Achieving Gold Status for next year
 

Early this year I was determined to make Executive Platinum on American. I managed to accumalate 99,000 flown miles (but still 50,000 miles short of executive platinum qualification) but decided to ditch that effort in August. At that time I wrote a letter to get complimentary Gold status for the year to switch from flying American to Contitnental. I thought for sure that I would accumalate enough miles to achieve Gold for next year, but have failed to do so thus far. I stopped flying in September (finished my project) and will probably not get enough flown miles to get Gold for next year. Currently I have flown 29,000 miles and should have around 40,000 flown miles by year end. Now that I have flown Continental I dont want to go back to American, but I dont want to go back to Silver and not have the ability to Upgrade on every flight. I dont want to have purchase tickets to gain the additional mileage. Is there anything I can do to still have Gold status next year?

Its unfortunate because if I had flown Continental all year I would have had over 150,000 miles. Most likely I will have mileage numbers simalar to that. HELP!

neyoisles, In past years CO has offered Silvers an opportunity to "buy-up" to Gold.
Usually this happens at the end of January or
early February. Call your Elite Line and ask them about this. They will probably transfer you to the OnePass Service Center.
Or, you can email the Service Center and ask them about it. OPSC usually responds within
2-3 days. On second thought, email would be better, since you will get an answer from someone who has knowledge. Sometimes the opsc telephone people are "very new" at the job and do not know.

I know this is no help in your situation, but in my own personal experience, CO is not that great on upgrades.

In 1996, when I was flying CO out of Houston, I in a span of 6 months, I managed an upgrade exactly twice. And this was in the period where Delta Platinum Medallions got upgrades on all fares (including L fares) at the time of booking.

Again, this is just one person's experience, but I just question the value of CO's elite level programs. I really think you could do better in another airle's FF program.

Just to clarify...CO's program is a really good one in most aspects, but I (personally) have really bad luck in upgrades.

And, BTW, you better not hope you ever get a celebrity (like Barbare Busch) on your CO flight. They will delay the plane, let unqualified Secret Service people act as gate agents (with attendant lack of customer service!), and then lie to you about the cause of the delay.

In any case, why not look elsewhere..and the best of luck whatever!

-Harry

right on hnechets. upgrades in the hubs are very tough. connecting passengers check in hours earlier and take the seats. also, many flyers call in and reserve an F seat claiming to have ELTC certs, and hope the gate agent doesn't notice in the record they have to collect it. in the old days, if you called in a certificate they asked for the number. that took care of the wiseguys. by the way, the "buyup" for silvers is market specific....not for everyone.

Thanks, deelmakur, for the info. I thought it might just be chance, but I couldn't help wondering.

Fortunately, I dont live in Houston so I usually get my upgrades. Also, I occasionally fly America West and I get the upgrades on that airline too.

America West no longer upgrades CO Elite's with the standard reduced fares (I was one of the fortunate ones to be able to utilize mine)I was informed by the Gate Agent that I had to purchase a $140 upgrade coupon booklet which contained 4 coupons good fo 500 miles each. I had previously called CO to purchase the upgrade the night before (which also took several calls by CO) and was informed to pay the $75 upgarde charge at AW gate. CO did indeed advise AW that I was to be upgraded but failed to note in their computer the dollar amount.

Anybody want to bid on the one coupon I have left over ? <snicker>

The flight I was mentioning on AW was RNO to IND. 10/2/98.

Why is it I seem to attract all the random bugs in a system?

Answer: BermRunners must be really different.

Since you live in S.F. UA might be a choice to fly.

This note is to BermRunner. I have made a whole bunch of flights on AW this year and have been upgraded about 75% of them time with my CO Elite Card. I must be getting the nice agents cause no one has mentioned to me the revenue issue. I am not going to chekc into this until they tell me know. As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Good luck next time.

crju

Don't give me hell about my spelling. I grew up in Mississippi (and I was in a rush).

Didn't know anyone from Mississippi was in a
rush about anything.

I think it is fairly typical on most airlines (not only CO) that if you fly out of a hub city, you will encounter difficulty upgrading. I am Gold Elite on CO and mostly fly out of Wash-National. I am almost always upgraded. Maybe the key if you live in a hub city is to try and fly another airline. Just a thought!

You make a good point, MIle King. I've been
upgraded on my primary airline, UA out of EWR. I've found it tougher to upgrade on UA
out of Chicago and DEN, which I believe are
UA"s big hub cities.

Now that I'm flying CO also out of EWR, I've discovered if you want an upgrade, you best
chance is to be Gold ELite (From my last trips to Vegas, I've found there are a lot of them!)

As for JFK and LAG, if you can get there and out in one piece, that's worth the price of
an upgrade! CATMAN