I'm a Platinum on my way to earn Gold for next year. I too received the promotion in which I'd automatically renew my Platinum status if I flew 4 r/t's to a slew of cities --none of which are resort-focussed (Las Vegas or Orlando) nor targeted to cities I regularly fly to (EWR-SEA.) The catch was not to fly in Q/T.

I've wrapped-up buying my 4 tickets to my targeted cities which included 2 EWR-LAX runs for a $220 B fare. Looking at how many miles I'd accrue from those trips as well as my non-qualifying city visits, it looks like I'd be a solid Gold about 5-10k miles short of Platinum status.

So in effect, this challenge ends up costing me $600 to go from Gold (down from Platinum this year) to Platinum in '03.