I encountered a polite but inflexible phone rep yesterday. I need 2800 miles to retain my silver status in 2010. I acutally earned enough mile if CO includes a double qualifying miles promotion for a flight to amsterdam that i flew in June. Trouble is I didn't register for this one promotion beforehand. (I did register for a similar one later in the year.) The rep was totally inflexible. I've been gold or silver elite for the last 8 years and she wouldn't recognize that. I would appreciate advice on how to escalate or otherwise handle this. Thanks much.

While I certainly agree with you that CO can be inflexible in a number of areas, including perhaps this one (one year I missed Plat by under 100 miles but they wouldn't budge), I don't think you going to get satisfaction here even if you escalate, because they are going to cite program rules that require registration to qualify for DEQM.

With so many elites newly minted thanks to DEQM (it was possible in 2009 to fly 37,500 miles and qualify for plat) I think there is very little chance they will give in on this one.

+1 on above.

You have no cause to "escalate". CO rep is in the right. Yes they are being inflexible, but they are correct in their interpretation of the the rules of the DEQM promo. You had to register on time.

You can always try to call again and keep calling until you (possibly) get the result you like, but you won't likely be successful.

Calling again is about your only choice, but the rep didn't break any rules, so you'd just be trying again - not escalating the request.

Did you call the elite line or the one pass service center? Make sure you're calling the one pass service center - I would think your odds would be much better there.

OP Good Luck you will need it

as others have said it wasnt a retroactive Promo, sometimes it even means having to purchase the tkt only from a certain date forward. So If I purchased an ElCheapo 2 weeks ago and the promo starts today with tkts purchased from today,Im SOL unless Im willing to pay all the CXing fees etc

I was short 4200 miles and was able to be bumped into silver elite for the first time this year. My account still says "OnePass Elite Level: Non-Elite" but I recieved the following email on 12/30/09:

There were numerous people confirming that CO was bumping people within 5k of the next elite status and I called in to make sure I could be bumped. I had 1 last trip over Christmas to get over the 20k hump and the rep told me to call in after the last trip posted and they would bump me.

After the trip posted, I called back in and told them I'd like to be bumped, but a different rep told me that wasn't possible. I told them I had already spoken to somebody about it and was told to call in after my last trip posted. She said that the promotion was canceled and was no longer in effect so I hung up and called back.

I told the 2nd rep the same thing and she happily bumped me to silver without any issues. I think the reps here have some leeway on giving out status, but I think the main thing was that I had already spoken to a csr that already said it was okay.

Actually most of CO's promotions - including this one - do apply retroactively for tickets previously purchased or flown. The main exception is Mileathon. In the case of DEQMs the OP would have been fine as long as they registered prior to the end of the DEQM promo. They didn't and now they want the benefit. I'm not entirely surprised that CO is balking at it, especially since the call is coming in 6 months later. CO made it VERY easy to get elite status this year, assuming you played their game.

Good luck, I don't think they'll budge. Same thing happened to me this year. I need about 2300 miles to stay Gold and I have about 4000 miles booked for next week and the week after. I called a couple of times to no avail, something about rules are rules and the integrity of the program. Which, by the way, I understand.

Try another rep...call again

See this post. It worked for me in December.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12949034-post16.html

Good Luck

Your post refers to granting the next level of status if one is within 5K of the threshold. The OP's situation is very different as they are 2800 miles short of maintaining silver status for program year 2010. With no intervention on CO's part they will have no status after Feb. 28.

A question for the OP is how much, if any, travel do you currently have booked for 2010? I'm sure the OPSC is looking at that and factoring it into their decision. Also in prior years did you just make gold or silver or did you surpass those thresholds by a significant number of miles? There are likely many factors they look at when deciding to grant status to someone who is just short and your history with CO may not be hitting enough of those benchmarks.

I agree with some of the previous posters on this thread that you may want to give it another try or two with a different OPSC representative but I wouldn't call back to appeal more than two or three times. Most likely there is a notation of each call and multiple calls requesting the same thing resulting n the same answer aren't going to help your case.

Lastly just how much flying are you expecting to do in 2010 and where? I'm assuming from your FT handle "njcanuck" that you're NJ based and fly out of EWR. As a silver your upgrade chances are really not all that great especially from the swelled ranks of elites from the DEQM promos this year and the UA elites who will be in the EUA mix in a few months. If your main concern is elite access and waived bag fees then perhaps the Presidential Plus MC would be a better benefit for you.

Actually it was possible to make platinum by flying only 25,000 miles if you were on a Y or B fare (or one of the first class / BF fares). With DEQM that would give you 3 EQM per mile flown.

Good point.

It's just silver anyway. Really means very litte anyway. As somone earlier said get the card and be done. You're not going to get upgraded anyway out EWR on the Silver.

Suck it up and pay the card fee if you want the access benfits. You're not getting the seats up front anyway.

no, the OP's situation is not different. The next level of status for someone with no status is SILVER.

As I stated, it worked for me in December. I was less than 5K from SILVER elite status for 2009. I called and got SILVER status for 2010.