Does anyone understand the Elite Qualification Offer??
 

I touched on this a bit in the 'Mileage Run' forum, but I feel my question is more appropriate for this forum.

At the end of 2001 I had reached 24,985 status miles (but I had no status for this period), and signed up for the $25 extension offer.

On the 4th of Jan I took a NH flight from HKG-NRT and on the 5th from NRT-JFK. The miles have posted to my account for these sectors but my status is still shown as 'General Member'. When I called the MP Service Center they told me that my status will only change on the 31st of March, when the Elite Extension offer promotion ends.

The UAL Website says : "Elite status earned through this promotion will be effective within 1-2 weeks of completion of required qualifying travel. New membership credentials will be mailed within 2-4 weeks of the effective date of earning your status."

I am now planning on taking a HKG & SIN Run/Work/Pleasure trip in Feb which will earn me 21K status miles, and bring my balance for the first two months of this year to 27K status miles. If combined with my last years miles this brings me up to 53+K status miles, and therefore should bring me to 1P in time for the end of the promotion.

What the website doesn't mention however, is if I can make 1P (from 'General Member' through the promotion) or if I'm limited to only being promoted to the next status (2P).

Thanks in advance for any advice!

All the miles you fly between Jan 1 and March 31 will count towards 2003 and 2004 benefit period. There's no limit to what level you can go up to.

I don't know what the official policy of when the status will be effective. But it only make sense for UA to send out your new package at the end of March 31 unless you've made 1K because if you're at basic and will make 1K using this offer, it doesn't make sense for them to send you a 2P, 1P and 1K package within a 3 months period. (That's what I think)

That would be my interpretation of the terms of the offer as well. But, it doesn't make much sense. The offer is targetted to those ending last year within 10,000 miles of a regular qualification limit (i.e., 15-25k, 40-50k, or 90-100k). Now, why should those who flew 15-25k or 40-50k last year get a shortcut to 1K status while those who flew 25-50k or 50-90k do not? Would make sense if the offer was either open to everyone or if you could only qualify for the level of which you are currently withtin 10,000 miles.

------------------
The Star Alliance Award Comparison Chart

The promo is open to everyone. If you're not within 10K miles/10 segments of the next level, you need to call MP to register.

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Empress:

Quote:

---

The promo is open to everyone. If you're not within 10K miles/10 segments of the next level, you need to call MP to register.

---

Great, but why should people need to learn this on FlyerTalk? Wouldn't it make sense if the written promotion rules said so? And, what's the point of not letting everyone register online? Do the MP phone agents need more work? Maybe this makes some kind of sense in some parallel universe? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

------------------
The Star Alliance Award Comparison Chart

I agree.

Yes, it is odd, but maybe they expected those within 10,000 miles to realistically be able to make it within the 3 months. Remember most people are not like FTers.

Think how funny it would sound if they said, "Only flew 10,000 miles in 2002? Fly 15,000 miles more in Q1 2003 and make Premier for 2003!" Out of the regular population, who is going fly 50% more in 75% less time?

My boyfriend and I were 15,000 miles away from PremEx and I noticed that the agent specifically asked if we could could fly the necessary miles by the end of the promo.

I think they wanted to make a promotion that was simple to understand, and look how much FTers are struggling with questions about miles counting towards both 2003 and 2004. Yet, they left the loophole for people to call in and not be turned away if they wanted to signup.

BillJ

[This message has been edited by wcj1 (edited 01-13-2003).]