You can earn lifetime oneworld sapphire elite status just from credit card spending. That’s mid-tier status like American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum or Alaska Airlines MVP Gold, and allows you to access American and Alaska lounges even when flying domestically on those airlines (and includes access to American’s Flagship business class lounges).
American Airlines Flagship Lounge DFW
American Airlines Flagship Lounge LAX
Japan Airlines updated their program a couple of years ago, and introduced lifetime elite status that can be earned from credit card spending. JAL has a U.S. credit card.
The JAL Premium Rewards card has an $85 fee, earns 2x on JAL purchases and 1x on everything else. You earn 5,000 bonus miles on your first JAL international flight after getting the card.
Crucially though you earn 5 Life Status points for every 1,500 miles earned from purchases on the card. (The cheaper $35 annual fee qualifies for this, too, but earns only 1 mile per $2 spent.)
So $450,000 in card spend with nothing else is enough for lifetime status which gets you oneworld sapphire. That comes not just with lounge access but with priority check-in and boarding and extra baggage allowance.
You can earn higher lifetime levels (1,500 → JGC Three Star → Four Star 3,000 → Five Star 6,000 → Six Star 12,000) but I think it’s six star before you’d reach oneworld emerald, so requiring $3.6 million card spend.
Compare to other status-earning opportunities via card spend. American AAdvantage is generally the best, and oneworld sapphire for a single year (AAdvantage Platinum) is earned at 75,000 Loyalty Points ($75,000 spend on U.S. cards, though some others are more generous). But that’s not lifetime and doesn’t come with lounge access on domestic itineraries.
$450,000 spend for lifetime status is worth considering for those who generate very high levels of card spend and are young enough where lifetime is a very long time. Bear in mind that permanent lifetime benefits can change (heh). Just ask United.
Miles Earn and Burn has written about the card, and Miles Per Day is going for lifetime status with it.
Oh, good, I was looking for a card to spend that… $450,000 purchase on. Thanks Gary!
I don’t understand how lifetime Sapphire gets you Flagship lounge access. I have lifetime Emerald but only get Flagship when I travel in Business.
@ Gary — Interesting. I would be concerned that this could be revoked later, but it is a Japanese airline, so maybe not too much risk of that kind of behavior. If it was a US airline, not sure I would invest in this.
@Solucia — Do you have lifetime Emerald with American, or a different OneWorld partner? If it’s through American, ironically, you don’t get access, unless you qualify through some other method. If it’s through another OW partner, like JAL, then you do. It’s ironic. AA presumes most foreign-based OW partners won’t crowd its lounges (which are mostly in the USA). Hope that helps. You can always read the fine-print, but that’s no fun.
wow, it sounds like the best airline credit card ever. I want one. I’m going to apply it now. Thanks.
@Gene — Are you suggesting that the modern Japanese still upholds a sense of profound honor and respect within their society? They certainly suggest that they do.
I’m reminded of the 2003 film The Last Samurai, wherein ‘Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is an American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country’s first army in the art of modern warfare. As the government attempts to eradicate the ancient Samurai warrior class in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly affected by his encounters with the Samurai, which places him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds.’
Powerful film; one of my personal favorites. Please tell me someone else has seen it. @L737?
Some favorite scenes/lines:
Algren (as he’s freakin’ wasted), yelling: “SAKE!!!”
Katsumoto’s death scene: “Perfect… they are all perfect…”
The Emperor: “Tell me how he died.” Algren: “I will tell you.. how he lived.”
(Similar themes in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves, starring Kevin Costner, set in the American West, with another ‘white’ protagonist’s immersion in and eventual integration with a technologically ‘older’ culture.)
(Of course, more recently, Shōgun is pretty epic. The actor Hiroyuki Sanada was in both that and The Last Samurai. He’s excellent. Anyway, quite the side-track here, but worth it, I hope.)
Useful if you can generate the spend and frequently travel through airports with flagship lounges.Sadly CLT is not one of them and probably never will be.
Big time typo, Gary ! “You can earn lifetime oneworld sapphire elite status just from credit card spending. That’s mid-tier status like American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum or Alaska Airlines MVP Gold, and allows you to access American and Alaska lounges even when flying domestically on THOSE airlines (and includes access to American’s Flagship business class lounges)”. You stated that before defining the term “those airlines”, which of course are airlines like JAL. It would be wild if just having AA Platinum got you access to the Admiral’s Club !
Wow, what a great deal. $450,000 in biz spend isn’t that hard.and JAL miles are pretty valuable.
I’ll be getting this card after my Qatar status runs out.
I’m sitting in the DFW FL as I type this. Other than self pour booze and a bit better food it’s just as crowded as any AC and essentially nothing different.
@George N Romey — Well, sir, enjoy that self-pour! Cheers!
Wow, it sounds like a great opportunity. I must apply for this. Hopefully, I can tell my other peers at work to avail the opportunity. The Jal Premium car seems to lure me more than others.
How good is the JAL frequent flyer program for premium award prices and availability?
Really interesting, thank you. To confirm, the $450K in spend isn’t time limited? You can space out the spend over a couple years theoretically?
Threestar gives you oneworld emerald. sixstar gives you diamond in the jal program but premier is also emerald.
Centimillionaires, assemble! Seriously though that seems like a nice clever life hack.
@1990 — I have not but given your high praise and reputation for liking good shows and movies I will put that on my priority list. Your synopsis did remind me of “47 Ronin” with John Wi- Keanu Reeves
Program devaluation over a lifetime anyone? Pass.
I am EP on AA, would i be able to use my AA number for upgrades and my JAL number for the lounge on the same trip?
Assuming you charge everyday spend which otherwise would earn 2x on Citi or CapOne the opportunity cost is 450,000 miles. Assuming a they’re worth a penny a mile, which is pretty low, that’s $4,500. Not counting time value of that figure breakeven at 8-10 years vs paying for AC membership with FL as a bonus.
One doubt. – Is it 450k spend in a year or can be over the years?
@Ber – You might be able to do it a few times but on an ongoing basis you’d end up alienating at least one program. It doesn’t seem worth it.
@rakhi jain – over years!
1990 & I seem to have similar tastes in entertainment since I’ve seen each of the mentioned items.
About the JAL lifetime status earning from credit card spend, I may see if my biggest spending relative will set up things to do this for a few of our younger relatives. The problem is the youngest relatives aren’t likely to get big credit lines and so we would have to spread out the spend over years instead of finishing it up within a year.