I'm new to this, and don't know if this has been covered before... My wife and I are both Silver Elite. I will qualify for next year as well. However, my wife will not. She will be short by about 4,000 miles. Does anyone know of recent incidents where someone has called/written Continental and they have made an exception and allow someone to retain their Elite status for an additional year. Other airlines have offered her ELite status, and she will switch carriers if Continental does not give her an incentive to stay. It seems good business to try and keep a loyal customer, but hey, this is an airline. Who ever said they cared about good business...

Dunno if this is recent enough, probably not, but . . .

In 2001, CO ignored a 2,500 mile shortfall for me, and bounced me up a level (didn't credit any miles, but gave me the status). This was on pretty much all full-fare domestic FC, though.

4,000 seems like a lot - I wouldn't count on any help from OnePass these days.

I haven't heard of this happening ... not even for those who had made gold/plat for several years.

I would suggest finding a cheap flight and having her make a mileage run to keep her status.

Based on my past experience, CO might do it, but it will cost you. Literally. Once I fell a few thousand miles short of Plat, and - after much letter writing, e-mailing, begging, pleading, threatening to move to another carrier, et cetera - I finally got hold of a OP supervisor in early March of the new elite year; she offered to allow me to maintain my Plat status for $750.00 cash (actually, Amex). I bit (once you get a taste of Plat, you don't want to let it go -- CO's got me in that respect). But the real point is that it took a whole lot of work to even get that offer.

So, perhaps your wife should look elsewhere, for I don't think you will find satisfaction here.

jrct94a, welcome to FlyerTalk.

Before planning anything, I suggest looking at CO's elite mileage earning policy for next year: lower discounted fares will only earn 1/2 credit. If you just barely make Silver this year and your some of your trips were on discounted tickets, you may not requalify for 2005.

However, since you already have status, and your wife is so close, I recommend you make sure she gains status, then comsider asking another airline to match your status next year--- if you send a copy of your Silver CO card and statement and a request letter to, say, US Airways, they will likely "comp" your status and automatically give you US Air status for the year.

Now, regarding the 4000 miles....

Truly I would suggest she fly the miles- that will be cheaper than any buy-up, and you won't have to rely on CO's mercy. Honestly, I don't think they would move her to Silver.

Check out the Mileage Run forum for ideas on how to earn the miles you need. She can easily earn 4000 miles from NYC for $200.

Good luck!

Thanks for the comments. Let me also say that i believe that you can receive full mileage credit for all flights through next year, regardless of fare, if you book online. so i am confident that we will both be able to retain status for at least another year. after that, we'll see. please correct me if i am mistaken about the online purchase exception.

EWR->SFO will get you 5k miles for $258 or $288 (depending on day) right now with fewer restrictions than normal thanks to ATA.

For all flights operated by Continental, purchased at continental.com. Any NW codeshare flights, or any NW fares, will not apply.

Your residence makes a difference. Hub customers are less apt to get a helping hand than out-station customers. My first year as a Plat I had only 72,000 miles but they bumped me up without my asking (I'm in SEA). I heard later they did similar favors for a certain number of top customers in many non-hub markets. I see you are in NY so that might count against you. Of course, my experience was in 1997 or so... today CO doesn't do much for anybody...

Uhh I'm not so sure, After several years of Plat, I'm just letting it go

I'm moving on to AA and starting from scratch.. ok.. a challenge but still the bottom

CO is a bad airline now

Maybe I'm being too harsh but I don't think they just recently became a bad airline (I'll leave this judgement up to each of you but I think that happened awhile ago) but they definately have become worse in recent months

Business travel can be a bad deal, but it is a lot more tolerable on an airline that at least gives you the theoretical chance at an upgrade on all domestic flights (RJs excepted) and is otherwise liberal as far as assigning exit row seats by telephone. I treat five hours in an airplane as several hours of uninterrupted work on my laptop (no phones, no e-mail, no knocks on the door, no nothing). If I get upgraded, that's great, for I can then work in more relative comfort while - at least when I'm not going right to work upon reaching my destination - mellowing out on a free flow of Cabernet (after a pre-flight vodka starter). And if I get stuck in coach, that will suck for a long trip, but because of my ability to call ahead for an exit row seat, I will likely have that desired seat so that the person in front of me cannot lean back, crush my laptop and prevent me from working (this works for RJs, too -- seat 12A or seat 12B is always a pleasure); I just won't have the freely flowing booze.

By no means am I a CO apologist, but the airline works for me (which does not mean that it works for you or anybody else). Right now, I'm staying put through 2004, and I'll reevaluate my options at the end of next year.

Good luck in your deal with AA. I hope it works out well for you.

on the other hand, why is it worth jumping through hoops and taking flights solely for mileage that you can never use anyway?

I will be between 2800 and 1400 short of Silver as of the end of 2004 after being Platinum 2001/2002/2003 Gold 2004 (From 2003 Activity) Activity may ramp back up to 2003 level - (I really don't want 2001/2002 level of flying)

A R/T LAX/IAH or CLE or EWR would do it, depending on how close I am. I am just not sure it's worth it, since I would have to earn the entite 50 K in 2005 before receiving the "Gold" benifit.

DW ?

A few years ago I was about 3k short of silver. They sent me a letter offering to renew status for about $250. I hadn't asked. I would guess that for 4k they would accept cash - whether it's worth the amount they'll ask for I can't say.