JohnWM

I did a search for information, but came up with 10's of hits only about buying status or otherwise obtaining it. If there is a specific thread I have missed, could someone direct me to it? Thanks kindly.

Herewith my questions: When does elite status begin? The day after I have reached the requisite number of EQM's? or at the beginning of the next calendar month? or at the beginning of the next calendar year?

Also: When does the elite status end? At the end of the calendar year during which the EQM's have been acquired? At the end of the following calendar year?

In general: Is it more advantageous to acquire elite status towards the end of a calendar year, in November or December, for example? Or towards the beginning of a calendar year, in February or March?

Again, thanks kindly.

BryanIAH

Status begins when the miles post to your account. Status is for the remainder of the year in which you qualify plus one year and two months. So if you qualify in 2010 you get status for 2010, 2011, and Jan/Feb 2012.

ContinentalFan

Once you've earned the status it begins, but it does take a few days to kick in. It runs through the end of February of the program year. If you hit Silver Elite today, it runs through February of 2012.

JohnWM

Bravo! I just knew the FT posters here would be one-up on this subject. Once again, thanks kindly.

Steve GadFly

One thing to keep in mind. If you either become elite of jump up a status level and have other reservations booked on your account at the time, they might not reflect the new status. Your best bet to correct this is have your FF number removed and then re-added to the reservation.

aki480

Not to thread jack, but how would one go about removing and readding the FF number? Is it something that can be done on CO.com or would I need to call?

sbm12

Not quite. The status officially takes effect the day after the event that puts you over the threshold. So if you have 24,980 EQMs and you fly 2 segments on Monday and 2 on Tuesday the second flight on Monday will credit with no status even though you got to 25K with the first flight. Beyond that, the flights on Tuesday won't actually have you on upgrade lists because the miles will not have posted yet. But you'll earn points based on having status since those should credit after the flights on Monday.
Status if for the next program year as well as the remainder of the current one. The program year runs from March 1 to the end of February in the following year. Maybe a bit pedantic but that's how CO defines it on the website.

Steve GadFly

You'd be best off calling. If you get an agent who says they can't do it, just say "thank you", hang up and call back again.