Question:hard

DIRECTIONS for questions 78 to 81: Read the data below and choose the correct option for the questions that follow.

Queen Airlines offers the following Privilege programme: there are 5 membership tiers, each with its own set of enhanced tier-specific benefits. New members join at the Blue tier, then upgrade to Blue Plus, which adds the benefit of Tele check-in. The programme also has three elite tiers, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The 6-month fast-track upgrade and the 12-month standard upgrade system work in parallel: whenever a passenger meets the condition for the next tier, either in terms of the number of flights taken in the stipulated period or in terms of accumulated Queen-Miles, in either of the two systems, the passenger is automatically upgraded to the next tier. The 6-month system looks at a rolling 6-month period, and the 12-month system looks at a rolling 12-month period. If conditions for more than one upgrade are met at the same time, the passenger is given the higher of the two tiers.

Tier Upgrade6-month Fast Track Upgrade System
(Cumulative flights / Cumulative Queen-Miles)		12-month Standard Upgrade System
(Cumulative flights / Cumulative Queen-Miles)
Blue to Blue Plus3 / 3,000Not Applicable
Blue Plus to SilverNot Applicable5 / 12,500
Silver to Gold5 / 12,50010 / 20,000
Gold to Platinum10 / 20,00020 / 30,000

Benefits and Privileges

BlueBlue PlusSilverGoldPlatinum
Tele Check-in✓✓✓✓
Additional baggage allowance10 kgs20 kgs35 kgs
Confirmed upgrade vouchers135
Guaranteed reservations upto 24 hours prior to departure✓✓
Cancellation fees waived on published fares✓

Distances between cities in Queen-miles

DelhiKolkataMumbaiHyderabadBangaloreCoimbatoreGuwahati
Kolkata1461
Mumbai14071987
Hyderabad14991516711
Bangalore20611881998562
Coimbatore240121671265902340
Guwahati195910812746237029323209
Chennai2095167613296883314912718

Mr Kakkar, a newly recruited MBA from a business school, started his career at the start of 2007. His travel plan for 2007 is given below.

DateFromTo
2.1.2007MumbaiHyderabad
8.1.2007HyderabadMumbai
3.2.2007MumbaiDelhi
8.3.2007DelhiGuwahati
20.3.2007GuwahatiKolkata
11.4.2007KolkataGuwahati
30.4.2007GuwahatiChennai
4.7.2007ChennaiGuwahati
20.7.2007GuwahatiKolkata
2.9.2007KolkataHyderabad
11.9.2007HyderabadGuwahati
22.9.2007GuwahatiDelhi
1.10.2007ChennaiBangalore
11.10.2007GuwahatiChennai
4.11.2007ChennaiDelhi
29.11.2007DelhiHyderabad
1.12.2007HyderabadGuwahati
31.12.2007GuwahatiMumbai

If 6-month upgrade had not been in operation, then Mr Kakkar would have reached the Gold tier in the month of:

Show Hint

Turn off the 6-month fast track for Silver to Gold and use only the 12-month standard rule (10 flights or 20,000 miles); the other two upgrade steps are unaffected since each already runs on a single system.
Updated On: Jul 13, 2026
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

This question removes the 6-month fast track from the picture and asks when Kakkar would reach Gold using only the 12-month standard system.

Two of the four upgrade steps already run purely on the 12-month system, so they are unaffected by this change. Blue Plus to Silver needs 5 flights in 12 months, and Kakkar has taken 5 flights by 20 March 2007 (his flight to Kolkata), so he still becomes Silver on that date.

The step that changes is Silver to Gold. Normally this can happen through the easier 6-month route (5 flights or 12,500 miles), but with that route switched off, Kakkar must instead clear the 12-month route: 10 flights or 20,000 Queen-Miles, counted from the start of the year (since less than 12 months have passed, this is simply his running total for 2007).

Numbering his flights through the year:

  1. 2 Jan, Mumbai-Hyderabad
  2. 8 Jan, Hyderabad-Mumbai
  3. 3 Feb, Mumbai-Delhi
  4. 8 Mar, Delhi-Guwahati
  5. 20 Mar, Guwahati-Kolkata
  6. 11 Apr, Kolkata-Guwahati
  7. 30 Apr, Guwahati-Chennai
  8. 4 Jul, Chennai-Guwahati
  9. 20 Jul, Guwahati-Kolkata
  10. 2 Sep, Kolkata-Hyderabad

His total Queen-Miles by the 10th flight is only around 14,983, well short of 20,000, so it is the flight count, not the mileage, that clears the Silver-to-Gold bar. The 10th flight of the year lands on 2 September 2007.

Let's summarize:

  • Without the 6-month system, Silver to Gold needs 10 flights in 12 months.
  • Kakkar's 10th flight of the year is on 2 September 2007.

So Kakkar would have reached the Gold tier in September 2007.

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