lstoner,

Whichever airline you go to for a comp request, in addition to a copy of the latest statement from your current frequent flyer program, include a copy of last December's as well, which will give a picture of your total activity from the year before. Between last year's summary statement and the this-year-current statement, the comp agent can better guage which level to assign.

I was in a hurry to get comped on UA since I had lots of itineraries to book (the whole rest of this year's, or at least what was known at the time), and I was just as much in a hurry to stop flying CO as an objective in and of itself.

I called the UA Mileage Plus general number and got hooked up with an agent covering Premier Matches to whom I explained my situation and then directly and immediately faxed the aforementioned documents. A half-hour or so later I jump on UAL.com to look up my Mileage Plus account, and walla!

As of a month ago, I'm now flying business class on 747's (even domestically - try that on CO), not looking back at all at peering through the class divider at empty seats in the business cabin on Continental 777's while sitting in coach and on a OnePass account with 7-digits of mileage with which I can do nothing meaningful, namely, upgrade on international flights. I'm happy, UA's happy, and Continental can go stroke its 7th Freddie.

[This message has been edited by Beef or Chicken? (edited 05-10-2002).]