Tag Archives for status match.
Star Alliance is ‘losing’ many of its customers in Northern Europe. And SAS is trying to raid its members as well. So members with current SAS status can pick the Star Alliance program they’d like to stay in as an alternative to EuroBonus.
A couple of months ago I wrote about SAS offering a status match. Some readers complained that it wasn’t broadly relevant enough, since it states it’s available only to European residents. But it’s relevant because they appear to be status matching anyone with enough of a pulse to fill out a form. Vital signs sufficient to upload attachments not required.
Vietnam Airlines announced a status match offer. They’re partners with Delta Air Lines, and they’re a SkyTeam member, plus they have a number of other partnerships that can offer elite recognition so this will be reasonably interesting for many.
JetBlue is struggling and trying to execute a turnaround. They earned just $25 million in the second quarter. It should be their strongest quarter. They have underperformed for 15 years. Their CEO is gone, and they’ve been bringing back some veteran talent. Right now JetBlue is offering to match status of competitor airline customers and you can even keep the status by spending on their credit card.
About six months ago United put a new status match system in place. It automates the process of considering credentials that a member is asking to match against. It looks at the status you already have and decides whether it looks valid and regularly approves status matches instantly.
However it appears that this new system doesn’t actually check whether what you’ve submitted as proof of status from another airline is… real.
Overall I find American’s offers too complicated, but many Hyatt elites should take advantage of them anyway – for the short-term status, or longer-term since it’s easy to generate loyalty points via credit card spend and online shopping – and there’s no fee associated with the offer when it comes though the Hyatt partnership.
With the deal to be acquired by Air France KLM, Scandinavian leaves Star Alliance for SkyTeam they’re offering a status match and British Airways Silver and Gold match to SAS EuroBonus Gold which qualifies for Lufthansa Senator status.
Air France KLM Flying Blue will now status match customers in the U.S. and Mexico up to the Gold level, with status valid for 12 months. This is fantastic if you have a stash of bank points that transfer to miles, and great if you fly Delta as well.
Hilton Honors offers free 90 days of status to anyone with current elite status in a major hotel program that has stayed at a hotel at least once in the last 24 months. Then, if you stay with them you can keep or upgrade the status – valid for nearly two full years at this point.
The offer has been available for some time but it’s just been changed.
Through May 7, British Airways Executive Club is offering to status match members who reside in the U.S. and Canada. Depending on your status with a U.S. or Canadian airline frequent flyer program, they will match to Silver or Gold status.
This gets you premium check-in and lounge access, plus extra baggage benefits, when flying domestically on American and Alaska as well as more benefits traveling on other oneworld airlines.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
