Have a friend with elite tier status on an airline that’s not a Mileage Plan partner? Refer that friend to Mileage Plan and not only will Alaska Airlines give your friend tier status through 2003, but you’ll receive 2,000 bonus miles if your friend completes his/her first flight on Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air before Aug. 31.

In addition, if your friend flies 10 segments before Aug. 31, each person will earn 10,000 bonus miles.

To take advantage of this offer, download the required form, write in your name and Mileage Plan number and pass the form along to your friends with elite tier status. Then just ask them to fax the completed form to Mileage Plan customer service at (206) 433-3477 along with proof of their elite tier status (copy of a mileage statement or copy of their current membership card).

A person may only be referred once, but there is no limit to the number of referrals an individual may make.

This offer, of course, comes on the heels of a similar promotion by United, in which Premier members could fax their statements from other airlines to Mileage Plus in exchange for bonus miles.

Why the sudden interest in where the most frequent of flyers are flying? While the black helicopter crowd may sense more sinister motives, we think it’s simply smart marketing on United and Alaska’s part.

For starters, neither airline has the time to thoroughly examine the hundreds of statements they’ve been receiving. What they are looking for, we suspect, is simply your level of participation in the market. United, particularly, has a vested interest in finding out how large its share of your business is.

Look at it this way: United (and just about everyone else) has noticed that its members are flying less, but is that because they’re flying less period, or because they’re flying less with United, and more with someone else? A simple glance at your level of elite status with competitors can answer the question.

In addition, United wants to know how much of your travel is on United. The offer, after all, was for Premier members and above only. A lazy marketing executive might look at our elite status and figure, “Gee, for Premier status, this customer has had to fly 50,000 miles with us. Clearly, we have their business.”

Not true, necessarily. Sure, a Premier member may fly 50,000 miles a year on United, but he or she might also be flying twice as much with a competitor. Again, a glance at that member’s participation in other airlines’ elite programs clears up the mystery.

So don’t fret. No one is out to steal your identity here. And ultimately, you stand to benefit — the data collected will undoubtedly result in both United and Alaska offering even more bonuses to get more of your business.