Perhaps someone can clarify this for me. I was under the impression that any tier miles on the flight that gets a person to Gold (or Silver) in excess of the qualification requirements would indeed go into a "mileage black hole." Using the OP's case as an example, 366 tier miles are needed to move from Silver to Gold and their AC itin will net ~8k tier miles one way from LON-USA via Canada. Since it's a multi-segment itin, the first segment (TATL) will most likely meet that requirement. Let's say that there are 2 flights and the tier miles in sequence are 7,000 and 1,000 and take place on 5th Feb (I'm making up all of these numbers, but they sound about right for 200% biz class from LHR-YYZ-USA east coast).
Membership year resets to 5th Feb, and I think we're all in agreement here.
The 2nd flight of 1,000 tier miles will count toward
renewing Gold, and I think we're all in agreement here too. (Since the membership year resets once OP hits Gold for the first time.)
Based on the previous posts, are people saying that the 6,634 tier miles on that first flight will count towards
renewal? My understanding was that those tier miles don't carry over, and go "poof." Unless A3 can split tier miles from a single flight and apply it to different membership years, I don't see how the excess tier miles can be used for requalification. So, if I'm not mistaken (and please correct me if I am), it makes sense for the OP to buy the 500 tier miles before the flights, so that all of the AC flights will count towards keeping the newly earned Gold status.
Originally Posted by
Xandrios
If you are currently silver I would expect you to upgrade to gold directly from the moment you reach the required number of miles. Which can happen by either flying, or by purchasing those 500 miles. I would also expect your year to reset at that moment, meaning that any flights taken after that moment will count for next years requalification.
If you would fly 8K miles now (while you only need <400) may mean that the other 7600 miles do not count for requalification, though I am not exactly sure about this.
I would expect that if you purchase the 500 miles, that you would be upgraded now, and can enjoy the benefits on your next trip. That also means that those 8K miles with your next trip would count for re-qulification.
This is how I understand the rules at least, maybe somebody else with more experience can confirm
That was my understanding as well.
Edited to add LHR-YYZ, since OP mentioned it a couple posts above. Paid Biz fares for LHR-YYZ earns 7,116 while LHR-YUL earns 6,502. It looks like the OP's interpretation is the same as mine.
I think 25 Euros (or whatever the price is now) for 500 tier miles is a small price to pay if the alternative is to potentially lose 6,700 tier miles that could count towards requalification.