Status Matching Airline Elite Memberships

By this time of year, you most likely know if you will be re-qualifying for elite status with your favorite airline. If you know you won’t make it then you should consider status matching to a competitor. Leverage your existing status to get a competitor to earn you business in 2017. Most programs offer a trial of 90-180 days but you must meet their qualifications requirements to keep it throughout 2017 but there are a few which just give you the status for the entire year.

A reader mentioned he was an American Airlines Executive Platinum member (top tier) for 2016 but won’t re-qualify. He decided to match up with Alaska Airlines and United. Alaska Airlines offered MVP Gold 75K status (top tier) until December 31, 2017 with no qualification requirements and United offered Premier 1K status (top tier) for 6 months but he has to fly 50,000 miles and spend $6,000 to keep it until January 31, 2018. He even received 4 First Class upgrade certificates with Alaska MVP 75K even though it was a status match.

You will be the most successful if you status match across alliances. [Example from American (oneworld Alliance) to United (Star Alliance)]


Alaska: To submit a request, simply email elite.flyer@alaskaair.com with a photo of your current elite card (front and back), online account summary and Mileage Plan number.

American: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1736026-help-desk-faq-new-aa-elite-status-challenge-effective-jan-2016-a.html

Delta: http://www.delta.com/contactus/pages/planning_reservations/leisure_travel_program/statusmatch/index.jsp

Hawaiian: To submit a request, simply email HM.Marketingsupport@hawaiianair.com with a photo of your current elite card (front and back), online account summary and HawaiianMiles number.

JetBlue: No active offers

United: http://www.united.com/statusmatchform

Virgin America: No active offers, https://www.virginamerica.com/cms/elevate-frequent-flyer/status/status-match

Many more status match/challenge airlines and success or denial reports can be found here: http://www.statusmatcher.com/airlines


Have you status matched for 2017? If so, which airlines?

You may also like...

1 Response

  1. January 20, 2020

    […] was very fortunate to hold Alaska MVP Gold 75K status from October 2018 until December 2019 via a status match from AA Executive Platinum. Alaska MVP Gold 75K status is their highest tier offering upgrades to […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.