Originally Posted by ContinentalFan
LOL. In truth, I have wondered for the past week, why should I continue to fly on CO once I reach Platinum. Sure, I get more elite miles, but they expire. The thread that talked about elite for life hit a chord. AA has it Continental does not. It's easy for me to switch over to AA for the next six months; I should hit Platinum easily. There's an outside chance that I might hit Executive Platinum--found out about that recently too. In any event, it's accumulating the miles for lifetime elite status--that's what I want.
There's nothing wrong with maintaining status in two programs. UA actually might be a better choice than AA, as you're based in LAX and UA has a substantial presence there. UA/*A could take care of all your Aisa, Europe, and intra-West Coast travel, as well as ps LAX-JFK, if you need that.
Edit - plus, you could just comp over to UA with your CO plat status, and immediately be a 1P. It sounds like you'll fly enough to maybe even make 1K if you flew the rest of the year on UA. AA you'd have to deal with the challenge.