I am a newbie to platinum, and was unable to find a clear info on the duration of the gold card gift. I understood that the gift maybe resets the tracking period, so it would be valid for the month it was given, plus the new tracking period of next 12 months after that? How about the one month after the tracking period ends, is the gold still valid during that month? At least the card expiration date is always set to the next month, but can you still use the benefits then or not? If yes, you would get nearly 14 months with one gift.

I need to try to optimize the periods, as I have promised the gold to my mom, but after that a fellow idiot, who is an old friend, told that he would also have a lot of use for the card. He is nowadays flying only on ID tickets or cockpit, so the poor guy is on a limbo for tiers... I would try to give the card to Mom on optimal date to get her maximum number of gold flights, and throw at least every second card to the fellow idiot.

I assume there is soft landing to silver also on gifted gold?