telophaser

Hello there! I'm an occasional lurker and new to FlyerTalk so please forgive me if I don't follow proper protocols with this post. I'm looking for some advice from the FT/Elevate community.

For years I was bad at consistently traveling on a specific carrier and so I rarely ever earned status in a given year. In 2016, I got serious about my choices and selected Elevate based on my travel needs. The site indicated in several places that to achieve Silver, it takes 20,000 points OR 15 segments in a calendar year.

The way my travel worked out, I flew my 15th and 16th segments in early December 2016. I ended the year just short of 20,000 points but I didn't mind as I earned Silver on segments. The only problem is that VX never upped my status. It's mid January and I'm still at Elevate Red status.

I first contacted VX via web chat a week after my 15th segment. In the chat, the rep said something to the effect of "We're really backed up due to the holidays but it will eventually go through." I didn't buy it but said OK.

A few more weeks went by. I made a couple of calls and got nowhere with the phone reps. No one seemed to understand the airline's own rules. Early last week, I sent an email, figuring that might be worth trying. I got a reply saying they were investigating. Two days later, I got another reply saying that after investigation the rep agreed that I should be at Silver status and that she was sending a request to "headquarters." Two days later, I asked her again and she said that she was still waiting for a response from headquarters. Another week has passed since then.

I've already had to do 2 flights without being able to avail of my status benefits and at this point feel like I would have been better off on any other airline. I wonder if they just don't care given the impending Alaska merger? Anyone else have to deal with this type of situation and/or any advice on what I can do to get this resolved? Many thanks, in advance.