Has anyone experienced retaining their status, despite being short?
You used to be able to call up and grovel and if they got out of bed on the right side that morning they would give you another month to rack up the points. One gets the impression that in the current economy you no longer have to grovel as hard.
One also gets the impression that they are desparate for the fuel surcharge, and as the miles are pretty devalued now, they aren't as tight on exchanging your hard earned miles for the base fare.