US Airways has responded to the double EQM offers of other airlines by coming up with its own Race to Preferred status. US Airways Dividend Miles members who fly 7,500 miles or 10 segments between Oct. 1 and Dec. 25, 2009 will be given Silver Preferred status. Fly 15,000 miles or 20 segments to earn Gold Preferred, 22,500 miles or 30 segments for Platinum Preferred and 30,000 miles or 40 segments for Chairman’s Preferred status. Registration is not required and to qualify for elite status based on the Race to Preferred requirements, you must earn the reduced mileage or segments during the promotional period. For example, if you already have 5,000 miles in your account prior to Oct. 1, you won’t qualify for Silver by earning another 2,500. The miles and segments flown between Oct. 1 and Dec. 25 will, however, count towards the total miles and segments flown for the year. So if you earn a total of 55,000 miles for the year but only flew 8,000 of those miles during the promotional period, you’ll still qualify for Gold status. Visit http://insideflyerus.wpengine.com/link/?1849 to learn more.

Bottom line: Dividend Miles members who plan mileage runs for the last three months of the year can achieve Dividend Miles Preferred status quickly with this promotion. Fly one international roundtrip earning 15,000 miles and you’ll receive Gold status, normally reserved for members flying 50,000 miles. And if you can swing two international flights and earn 30,000 miles, you can earn the highest-level elite, Chairman’s Preferred, that normally requires 100,000 miles. For those members who are already close to qualifying for elite status, however, this promotion won’t help you much.