<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Punki:
For any program that bases its requalification from January 1 through December 31 (and almost all of them do) the best time to get comped is in early January so you have the whole year to requalify. </font>
Actually, I believe some airlines will only comp you for the current year if you get it early in the year, so you need to do some research first. As a general example, if you're comped in the first six months of the year, the comp is only good for the current year, but if you're comped July 1 or later, the comp is good through the end of the following year.
I'm not sure what NW's policy is ... someone on that board is much more likely to know.