Received a CO Gold Elite Card a few months ago when we got the AMEX Centurion Card. My business partner did at the same time. When we got the AMEX cards, he was Silver Elite and I had no status.

Last week I received a letter from CO stating that if I took four roundtrips before December 31, they would issue me a Platinum Elite card valid thru February, 2006. Nice offer, but I don't have that many trips planned. My partner does however - he's already ticketed for five RT flights. He didn't get the letter, so he called his Gold Elite line today and they told him he wasn't eligible. Insisted on speaking to a supervisor, who simply informed him that it was a marketing decision and he is not eliglble. You can imagine how angry he is.

Has anyone else had this happen?

Nope, but it is something that we would jump on. Actually, we were both CO Plats until this year and have given them only one round trip so far. We will retain Gold status due to the Centurion comp, but one would think that we would be likely targets for this offer. A year as everybody's Gold and not paying any attention to qualifying miles has convinced me that it is better to be Platinum, especially since the SkyTeam thing is coming up.

Is there something I'm missing here? AMEX sent me a letter last month, saying that I "pre-qualify" for Centurion. I didn't notice anything about CO Gold though. I'm Silver, and I don't travel enough to be gold. How does this work? Do you stay gold for as long as you have the card? And if you have an AMEX Platinum, do yiu stay CO Plat for as long as you have AMEX Plat?

Yep. Unless something is changed, when you get the Centurion card you also get gold status in the programs of CO, DL, and US. This has nothing to do with the Amex Platinum card and my mention of platinum merely reflected that I would like to qualify for platinum in one of the programs because I think that is much better to be platinum than to be gold.

With the Centurion- you will instantly be CO gold, Delta Gold, and USAir Gold along with top tier with some hotel and car rental companies... as long as you have the card. Make sure you understand there is a 2500.00 annual fee for the card.... You get none of these things with a Plat Amex card other then lounge access that you also get with Centurion.

You do get Starwood Gold with Amex Plat.