I just want to thank FewMiles - like many others, I was not aware of the challenges until I stumbled upon flyertalk and this post. I wish I would have known this last year. Without trying I had ~34k miles last year, making Gold for the first time (having just switched to American for my biz travel 10/03). If I had known about the challenges, I would have made Platinum last year. Knowledge is power - thanks for upping my power a few notches