I would agree with the above save one possibly useful item/revision that I would apply in some cases:

"One status match in the lifetime of a given account number."

... and even when the status match restriction applies for the lifetime of an individual person, some programs do a very poor job of noting that you've been status matched before.

HP Gold --> UA Prem Exec
 

I was given UA Prem Exec after faxing in my HP statement showing I was gold. It posted by the end of the week.

All you have to do is fax it in to their mileage plus fax machine.

Does anyone know of a way to get Airtran elite from having DL elite?

On the SkyTeam subject, which ones of their airlines will comp me their top status (I'm a QF Plat. and a BMI Gold)...

... and which one would I actually want ?!?

Don't mean to be saracstic, I mean which ones have good benefits, and I would prefer it if it was not in an airline likely to go bust !

And do hotel programmes comp. status ?

Will Marriott or Hilton HH comp. me equivalent of my IC Group/Priority Club Platinum ?

Hilton HHonors, more often than not, gives "challenges", whereby you get upgraded if you stay X times in Y months.

I can offer some advice. I decided to try this out with a couple of different carriers and hotels. Mariott and Starwood will comp hilton and hyatt (don't know IC). Starwood did it in under 24hrs. I have oodles of HHonors points. So starwood preferred platinum, but you must be HHonors diamond VIP or they will give you a gold challenge. Waiting on Marriott and Best Western (hahahaha)

I faxed American Platinum Exec and UA Executive Premier statements to a couple of airlines just to see. I will probably not use them, but what the hey. Alaska less than 24 hrs MVP Gold, US Air comp Gold "don't know why not chairman" America west responded quickly and said ok but has not posted on my account and their FlightFund Help desk can't access that department. Said it could take a week to post. Waiting on Delta.

Welcome to FlyerTalk nightmare339 :),
Oh and thanks for the relevant up to date information ^

Any news on NWA

Backdoor US->UA Comp?
 

I'm currently a US GP, and planning significant travel on UA this year. I'm thinking it would probably be more valuable for me to be a US Premier Executive than a US GP because:
- I can earn upgrades on UA
- I can take advantage of UA mileage bonuses
- Have a gut feeling that miles earned in MP program are safer than DM miles

That said, I know UA policy is NOT to comp status based on another *A carrier. My thought is that I could probably do a backdoor comp by getting CO to comp my US status, and then taking that CO status to UA for a comp.

Am I being silly? I'd appreciate advice and recommendations. I realize that getting a status match is a one-time event, so it feels a bit extreme to do that TWICE in one year. I've already earned 7500 status miles on US this year, so I need to decide now if I'll proceed with US or make the switch before I've lost the opportunity to earn the 50K I'll need to maintain the status.

I don't know if the terms of CO's program and UA's program allow for a second account or not, but if you open a new account at CO and/or at UA, then apply for the status matches, your "one-time" status-match issue might be set aside. And post-effective merging may occur in some programs too.

Interesting.

But that aside, do you think the second comp will work -- i.e. getting UA to comp me based on CO status even if I don't show any CO travel?

It's happened before, but I wouldn't necessarily count on it. The best time to do it is when you have some flight history to show UA.

How about flight history on UA that I credited to my US account....

This is getting complicated. I think I might just stick with US, despite the risks. *sigh* :confused:

Thanks for the help.

If you have a long flight coming up, it might be best to book it on CO or a CO partner (just be sure to get CO status first). Then you can fax your statement showing thoseYTD miles to UA (and since it's close to the start of the year, not having many YTD miles won't be a problem).