Most travelers assume that getting hotel status is a time - consuming and complicated process like flying tens of thousands of miles to
earn airline status.
If you fly often, you'll want to make sure the card you select helps you maximize your opportunity to
earn airline status as you spend money on flights.
While there are very few shortcuts to
earning airline status, several rewards credit cards make obtaining hotel status a breeze.
Not exact matches
The point is that if you want to take control of your calendar, you don't want to be traveling enough to
earn anything near gold, silver or platinum
status with an
airline.
It is similar to other
airline loyalty programs in that you sign up,
earn points and elite
status, and redeem for rewards.
The card helps users
earn Elite
status with the
airline, in addition to awarding AAdvantage miles.
This is unique, as most
airline credit cards simply
earn bonus miles and points that do not go toward any type of elite
status.
Sticking to one
airline, even if it's one you use frequently to
earn miles and
status, limits your ability to find cheaper flights.
The Platinum Delta SkyMiles ® Business Credit Card is also better for travelers who enjoy having
airline status — due to the ability to
earn Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs).
Earning elite
status from
airlines and hotels doesn't make sense for everyone.
Current bonus: 60,000 Membership Rewards points after you use your new Card to make $ 5,000 in purchases in your first three months (be sure to check the Card Match Tool and alternate browsers to see if you get a targeted offer of 75,000 or 100,000 points)
Earning rates: 1 point per dollar spent Other benefits: $ 200
airline fee credit; airport lounge access; no foreign transaction fees; Global Entry fee credit; automatic SPG and Hilton Gold
status Annual fee: $ 550
The Capital One Spark Miles card doesn't offer the opportunity to
earn elite
status with any
airline or hotel program.
These points can help Southwest customers
earn A-List or A-List Preferred
status with the
airline.
I'll cover credit cards which
earn elite miles or points (which count towards
airline or hotel elite
status) in a later post in this series.
These cards are the best cards to spend large amounts of money on if you don't really care about
earning airline elite
status, cash back, companion passes, etc. via credit card spending and want to fly in First or Business class and stay in nicer hotels.
Although this is a great card for
earning Membership Rewards, the card isn't tied to any one specific hotel or
airline program, so putting a lot of spend here won't help
earn elite
status.
Members still
earn elite tier
status through stays, nights, and eligible spending — no changes there — and can convert their Hilton Honors Points into miles with participating
airline programs around the world.
Although your Capital One mileage balance will add up fast, any spend you put on this card won't help you
earn elite
status since your rewards aren't tied to any one specific
airline or hotel chain.
While many
airlines require you to fly segments to
earn elite
status qualifying miles, with Delta you can
earn Medallion Qualification Miles when using the Platinum Delta SkyMiles ® Credit Card from American Express.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve does not offer a way to
earn elite
status with any
airline or hotel program.
This fee is most often found on travel credit cards that offer benefits like airport lounge access, premium rewards
earning, and complimentary
airline or hotel elite
status.
Airline miles
earned through travel or card purchases can help elevate your frequent flyer
status
Quick clarification, if I want to book an American
Airlines flight through the Chase Sapphire Travel Portal, will I
earn EQM (miles) and EQS (segments) like normal towards elite
status since you said it was a revenue transaction?
Or to meet a spending threshold to
earn elite
status with an
airline, including Delta, or with a hotel chain.
Airline miles
earned through travel or card purchases can help elevate your frequent flyer
status and qualify you for free upgrades on your flight.
Elite qualifying miles are different than redeemable miles, in that they help you
earn elite
status membership with American
Airlines.
TQPs are used to
earn elite
statuses with Southwest
Airlines that qualify for additional flight benefits.
With Altitude
status, you also
earn a minimum of 250 miles for eligible fares on flights operated by Air Canada, its regional carriers, and Star Alliance member
airlines, no matter how far you travel!
One of the best features of a premium co-branded
airline card is the ability to
earn miles towards elite
status, and the United MileagePlus Club card doesn't allow you to do that.
Those miles count towards elite
status and are hard to
earn on any
airline.
Flying on Star Alliance
airlines and ANA group
airlines earns status miles.
However, they are only valuable to travelers who wouldn't have received that benefit any other way, such as by
earning elite
status with the
airline.
You can
earn Flying Blue Award miles for flights on all Flying Blue partners, but Level (
status) miles can only be
earned by flying on the Flying Blue and SkyTeam partner
airlines.
Earning Elite
Status on United is a bit trickier than most
airlines.
These cards typically
earn bonus points for purchases through the
airline and many offer some type of reduced elite
status benefit to the card holder, such as a free checked bag or priority boarding.
There are 4 types of miles
earned by flying Lufthansa and its partner
airlines: Award Miles,
Status Miles, Executive Bonus Miles, and HON Circle Miles.
In addition to
earning Qantas Points for flights on Qantas and its partner
airlines, you also
earn Status Credits.
On the face of it, the Alaska
Airlines Mileage Plan offers you the same perks that you are likely to find in other airlines» frequent flyer programs such as earning miles whenever you book a flight, special privileges for various tiers and unlocking even more reward opportunities by achieving a higher «elite» status in the frequent flyer program's membershi
Airlines Mileage Plan offers you the same perks that you are likely to find in other
airlines» frequent flyer programs such as earning miles whenever you book a flight, special privileges for various tiers and unlocking even more reward opportunities by achieving a higher «elite» status in the frequent flyer program's membershi
airlines» frequent flyer programs such as
earning miles whenever you book a flight, special privileges for various tiers and unlocking even more reward opportunities by achieving a higher «elite»
status in the frequent flyer program's membership tiers.
Like American
Airlines» AAvantage and United's MileagePlus programs, KrisFlyer manages both the
earning of elite frequent flier
status and benefits (priority services, lounge access, etc.) and the travel rewards program (award travel).
The miles you
earn with some carriers, such as American
Airlines, can even count toward Alaska
Airlines elite
status.
Know that all miles aren't created equal — Miles
earned by spending on an
airline credit card can get you free flights and more, but they likely won't get you elite
status with the
airline... (See Elite qualifying miles)
Earn Miles & More
Status Miles with just about every flight on Lufthansa and its partner
airlines.
Miles
earned through multiple different
airline programs can not be combined to reach the designation for Skyteam
status.
It was a great way for me to
earn full mileage on many cheap United
Airlines flights and
earn Star Alliance Gold
status year after year.
(There is an exception for flights operated by Turkish
Airlines, for which you will receive 25 % of
earned award miles as
status miles in all classes.)
-- An
airline credit card holder won't lose miles
earned toward elite
status if the card's balance is transferred to a lower interest credit card.
Just like most loyalty programs, your miles
earned on the card do not count toward Elite
status with the
airline.
The frequent flier miles
earned as a result of purchases made on American
Airlines credit cards are bonus / redeemable miles and do not count toward attaining elite
status.
Even if you don't often fly with Singapore
Airlines, you can still benefit from banking your miles and
earning status with KrisFlyer, especially since it's so easy to get KrisFlyer miles with credit card spend.
Any bonus miles
earned do not go toward
earning status on the
airline.