Earlier in the pandemic British Airways extended member elite status by a year. Unlike U.S. programs where everyone’s status expires at the same time, each Executive Club member has their own 12-month rolling calendar year for status, so some member statuses expire each month.
BA has just announced that members whose status year ends between July 1 and December 31, 2021, have their status extended by 12 more months. Some members, then, get their status extended out to December 2022.
And while BA’s system differs from that of U.S. airlines, the move points to,
- The pandemic is lasting longer than many had hoped, even though vaccinations create much hope
- Airlines weren’t initially aggressive enough in extending status, or reducing requirements for earning status this year.
Travel may pick up as 2021 progresses. People are getting vaccinated, and CDC guidance notwithstanding that means more people who ‘jab and go’. But that isn’t enough to forestall the need for status extensions.
- Business travel won’t return to 2019 levels this year. Even as it comes back, it’ll be slowly – in waves – rather than all at once. Some trips will remain displaced by zoon, client visits have to wait until offices are fully reopened.
- To the extent business travel returns to a meaningful level, it will be later in the year (perhaps September onward). Companies won’t require travel right away, many companies have committed to remote work until later in the year making trips to headquarters unnecessary, and conventions and meetings come back last (large indoor gatherings in poorly ventilated spaces).
- International travel will remain significantly more restricted than domestic travel. That means much of the distance, and heavy spend for long haul business class, just isn’t an option.
Filling planes with once a year leisure travelers doesn’t change the need for status extensions. And 20% reductions in earning requirements won’t account for international restrictions and reduced business travel.
To the extent that airlines want to keep customers who have been most lucrative in the past – to the extent they’re betting that high yield business travel will return – they need to keep customers rather than kicking them to the curb.
Telling a top tier elite who doesn’t re-earn status in 2021, because their business travel doesn’t start back up in earnest until the fall, that they’re no longer valuable is a recipe for turning a once-loyal customer into a free agent and sending them to a competitor.
However airlines will view it as too early in the year to make this sort of move. They still want to use status as a carrot to encourage flying, and to encourage customers to choose them. So they’re more likely to run status-accelerating promotions.
American AAdvantage is already cold-calling members to sell them progress towards elite status. Promotions and sales like this make it harder to straight-up extend status later. Would they refund the purchased qualifying miles and dollars? Certainly not, but those who ‘fell for it’ will be bitter.
So it seems more likely we’ll see a program like AAdvantage offering promotions later in the year, and buy backs, or even potentially targeted extensions at the end of the year rather than a general extension for everybody.
It would be a mistake though to leave members behind for lack of flying in 2021, if an airline believes past valuable customers are likely to be future valuable customers with the pandemic as the reason for the discontinuity.
Hotels are a bit of a different story though with status made so easy to earn this year, and Marriott even effectively extending most status for anyone who also has a personal and small business credit card. They went aggressive up front reducing qualification requirements, even to the extent they made mattress running for status attractive, rather than ‘holding the line’ with only slightly-reduced requirements like we’ve seen from airlines.
Miles are being devalued like never before. Premium cabins are getting cheaper to buy outright. Priority security lines are no longer a perk because we have CLEAR and TSA PRE. Lounges are more tied to credit card membership (Amex) than airline programs.
All this is to say elite status means a lot less than it used to.
I agree wholeheartedly @Garyt.
My travel is zero during COVID. I’m not a short-haul flyer so the places I want to go — the UK and SE Asia still aren’t open to me. When they are I’ll be in the skies again. A lot I hope.
Agree Gary! My wings are totally clipped as far as work goes (which was the majority of my flight time) and personal trips with the wife and kids are deemed to be too fraught with peril – and hassle – to take unless it’s a necessity.
The fact that I’m not flying doesn’t mean that this is permanent. Far from it, there could be plenty of business travel in my future in the next 1-2 years. Just not yet. And probably not until we get toward the end of this year. So there’s not enough time to build any status. I can’t be alone it this and the airlines must know it. So extending it again is their best option to keep formerly strong customers coming back
The best approach for someone like me would be for there to be a status extension but having flights taken in 2021 being good toward elite status at double or triple the usual rate with a rollover into 2022 of all base status miles/points/segments earned from 2021 flying.
For the other perspective, I’d never had status before earning it in October 2020. And now I’ve qualified through the end of 2022, by actually paying the airline money and flying. I’d love for the elites who haven’t been flying to roll off, though I agree that might not be best for airlines’ business.
I am so glad I am retired, travel on my schedule and have lifetime elite status w both AA and DL (around 3 million miles on each). I could care less if they decide to extend status since I’ve got it anyway.
Oh yeah – lifetime top status or similar based on credit cards/matches w 6 top hotel chains plus Diamond Plus w Caesars so never pay for says w them.
Life is good for me.
Also Gary business travel isn’t coming back to levels of 1999 until 2023/2024 and some of it will never come back since COVID has shown there are cheaper, as effective, options
Agree.
I’m looking at you BA! My tier year starts in March. I can’t even fly your 4 segment minimum if EU is still locked down.
I didn’t have status in 2019. I earned Platinum with Delta in 2020. 117 segments, 84k miles and $17,600 spent. I asked them if they would bump me up to Diamond since AA and UAL lowered their requirements. They pretty much said too bad. Sorry, but y’all had your status extended a year. DAL did nothing for us that earned it in 2020, all while putting money in their pockets. I get that your business might not allow for travel, but that’s life. If they extend status again, they really need to do something for us that earned status in 2020, and not just extending the current one we have, they need to bump us to the next level. So far this year I’ve had 43 flights, and spent over $6300. I’ll earn Diamond status this year without an issue. But for you to think you should be extended again, that’s absurd.
@Mark — It is not our fault hat you failed use AMEX MQMs to attain Diamond status. And, yes, Delta should extend status for a year.
Our tax dollars have been keeping their asses afloat. It’s the least they could do.
The airlines are having trouble keeping track of their exisitng extra incentives for 2021. I have already qualified for AA’s 2021 Elite Qualifying Dollar (EQD) waiver as I have $30,000 of charges posted to my AAdvantage credit card statements for January, February, and March. For some inexplicable reason, AA has not been able to show this in my account summary. Already had an online chat with someone at AA one week ago and they noticed the problem and sent a notice to the AAdvantage department. But still not fixed yet. Any more incentives might create more problems, especially for AA. Extending flight credits that expire at the end of 2021 at least through February 2022 ought to be an easy call.
@Gene…it’s all for business, on the company card, which is not an AMEX. Why should they extend it again? What makes you more deserving than myself getting boosted to Diamond status? They did you a favor, but nothing for us that earned status during the pandemic. If anyone is more deserving, it’s us that flew.
They will have extend in the US, where programs are 100% geared towards OPM flyers, most of which are grounded now.
Yes,travel may pick up but not yet for Joe Salesman presenting important powerpoints to clients on yet another slaving trip for their corporate master.
I hope they don’t extend, or if they do knock everyone down a level. I’ve already locked in my United 1K and am working on my Delta. I’ve flown just as much this year as a normal year, albeit no international.
I totally agree airlines need to extend status. I’d LOVE to travel and I’ve even booked several trips for later this fall to places like Bali and Thailand but most likely I’ll have to cancel them as those countries probably won’t open up. I was supposed to go to the Olympics last year and it got cancelled and even this year they say spectators can’t go.
Hotels are easier as you can do staycations and travel domestically but airlines are almost impossible with even the CDC still recommending against travelling.
I own my own business and have been on a plane every week since June 2020 (except 4) for work. I have been re-arning my status on both Alaska and United. If you want status extended yet again there needs to be 1 level downgrade for you or a new level upgrade for people like me. There is plenty of time for people to organically re-earn their status from now until year end since most everyone will be vaccinated by may. Might be unpopular opinion but there must be a differentiation from someone who hasnt been on a plane in over a year and people like me.
@Matthew – I don’t think your opinion is unpopular. I think your opinion is ignorant because you don’t have eyes into airline financials and data that would inform a decision of whether extending status or not is a better business decision for customer LTV. Your opinion is based on your own selfish desire to be “elite” despite your blatant flaunting of CDC guidance not to travel. Unless your business travel is medical critical, in which case I eat my words and God bless.
@P Ness, no, it’s people wanting something for nothing. I traveled all but two weeks this year so far for work. My job is essential. My job cannot be done remotely. It’s ignorant to think a company should extend status again because your company says you cannot travel. You got it extended once, out of the goodness of their airlines heart. Elite status isn’t free, but you want it free for another year. Sorry, but that’s not how a business operates.
@Mark – I guess I’m in agreement with part of your comment, but not the other, which is weird. We agree that an airline is a business for profit, and cannot be giving out free things. Any status extension past or present isn’t out of the goodness of their heart. It’s a business decision. What people want only matters insofar as customer LTV is affected. Whether people want something for nothing does not factor into the equation. And it’s a bit of a moot question because everybody wants something for nothing all the time. It’s a pretty fundamental assumption in economics and business. If I (hypothetically) offer you $50 over a anonymous money transfer platform where you would not share any personal info with me (so there’s no privacy concern or anything like that), no strings attached and for no particular reason other than to give you something for nothing, would you want it?
@ Mark — Extending status is not giving something for nothing. It is giving an incentive for your future business. It is no great loss to me if I don’t have status since I only book first class anyway. However, it would be the airline’s loss if I choose to direct my business elsewhere.
I am sorry that you feel entitled to something extra.
@Gene, I don’t feel entitled. I asked they said no (I only asked because AA and UAL lowered their requirements). But there seems to be people that feel like they’re entitled to keep status for not traveling at all, or very minimal. Those people think they are special.
Good for you that you book only first class. My company doesn’t allow that. But do I feel like all my traveling is more valuable than someone that didn’t fly enough last year to qualify for the bottom status (but they expect to have their top tier status extended again), you betcha I do. This shows that their travel isn’t that important.
@ Mark — Why does this “show their travel isn’t important?”. In case you forgot, we are in the middle of a pandemic. I have flown 6 million miles in the last 20 years, including zero the last 12 months. My travel is very important to me, but my health is more important.
@Gene, and that’s your choice not to fly. 107 flights last year from mid March, all over the U.S., into hot zones (California, NY)…wore my mask, never had one symptom. You chose not to fly, and that’s up to you. But to expect an airline to extend status again is ridiculous. Vaccine shots are available. Get them, wear a mask, and you’ll be fine. If you have health conditions that you worry about getting a virus, we’ll then you should wear a mask from now on. If you’ve flown that many miles, you should have lifetime status with at least one airline.
@ Mark — Yes, I have lifetime AA Plat, DL Gold, and UA Gold. I am partly vaccinated, and will be flying within weeks. I also have AA EXP and DL DM. I hope they are extended for free, but if not, oh well. It is the least they could for stealing my tax money.
@Mark, agree with you on not extending one year wonder elites. What all are pointing out is keeping a valuable client for airline through a bad year for travel. This would be same for someone who was ill throughout the year or on maternity and could not keep status for one year. Any airline would not want to lose a client that has been consistently spending money with them for many years.
It looks like you started a new job that requires you to travel alot so in a year or two, you will be just as valuable to Delta as some of the other readers here. I for one hope, AA does right by us million milers but at the end its on them to see the value in loyalty.
@Gene completely agree on the last part. Delta really needs to stop blocking seats now. Being 18″ away does nothing but make people “feel” safe.
I only flew 16K last year, but I’m a UA Million Miler so I don’t worry too much. I appreciate the airlines extending status and especially UA with their clubs. I’m curious as to how long they’ll continue to extend the clubs. I’m praying my trip to Athens mid-August will go this year. Considering we have the vaccine, and depending on the number of people who take it, I think we can be flying to Europe in 5 months. But hey, I was sure I’d get there last year, too. It’d be nice for the airlines to extend status until the end of the year, but I’m not expecting it.
With close to 1.5 million people flying daily in the US today (and this is three months before everyone is vaccinated), plenty of people are traveling right now that aren’t “once a year-leisure travelers…” I don’t see airlines just extending status for free another year. If they do, they need to somehow reward people like Matthew that are flight extensively today
Looks like some people who have had to keep flying for work will end up very bitter when the airlines extend status of those who got to stay home and not fly during the pandemic to please their bosses.
I hope not! I’m flying every week (have since Jan 2020…).
Stop letting free-loaders overwhelm the system.
Don’t fly = no status.
I can’t handle all these entitled people who want stuff to be easy.
I’ve hit 30 countries in the last 15 months.
Staying at hotels every single night, around the world.
You all are crazy for being so scared. It’s just mind-melting how naive people STILL are after a year of this.
@Ann you seem entitled. If you haven’t traveled during this whole pandemic, your job isn’t essential. Not saying you didn’t perform your job, but if it can be done via zoom, you don’t deserve any status exemption. @George is 100% correct. Stop being a freeloader.
@ Gary — People who don’t care about the well being of others should sit in the back, while those who sat out the pandemic and patiently waited should benefit. This is exactly why status requirements should be sharply reduced.
I predict that DL will very soon lower the AMEX DM waiver from $250k to $100k, or perhaps aannounce a new way to earn MQDs based on credit card spend.
@Gene, it has nothing to do with not caring about the well being of others. Literally, my job is the bedrock of the economy, so my job is essential.
DL should’ve reduced requirements last year, not this year. Vaccine is available, so there’s no reason to lower it. And it shouldn’t (status) be extended. If people (Platinum or Diamond) really fly that much, they’ll earn it in 2022, while having to have a lower status for 2022 (boo hoo).
The 6 people on my team (my boss and my 4 co-workers) all have at least platinum status, with 2 having Diamond. My company is worldwide, so we have a lot of people traveling (albeit not much in the international market right now).
Delta took care of people this year, but travel is picking up (again, I see it weekly because I fly weekly). There is no need to extend the same status again. I could see possibly extending it, but having one tier lower, but not the same, especially if a person hasn’t flown all that time. If they do extend it, they really need to do something for those that achieved status in 2020, because we were the butts in the seats keeping them afloat (with taxpayers money also).
Just my two cents
I traveled extensively for around the last 35 years of my career (retired 2 years ago) and have somewhere around 8 million frequent flyer miles across practically every airline that has flown in the US (and a few foreign ones) since the mid 80s. Lifetime Platinum on AA and Gold on DL (around 3 million miles on each) so don’t really care as my status is locked up and I’m not qualifying for EP or DL Platinum/Diamond any more as I’m retired.
However, one thing that I notice from the back and forth from the people that have traveled and those that haven’t (who all want their status extended) is a fact many of you traveling haven’t considered. I am willing to bet the majority of you will NEVER fly as much as you did before. Those that had to fly the last year have done so and companies have found that Zoom, Teams, etc can be effective substitutes for many plus some trips just aren’t cost justified. I’m sure none of you feel this way about “your” travel but I assure you your company CFO is looking at it and I wouldn’t get used to ever having the status you did before (outside of any temporary extension that may be offered). Get used to lower status, less perks and more hassle. Sorry but that is the way things will be.
@Mark Please keep in mind that any status extension is not for you, or your team of co-workers, who are already flying. This is the same for why they gave you PM and not DM.
They don’t need to entice you all with status. You are flying because you have to, and you’re not paying out of pocket – you are spending someone else’s money. That means either a corporate arrangement exists, or you are replaceable to them. Keep in mind that DL has corporate ticket identifiers built into their ticket numbers and can tell all of this when you use your company portal or credit card to book.
The status carrot will be more for ancillary revenue they want to bring in, not to lose others that were solidly choosing Delta. If they extend status and people fly much less than before in 2022 – it doesn’t matter to you or to Delta. They won’t be handing out any benefits because the person will rarely fly, and they won’t affect you because they won’t be on any upgrade list, because they rarely fly.
You are totally replaceable to them and they don’t feel like they have to compete for your business. So they aren’t going to. You can complain and say you should be bumped up – nonsensical – but that will just never happen.
@AC keep in mind that Delta created the Diamond tier because so many were exceeding Platinum requirements and they wanted to recognize that higher level.
If what you predict to be true comes true – sustained, decreased travel across the board – then they would likely re-evaluate their requirements. It all remains to be seen, the biggest hurdle being getting countries globally on the same page about how to document and accept vaccinated travelers, and to get people over the fear of going to a remote place without knowing or feeling comfortable about the local health infrastructure, should something happen.
@Delta Diamond…I would say 99% of DMs are flying on the company dime. What you’re saying is they should reward the people that aren’t flying and not the ones flying?!
It does affect me, because if someone that didn’t fly enough to even get silver in 2021 gets their DM extended through 2022, they will jump me on the upgrade list. You got it once, but you shouldn’t get it again. Why, because I’m the one flying all these miles, not you. You’ll have to deal with earning it again, like I had to in 2020 (was Gold on UA in 2018).
Airlines who took government money should be required to drop the spend-for-status requirement and return to a frequent flyer scheme without a frequent buyer component. EQD/MQD/PQP/etc should all be eliminated. The only thing that should determine status is number of miles flown.
@Mark…99% of DMs are not flying on the company dime. Even if they were, DL is not their preferred vendor. It sounds like DL is your company’a preferred vendor given your entire time chooses them (is it a choice?)
You forget that the people whose status was extended, earned it the hard way in 2019. Some of these folks did not get to use their status at all in 2020 and even 2021 now. Do you understand what’s a pandemic means?
You had one year of loyalty to Delta, but really your company did. That’s why you’re not being rewarded with anything additional – by any airline – they don’t need to incentivize you. You already select them, whether you have a choice or not.
This really isn’t that difficult to understand and you keep fighting all the logical points others and myself have made with a “but what about me?!” when the loyalty program executives are looking at this at a macro level and not on an individual/exception level, as you are.
@Delta Diamond, do you realize how much you just contradicted yourself?!
You said DMs aren’t on the company dime, but then you say people in 2019 earned it the hard way (I assume you meant by flying). Those people were flying for WORK…on the company dime. And then you say they aren’t flying much in 2030 and 2021…aka business flyers.
It’s hard for you to understand that you shouldn’t get something just because you think you deserve it.
I asked for the upgrade, they didn’t and I accepted that. You think you should get rewarded for not flying in 2020 and possibly right now. Talk about a “what about me attitude”. If you are a DM, and they don’t extend it, you’ll just have to earn it again. Stop whining about your lack of travel and wanting to be treated special.
@Brody, I never fly for work, before or after the pandemic.
I make my status out of my own pocket unlike all the entitled OPM flyers who never actually spend a penny unless their boss whips them to work.
In my ideal world, status would only go to the entity that pays the money, not some entitled low level salesman not paying a dime.
@ Mark — The bottom line is that Delta knows how many Diamonds it wants, and it will act accordingly to reach those numbers. They don’t care about Diamond status on a micro level, but on a macro one.
As you have experienced, it is not easy to hit the MQDs required for Diamond status, so Delta will either have to just punt another year as Gary suggests or get creative in offering either lowered MQD thresholds or other ways to earn MQDs more rapidly. Whether you like it or not, they will do something to retain a portion of their existing Diamond population and attract new ones, including status matches. I guarantee you that those options will not include calling up and asking for a free bump in your status. It is just the way it goes.
@Ann, then you must have a lot of disposable income, especially if you are a top tier status holder. Oh, and have a lot of free time on your hands.
Like others here, I fly almost weekly for work. Part of living out of hotel rooms every week is getting the airline perks. Road warriors are a special breed, and definitely keep these airlines turning a profit.
@Gene, I get that. I’m just wondering why they didn’t do it last year when UAL and AA did.
I chose DAL to fly last year to try them. With what UAL and AA are doing (especially AA with their plane reconfiguration), keeping DMs will be easy for DAL without extending status another year.
@Gene @Mark
Delta did it later because their NPI is higher and because they knew, at the time, that their loyal base would pay a premium to fly them.
You think Project Oasis – something that started in 2016 at AA, and which the average frequent flyer doesn’t even know about (I know PMs and DMs who don’t know what RUCs and GUCs are) – will have an effect?
The actual effect is going to be DL’s stinginess in providing zero service in any upgraded class domestically when AA and UA are doing the opposite.
DL really will have to work to hard to get those folks back. And Alaska is pushing them hard on the west coast, as evidenced by them handing out $100 vouchers to all their SEA flyers.
AFKLM’s Flying Blue program just extended status another year, and Delta owns a minority stake in them. It’s writing on the wall for DL – they just don’t want to announce it too soon, or be the first, and lose out on the possibility of summer travel purchases going their way. They want people like you to keep spending with them under the assumption that status won’t be extended, thresholds won’t be lowered, and promotions won’t be offered.
Yet AA is already calling people to sell them discounted EQDs and qualifying miles/segments…and as Gary said above, they won’t be refunding these purchases for anyone when they make it easier for everyone else to qualify.
@Delta Diamond, I do agree with you on the stinginess of Delta and their premium cabins.
I do not understand why they are still blocking seats, especially on their narrowbody planes. Literally 2 F seats take up the same real estate as 3 Y seats. They block middle seats (still not 6′ of social distancing, but I understand why they do, and it’s all to make people feel safe), and on their B717’s/A220’s/regional jets, they block “select aisle seats”, so you still can be sitting next to someone you don’t know (happened to me 3 times this year). They need to either open up all seats or block ever adjacent seat.
Exactly! I have a mathematics background and the number of people, average distance from each, and chances of 1 infected person infecting you is HIGHER in economy with middle seat blocked than a full First Class. But the public is buying thats is somehow safer and it is mathematically not.
@Mark I’m glad we have had enough civil discourse that we finally have found something that we both agree on! Love that! But seriously, no soft drinks, no liquor in First Class? What is Delta thinking? (Well, about the bottom line…)
And this is why even Silver Medallions are being upgraded on transcons in Delta One, like JFK-LAX. Even on a Delta One domestic route like that, very limited beverage service, and a snack box if you’re lucky. And their premium fares are higher than pre-covid. Crazy. I can’t believe how much further they’ve devalued SkyMiles for premium cabin redemptions in the last 12 months.
@Matthew @Mark
The seat blocking is not about science or even covid – it’s about marketing and competitive advantage. I don’t think any other airline is seat blocking at this point (maybe B9) and I can’t tell you how many people I know who have selected them based on this “greater comfort” (both physical and against covid) alone. I don’t think people even bother with the detail of select seat blocking, because most travelers don’t even know what type of aircraft they’re flying on.
They just hear “seat next to you blocked” and “Delta” and purchase with them. It’s quite the competitive advantage, actually, when nobody else is doing it.
I agree its great marketing by Delta based on nothing. Kudos for them for convincing people to pay a premium for nothing. Im not slamming them im saying its brilliant since most people think its safer.
Btw Alaska is still blocking middles in premium class on mainline until june.
@Matthew
I didn’t think you were slamming them. Keep in mind, this is the same Marketing Department that has been able to convince people that SkyMiles is the best domestic FF program. SkyMiles does have some strengths – and I have a high 6 figure balance of them – but best? That is hard to justify, yet most people buy it.
I didn’t realize that about Alaska! But what premium cabins of theirs even have middles? Premium economy?
And they aren’t doing it in First or economy?
Premium class is rows 6 through 10 on 737s, A320, A321. Their Embraers are exempt.
Im a loyal Alaska flyer and put their service up against any US airline. Obviously no widebodies or lie flats but the service is unmatched and ive never had to fight them over comp or changes or anything.