? I am flying 10K more status miles a couple of days later, so it's conceivable that, for example, those 10K could post, bringing me to 21K, and then the 16K could post later, in which case could I zoom past Classic Plus yet still be at zero toward Elite? Miles from TK flights post pretty fast, but with partner flights, it has taken longer, and they haven't always posted in the order that I flew them.

I realize that I could possibly leave my frequent-flier number off of the reservation and claim sequential retro credit later, but I don't want to deal with that if I don't have to.