Through end of the year – unless the offer is pulled earlier, oneworld airline Royal Air Maroc is offering a paid status match deal that will get you better treatment flying American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and other carriers.
The deal also comes with accelerated requalification for the status you match to, with a 3x status boost for January 2026. (You can pay to extend status boost as well.)
The key here is that Royal Air Maroc status maps to oneworld status, and the offer includes both sapphire and even emerald levels!
Matched status is valid through December 31, 2026. Here are the costs (not cheap, but worth it for many):
- $149 for Silver
- $349 for Gold
- $749 for Platinum
Most will not care about Royal Air Maroc silver. Here’s a table of some of the airline status that match to oneworld sapphire or higher. Air France Platinums, Air Canada 75Ks, and Turkish Elite Plus members even match to emerald and unlock first class lounge access not just business class lounges.
| Airline | Gold | Platinum | ||
| Air Canada | Elite 50K | Elite 75K | ||
| Super Elite 100K | ||||
| Air France / KLM | Gold | Platinum | ||
| Ultimate | ||||
| Delta Air Lines | Gold and Above | N/A | ||
| Emirates | Gold and Above | N/A | ||
| JetBlue | Mosaic 2 and Above | N/A | ||
| Lufthansa | Senator | HON Circle | ||
| SAS | Gold and Above | N/A | ||
| TAP Air Portugal | Gold and Above | N/A | ||
| Turkish Airlines | Elite | Elite Plus | ||
| United Airlines | Global Services | N/A | ||
| Virgin Atlantic | Gold | N/A | ||
| WestJet | Gold and Above | N/A | ||
I recently wrote about Royal Jordanian’s status match offer. Several readers who took advantage of it called it the deal of the year. It was quickly pulled down for U.S. customers. In some ways this is even better.
Greenwich Lounge, New York JFK
Greenwich Lounge, New York JFK
Royal Jordanian is a oneworld member. Their mid-tier elite status provides lounge access when flying American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, and even American’s Flagship business class lounge access – and this access is good even when flying domestically and in coach. A certain U.S. airline apparently went ballistic and the offer was pulled.
American Airlines Flagship Lounge Chicago O’Hare
American Airlines Flagship Lounge Chicago O’Hare
The Royal Air Maroc offer is basically the same thing! But better! So we’ll see how long this lasts. It’s a bit more expensive, though far less expensive than a lounge membership – and lounge memberships don’t come with Flagship lounge. Eligible business class lounges include:
- New York JFK (Greenwich lounge)
- Chicago O’Hare (Flagship lounge)
- Miami (Flagship lounge)
- Philadelphia (Flagship lounge)
- Dallas – Fort Worth (Flagship lounge)
- Los Angeles (Flagship lounge)
American Airlines Flagship Lounge, Philadelphia
Of course you gain access to great oneworld business clas lounges like the Cathay Pacific and Qantas lounges at London Heathrow terminal 3 as well, even if flying economy.
Qantas Business Class Lounge, London Heathrow
Cathay Pacific Business CLass Lounge, London Heathrow
Oneworld sapphire status gets airport priority and baggage with oneworld partners as well.
Here is what makes this better. Royal Air Maroc is offering a status match to Platinum which is oneworld emerald and that includes access to partner first class lounges like Qantas (e.g. in Los Angeles and Sydney and Cathay Pacific first class lounges! A status match to oneworld emerald is pretty much unheard of.
Qantas First Class Lounge, Sydney
Cathay Pacific ‘The Pier’ First Class Lounge, Hong Kong
As a formal matter you are supposed to credit the miles for your trip to Royal Jordanian if you’re using the benefits of Royal Jordanian status. I have never had this enforced – I’ve always been able to have lounge agents look up my oneworld status while crediting trips to American AAdvantage.
American Airlines Admirals Club, National Airport E Concourse
For those of you with status in an eligible program this is an amazing and somewhat rare offer. oneworld frequent flyer programs rarely status match U.S. members.
Personally not a fan of using another airline’s status match for domestic lounge access. Seems like gaming the system and morally equivalent IMHO to max spend scam artists.
Years ago I matched to ANA and used that status to get into a United Club. However only after being basically integrated by the rep at the door and pretty much accused of a sham transaction. She let me in but made her feelings understood. Frankly it was a little embarrassing. Personally I’ll never do this to con my way into a lounge I otherwise didn’t deserve.
I see and agree with @Retired Gambler’s comment. If we do this, then we should not complain that lounge is too crowded or there is a line to enter. Imagine, paying one carrier to have status, then after entering, have to find customer service in the lounge or at ghe gate to change back to AA’s frequent flyer number, it might not worth the effort.
There is no moral problem with doing this. Come on. The problem is that it is a short term strategy not a mid or long term strategy.
First if you are eligible for Emerald (and this is non-US airline status that qualifies) it says Platinum applications are limited in supply. So act fast.
Then to requalify: From 1st January until 31 of December, collect 75,000 Status Miles or 75 Status Flights
with at least 37,500 Status Miles and/or 20 Status Flights on flights marketed and operated by Royal Air Maroc to reach the Platinum status. It’s half that for Sapphire.
So unless you are planning to travel on Royal Air Maroc significantly in 2026, this really is only good for one year.
Ha, if I were employing “morally equivalent” to the way AA treats its customers I would spend the entire day there, raid their liquor shelves on every visit, and approach every agent with contempt.