Does it irk you to see airline passengers zip past you in line to the "elite" check-in counters? You don't fly as many miles as they do per year, so they get privileges such as faster check-in, reservation hot lines, complimentary upgrades, and priority standby and waitlisting.

Although it's not well publicized, American Airlines offers a shortcut to elite status. If you foresee doing a lot of flying during a three-month period (trade show season, for instance), this shortcut could be your ticket.

Normally, to achieve Gold status with American, you need to fly 25,000 miles or 30 segments during a calendar year. For Platinum, you need twice that.

Now, what you can do is set up a 90-day "challenge" period, to begin on the 1st or the 16th of a given month. Then, to achieve Gold status, you'll need to fly 8,000 miles or 16 segments, or twice that for Platinum status.

This way, your flying miles per month requirement is a bit higher, but it's great for people who have sporadic flying habits (e.g., annual trade shows, conferences).

Since this offer is available indefinitely, we suggest that you sign up just before you'll be doing a lot of flying. The only way to sign up is by phone. Call American Advantage Reservations at 1 (800) 882-8880, and ask for Customer Service.