Elite Status Qualification
 

So I am working on my elite status for this year and I am wondering if I'm going to qualify in time. My flights are usually very short so I am going to get the status based on segments not on miles. I am wondering if I am 2 flights short of my elite by 12/31/09 if they will roll the credits over into the next calendar year or if I am hosed. The website says "calendar year" which leads me to believe I am hosed if I don't get the segments I need by the end of this year. Is that correct?

That's my understanding, although they've been known to make offers to "buy" your Elite status. And by that I mean, I had like 12,000 miles about 5 years ago and they offered me Silver for $300.

Yeah, I believe no-go unless you do some kind of other offer.

Even if you take a trip to be somewhere over New Year's, I always see that the return flight on or after the 1st even on a RT booking will post on next year's total.

Not sure of your exact details but if you are really only 2 segments off, then buying a Y or B-fare for one of your remianing RTs at 2 EQPs per segment might get you over the top.

You probably know that already ....but just in case :)

yeah that is what I figured I would do if worse comes to worse. Work is paying for most of the flights though so I don't have much say in the fare class. I guess I'll just do what I can to make it work :-)

You can always pay for the difference after the fare is booked. A recent thread indicated CO will not charge change fees to upgrade to B or Y.

Even if work is paying for it, you may be able to tell your travel agent exactly what flight and fare class to book. We have to go through a specific travel agent with my work. The policy is that we have to book the cheapest ticket, or get approval from my manager if it is higher. If it was higher, I just paid the difference on my expense report (paid the company the difference). However, when the ticket was only about $50 more for a higher fare class, they booked it for me without getting the approval.

Being very friendly with the agent of course helps, as well as explaining what I am trying to accomplish (i.e. travel so much for the company, and it's nice to get free upgrades for a little more comfort but I need the elite status to have that chance, etc.)

That's because individual flights are credited to the year in which they departed. Flights on January 1st are credited to the new year.

If you really expect to be just a couple of segments short it's probably better to decide on a plan now instead of waiting until end of year. Fares are pretty reasonable between Labor Day and Thanksgiving so the time to do a segment or mileage run is now when it's cheap and planes and airports aren't packed full of inexperienced holiday travelers.