It certainly is interesting to see this thread come back to the surface.
A year ago I certainly had no clue that Joe would also qualify as a true UAL 1K for 2001. Qualifying for UAL 1K and AS MVP Gold for me was far less painless than I had anticipated. Thanks to all of my FlyerTalk friends for teaching me the tricks and tips of traveling in style. I still have a couple of long trips (both in first) and 3 or 4 short propeller plane trips left in 2000.
Interesting year.
We qualified for Hilton Diamond in July and have since, also requested and received Starwood Platinum status. If we have the same number of hotels stays next year and this, we should have no trouble requalifying for both of those levels again for 2002.