How To Earn Airline Elite Status — and Is It Worth It?

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The lure of a luxury flight experience at an affordable price keeps many travelers chasing airline elite status year after year.

But pursuing and maintaining status comes with significant opportunity costs — like forfeiting the flexibility to earn versatile travel rewards or book flights across any carrier — that will clip some fliers’ wings.

What Is Airline Status?

Airline elite status is part of air travel loyalty programs. It gives you benefits like waived flight fees, comfier seats, and a speedier airport experience. 

As you spend more money with an airline and its partner brands, you can advance through its status levels, which offer progressively more lucrative perks. 

Most fliers must requalify for status annually by showing the airline their value as customers.

But if you fly the same carrier at least a million miles — equivalent to about 74 round-trip New York–Tokyo flights — you can receive lifetime status and enjoy its benefits without needing to requalify.

Status benefits

Initial airline status levels often include benefits like: 

• Priority customer service and rebooking
• Priority check-in, security screening, and boarding
• Airport lounge and CLEAR® Plus membership discounts
• Free seat selection and roomier economy seats
• A free checked bag
• Elite status with partner rental car agencies
• 25% to 40% bonus rewards points on flights

Middle and upper levels offer perks like: 

• Big flight discounts
• Free same-day flight changes
• Free airport lounge access
• Multiple free checked bags
• Free in-flight wifi, food, and beverages
• Hotel elite status with partner brands
• The ability to gift status to others
• Up to 150% bonus points 

High status also increases your chances of receiving coveted, limited-availability benefits. 

For instance, some airlines theoretically offer free cabin upgrades (moving from an economy seat to business or first class) to all status holders. But low-level status holders’ upgrade requests are usually reviewed only 24 hours before flight departure, when seat availability is limited. 

Higher status holders’ upgrade requests may be reviewed as early as five days before departure, when there’s more availability. And airlines specify in their fine print that higher status holders are prioritized when multiple fliers are on an upgrade waitlist:

How long does airline status last?

Status may activate the day you meet its qualification requirements or soon after, and usually lasts at least the rest of that calendar year and the following year.

• Alaska Airlines: Valid until December 31 of the year after you earn status.
• American Airlines: Valid until March 31 of the second year after you earn status.
• Delta: Valid until January 31 of the second year after you earn status.
• Southwest: Valid until December 31 of the year after you earn status.
• United: Valid until January 31 of the second year after you earn status.

Until you reach lifetime status, you’ll need to requalify during each new status qualification period, which usually lasts a calendar year before resetting.

How To Get Airline Elite Status

You get airline elite status by accumulating a minimum amount of an airline’s status-qualifying miles or segments, points, or spending volume with the airline and its partners. 

Status-qualifying points and miles usually differ from the regular airline rewards points you earn that are redeemable for award flights. 

U.S. airlines’ status qualifying criteria

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Lifetime
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™	20K elite-qualifying miles (EQMs)	40K EQMs	75K EQMs	100K EQMs	1-3M EQMs
American Airlines AAdvantage®	40K Loyalty Points (LPs)	75K LPs	125K LPs	200K LPs	1-5M miles
Delta Medallion	5K Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs)	10K MQDs	15K MQDs	28K MQDs	1-5M miles
Southwest A-List	20 flights or 35K tier-qualifying points (TQP)	40 flights or 70K TQP	N/A	N/A	N/A
United MileagePlus® Premier®	15 Premier-qualifying flights (PQF) + 5K Premier-qualifying points (PQP) or6K PQP	30 PQF + 10K PQP or12K PQP	45 PQF + 15K PQP or18K PQP	60 PQF + 22K PQP or28K PQP	1-4M miles

Flights

If you commit to one airline and its alliance partners, you may qualify for some status tiers based solely on how much you fly or spend on airfare. 

But airlines have different restrictions regarding which flights count toward status.

	Alaska Airlines	American Airlines	Delta	Southwest	United
Earn on partner flights?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Earn on all fare classes?	Yes	Yes	No*	Yes	No*
Earn on award flights?	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Earn on elite flight bonus points?	No	Yes	No	No	No

* Delta and United generally don’t issue status points for Basic Economy, their cheapest fare class.

These policy variations can significantly affect your status trajectory. 

For example, while most airlines give status holders extra rewards points for their flights, American Airlines is unusual because it counts those bonus points toward status qualification. This makes it easier for frequent American Airlines fliers to maintain or advance their status. 

Partner merchants

Certain airlines let you earn status through purchases with partner retailers, hotels, and restaurants — meaning you could even reach elite status without flying!

American Airlines, for example, has offers from 1,200+ partner merchants, including brands like Walmart, Home Depot, and CVS.

The status earning rates for many American Airlines partners exceed the base earn rate you get for American Airlines flights (5 miles/LPs per $1 spent). 

Airline credit cards

American Airlines aside, most major U.S. airlines offer limited opportunities for earning status when shopping with non-airline merchants, unless you use a co-branded airline credit card for your everyday purchases.

Airline credit cards may offer status benefits like:

• A status welcome bonus for meeting a minimum spending requirement within a limited period
• A steady rate of status points on everyday card purchases
• Annual status points bonuses with no minimum spending requirement
• Automatic elite status that renews if you meet spending minimums

Best credit cards for elite status

	Status-qualifying earn rate	Other key benefits
American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Mastercard®	1 LP per $1 spent	25% off in-flight food and beverages
Aeroplan® Credit Card	N/A	Automatic Aeroplan 25K Status (lasts the rest of the calendar year and the following year and renews after spending $15,000 with your card)
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card	1 EQM per $3 spent (30K EQMs max) (offer lasts through 2025)	20% off in-flight purchases
Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card	1.5K TQP per $5K spent	Lost luggage and delayed baggage insurance
The New United Quest℠ Card	1 PQP per $20 spent (18K PQP annual max)	1,000 PQP annual bonus
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card	1 MQD per $10 spent	2,500 MQD annual bonus

You can speed up your status climb by combining points from credit card purchases with points from qualifying merchants. 

For instance, if you use your Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card (or the non-business Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card) to buy a Delta flight with a $1,000 base fare, you’ll earn 1,100 MQDs: 

• 100 MQDs from the credit card (1 MQD per $10 spent), and 
• 1,000 MQDs for the flight itself. 

Those 1,100 MQDs plus the card’s annual 2,500 MQD bonus add up to 72% of the MQDs needed to reach Delta’s introductory Silver status level. 

COMPARE: Best Airline Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses

But allocating your spending to a co-branded airline card also has drawbacks, as the rewards it earns are redeemable only for its award flights and those of its partner airlines. 

General travel rewards cards earn more flexible points, which can be strategically transferred to airlines across multiple alliances and redeemed for high-value award flights.

Status match challenges

All major U.S. airlines offer automatic equivalent status in their rewards programs if you provide a screenshot proving you’ve reached status with a competing airline. 

And some airlines offer limited-time promotions, awarding a higher-than-equivalent status for specific competitors.

Matched status is given for a three- to four-month trial. It extends to standard year+ status if you complete the airline’s “challenge” of earning a minimum amount of status points during the trial period. 

But there are some catches. Competing statuses provided via a promotion or credit card may not qualify. And some airlines only offer status matches to travelers who’ve flown with them in recent years.

Buy airline status

If you’re close to reaching status and an airline’s qualification period is nearing its end, the airline might offer you the chance to pay cash or rewards points to close the gap.

But status buy-ups are rarely good deals. It usually makes more sense to earn the remaining status currency by:

• Buying something you need with one of the airline’s credit cards, preferably from one of its status currency-earning partner merchants
• Completing a “mileage run,” i.e., a flight primarily taken to obtain or maintain elite status 

Best Airline Status Program

We scored each major U.S. airline’s elite status program by weighting their:

• Qualification requirements (40%)
• Opportunities to earn status points (20%)
• U.S. flight volume (20%)
• Status benefits (10%)
• Partner airlines (10%)

Our scoring model ranks Delta Medallion as the best airline status program for the average U.S. traveler, followed by American Airlines AAdvantage, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, Southwest A-List, and United MileagePlus Premier.

Delta’s flight routes and SkyTeam partner airlines make it particularly convenient for travelers flying within the U.S. and to East Asia or Western Europe. And its low qualification requirements for entry-level status make it reachable after a relatively modest investment. 

But if you try out Delta Medallion and find it’s not right for your travel needs, you can complete a status challenge and move to another airline’s status program instead:

• American Airlines AAdvantage is good if you frequently shop online, want to pursue status without paying a credit card annual fee, or fly with American Airlines’ partners, like British Airways, Cathay Pacific, or Qantas.
• United MileagePlus Premier is a good fit for frequent international travelers, as some Premier status benefits transfer to Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline network.
• Southwest A-List makes sense for domestic travelers who want basic status perks while keeping their flight costs low.
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan appeals to West Coasters and offers inter-status “milestone” gifts — one-off benefits if you miss the qualification criteria to reach status.

FAQs About Airline Elite Status 

TL;DR: Is Airline Status Worth It?

Airline status is often worth it for folks who travel:

• Solo, two+ times monthly: Conveniences like priority check-in and exit row seats become necessities when you’re constantly on the go.
• With family, three+ times annually: Baggage fees add up, not all airlines guarantee fee-free family seating, and priority boarding gives kids extra time to settle into the plane.
• On an employer’s dime: Missing out on other airlines’ flight deals stings less when someone else foots the bill!
• Through smaller airports: You’re more likely to enjoy elusive cabin upgrades when flying through cities with fewer competing status holders. 

But for most travelers, elite status isn’t worth being boxed into traveling with one carrier, its partner airlines, and inflexible rewards. 

Other ways to give yourself a comfortable flight experience (while keeping travel expenses down) include:

• Use transferable-points credit cards. This increases your chances of finding business and first-class award flights.
• Get affordable upgrades by booking flights on low-demand days and building a rapport with gate agents and flight attendants.
• Invest in a luxury credit card like The Platinum Card® from American Express or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. These offer lounge access and flexible annual travel credits for checked bags and seat selection with major U.S. airlines. 

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Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.