am a united mp in the uk. me and my wife are both 1064 short of premier this year, and know we wont be going anywhere else this year. have booked co on 26/1 man-ewr (Ł159 inc tax).any point ringing co about getting elite status with them? thanks

Not really, if you have only one trip and it's international.
#1 - comps are supposed to be once in a lifetime. that may or may not hold true, but why chance it to take advantage of status on only one trip?
#2 - if you're a united premier that'll get you only continental silver. the only benefit on your international flight will be bonus miles. no upgrades or lounge access.
#3 - you can get the miles for your flight into your united account, though they won't be status miles. just transfer them from continental to amtrak to united.
#4 - why don't you tack on a quick mileage run while in the status to maintain premier status?

unable to get miles through amtrak, non u.s citz. need the miles before 31/12.thanks for the reply.

Oh come on here. Are you looking for status for greed or ego? Most of us here fly many long, painful butt-in-seat miles for our earned status. There are tons and tons of threads on this board lamenting how loose CO can be sometimes in giving out complimentary status -- it dilutes the benefits that the rest of us have earned by making upgrades more competitive and allowing half the plane to board during elite access. Apologies for the rant, but you really shouldn't expect much in the way of pleasantries asking for info on status comps on this board.
Now that my rant is over -- like previous posters pointed out there will be little to no benefit of having CO status for one international round trip. You might get elite pre-boarding, but that's no biggie -- overhead space rarely runs out on the international widebodies, and do you really need to spend all that time in your coach seat? Oh yeah -- and don't expect a free upgrade to BusinessFirst. Only if coach is oversold will they op-upgrade people, and your likelihood as a potential Silver is small.

So, in all helpfulness, is it worth wasting what is potentially your once-in-a-lifetime comp to elite status for the 50% bonus miles on one flight? Prob not.

cheers turkey!

You didn't mention whether you were premier on UA this year.

if only. still not to worry