I requalified yesterday for Platinum for 2007. Lucky me! The flight was horrible because of never-ending delays at EWR, which delayed my inbound flight. By the time I boarded, they had given my choice coach seat to a non-rev pilot. They reversed that thankfully, and I sat with my computer bag and jacket stuffed under the seat all 6 hours from EWR to SFO.

I was thinking on that flight, so now that I'm here (Platinum 2007), where am I? The answer was pretty simple: No better off that if I were Silver. As Platinum 2006, all year I have had 3 battlefield upgrades and 2 upgrades 5 days out. Three of these 5 upgrades were for flights less then 300 miles. Big deal. These upgrades are almost a hoax, even if you're platinum. I have 2 open case numbers at for problems with continental.com, but they don't even reply. There's a dedicated line, but the training of the agents is poor, so they sometimes give out incorrect information. I get more miles per flight than if I were Silver, but most miles go unused anyway so what's the point. Finally, if I were Silver, I'd have made far fewer heart-pounding connections in EWR.