Two years ago I got a relative Silver for their honeymoon flights to Europe so they could sit in the exit rows across the water, and for other interviews he was doing. They never said thank you or nothing, but oh well. Maybe the lavs were too close and the divider bothered them on the A-330. I have no idea.

Last year I got a dear friend Silver - - she flies to Japan a couple times a year, does lots of domestic trips, and has never even collected miles! Now she has been going a bit comfier, and if she ever gets it together to follow through on the recommendations I keep rose-petal covering her path with, maybe she'll manage to keep status into 2015 (this is not rocket science). If not, from now on, I'm always going with the $200.