America West FlightFund, winner of the most recent Freddie Award for Best Elite Level, is gloating over its recent recognition.

And who can blame them? In a competition against every other program in the nation, many of which are better-known and better-funded, the FlightFund elite program beat all comers.

To celebrate its achievement, the program is offering members a fast track to elite status.

FlightFund members who register online, book their travel on http://www.americawest.com and fly six roundtrips on America West purchased fares between July 1 and Sept. 30 will automatically be upgraded to Silver Elite status through February of 2004. Considering the “standard” threshold for Silver Elite is 25,000 flight miles or 30 segments, this is a heck of a deal.

Silver Elite status includes complimentary First Class upgrades, a 50-percent mileage bonus on qualifying flights, preferred seating, priority check-in and security line access, and priority boarding privileges. As an additional plus, FlightFund recently amended its program to allow the 50-percent class of service bonus in First Class to apply to elite status.