Originally Posted by
jwking
FWIW, I asked UA to match my AA PLT status and was told that I would be given PE for 90 day and needed to fly 12,500 miles. Luckily, one (upcoming) trip to China should take care of that.)
Sounds like UA is currently offering a challenge, not an automatic match.
At least UA will comp you the status while you are making the challenge. On AA you don't get status until you meet the mileage requirement for the challenge--so no preferred seating/boarding and no mileage bonus until the challenge is done. Granted, a non-issue if you knock it out in one trip, but something to keep in mind if you know you'll need the full 90 days to meet the challenge on short-haul trips.
I'd say UA is granting the status match and asking for a "good faith" effort on your part to show that they haven't comp'd status to someone who will only use it for one or two short-ish liesure flights vs. someone who truly intends to be a UA frequent/elite flyer.
It seems entirely reasonable to me, anyway.
cheers!