I've never had anyone at CO say a word to me about it on the phone or in person.

At one point, Infinite Platinums did indeed have priority over regular Platinums for waitlists, upgrades, opups, and the like - all other things being equal. I do not know if that has changed.

I was under the impression that we determined at the last DO that:
Plat=20-25K
GLD=60-75K
SIL=225K
and that Infinite Plats were around ~2,000. I guess it won't hurt to ask again.

What makes someone an infinite platinum?

The program was discontinued over 10 years ago, but in the late 1980s and early 1990's and during the two bankruptcies, earning the top tier for five consecutive years gave you Infinite top tier status.

Top tier ued to be Gold with Silver & Bronze below. The new naming scheme eliminated the Bronze term and made Platinum the top tier followed by Gold and Silver. (must have been earned - no bump ups in level or near misses counted and had to be consecutive years).

The top tier was 60K EQM, then around early 1990's was reduced to 50K. OF course it is now 75K.

Having qualified for Infinite Elite, I never did fly enough miles to qualify to be a real Platinum, I'm just an Old Gold.

The IP discussion reminds me of when I first heard of the offer.

A couple of months into my first job on Wall Street, circa 1987, I was doing a lot of energy deals in Houston and flew CO often in paid F LGA-HOU and LGA-IAH. I remember one of my bosses waving his CO Gold card at me as we strode through LGA one day and saying, "You have to get yourself one of these! Five years straight and you'll have it forever!"

Well, as it happened I did hit Gold that year, and for the next 3 years in a row. But then I took a job in Chicago, and CO service was awful -- limited direct destinations, poor connections to everywhere I needed to go, just one or two gates at the long end of a councourse, and very, very iffy financials and bad crew attitude. Reluctantly, I switched my flying to UA which had superb nonstop service to everywhere.

The good news is that over the next dozen years I reached Million Miler on UA and with it lifetime Premier Executive. (Infinite 1P? ) Two days ago I reached 2MM on AA, the equivalent. While I'm delighted to have these under my belt now, I'm kicking myself for having just-just-just missed out on CO Infinite Platinum. I would have loved to have the 3 alliance trifecta at this point in my life!

The greatest irony would be if CO, as is sometimes rumored, buys UA. Would Contintental's IPs then get 1K for life?

I am jealous of you. The elite for life program ended in November of 1998 when the code sharing arrangement with NW started. I remember it well, because 1998 was my fifth consecutive year of gold--the top tier at that time. It still irritates me that the program ended.

One good thing about joining FT was that I discovered that both AA and UA have an elite for life program. AA seems to count miles from any source (flight miles, credit cards, etc.), but elite is gained by air miles. UA, I am told, still has elite for life, but it doesn't seem to be published anywhere--at least anywhere I could find! It seems to be a hassle to get started as an elite with both carriers, so I won't try.

If CO/UA merged, they'd probably use the opportunity to kill the Infinite program and would probably do some major changing to each program. Traditionally airline mergers have resulted in fewer perks than more...and I'm sure of CO/UA went down the wedding aisle, the same would be true there.

If that were the case and the preacher asked "If any among us has a reason why this union should not be comleted, speak now or forever hold your peace", I'd be out of my chair in a heartbeat!





Traditionally airline mergers have resulted in fewer perks than more...and I'm sure of CO/UA went down the wedding aisle, the same would be true there.[/QUOTE]

I was thinking the same thing about a bewildered preacher with pleading stares at the congregation--"please don't make me do this." At the altar stands a svelt, dapper, popular, good-looking Continental. At his side an overweight, hackneyed, toothless bride in a used gown held together with pins. Beside her, a man with a shotgun pointed at Continental.


[United fans, don't take it personally, please ]

Can someone catch up the newcomers. How do you get Lifetime Platinum? Is it like AA where it's lifetime miles, or is this entirely different? Thanks.

Continental no longer has lifetime Platinum (or lifetime anything!). I think that the lifetime status is a draw; as loyal as I am to Continental, I know the minute I heard that AA had a lifetime elite status, I started planning to switch. So, sadly Continental does not offer lifetime elite status. United does. If this status is important to you, and you're fine with United, you might want to consider United too.

Not a hassle for some others . Buddy of mine started two years ago, has flown only 140K miles on AA but has over 700K miles by charging everything in site, including fighting with me over who pays for meals, I usually let him win .

I hit Platinum on CO this week; I think it makes sense if I contact AA and try them again. I think it's best that I just send someone high up a letter and give them my terms and conditions. If AA insists that I have to have no elite status for a trial period, that's a deal breaker. I'll see what they have to offer.