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.
Not exact matches
If you're close to earning a sign - up bonus,
or earning
elite status, it could be worth it to pay $ 25 for thousands of
miles or points.
You will not earn any qualifying
points or miles, nor find
elite status easier to earn (with exception of the MQD waiver).
Using only the most trivial examples, redeeming US Bank Flexpoints, Chase Ultimate Rewards
points,
or Barclaycard Arrival +
miles for paid tickets allows you to purchase redeemable - and
elite - qualifying -
mile - earning revenue tickets at a fraction of face value.
On the AwardWallet homepage, however, you can see most of the details you need, like account number,
elite status, upgrade certificates available, number of
miles or points, and expiration date (if any).
You will not earn any qualifying
points or miles, nor find
elite status easier to earn (with exception of the MQD waiver).
So you will still earn
miles /
points with the airline
or hotel and it will credit towards
elite status with their program.
On Friday I posted a blog detailing some excellent Qatar Airways Business Class fares from Europe to Asia and, alongside the fares, I showed what flyers could expect to earn (in terms of
miles,
points and
elite qualification) if they credited those flights to AAdvantage
or the British Airways Executive Club...... and it really showed how easy it is to earn high status with British Airways.
These
points can be converted into cash - like gift cards (at 1 cent per
point), redeemed toward any air ticket (at 1.2 cents per
point; and you'll still earn
miles and
elite status),
or transferred to almost a dozen different loyalty programs including United MileagePlus, British Airways Avios, Hyatt Gold Passport, and Marriott Rewards.
Make sure you know which airline loyalty program will earn you the most
miles (if that's what you're looking for)
or elite qualifying
miles /
points / dollars and then credit your flights appropriately.
Instead of offering
elite members bonus
points or miles for doing business with the other program, you'll enjoy automatic reciprocal status.
Don't forget that Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld alliance so if you have status on the likes of British Airways
or American Airlines it will serve you well on these flights and you'll earn a LOT of Avios, tier
points,
miles,
elite qualifying
miles and
elite qualifying dollars if you book these fares.
Executive Platinum members who earn 125,000
or more
elite qualifying
points will be able to choose two rewards from a list including the following: 35,000 AAdvantage bonus
miles, gift of AAdvantage Gold status for a friend,...
In addition to earning
elite status, event planners also receive
points or airline
miles in these increments:
The general pitch this year is that if you are within 15,000
elite qualifying
miles, 15,000
elite qualifying
points,
or 15 segments, you can pay some amount to make up the difference.
If you're trying to reach
elite status at a hotel chain
or airline by spending a certain amount in a year on your hotel -
or airline - affiliated credit card, the benefits you'll get may be worth more to you than the amount of the fee, notes Gary Leff, who blogs about his
miles and
points obsession at View From the Wing..
This week, we've just launched a status match program where, between now and April 30, 2013, qualifying
elite level flyers from United Airlines and American Airlines» frequent flyer programs will be able to request matched status to Virgin America's Elevate Gold and Elevate Silver Status levels without giving up their status (
or any
points /
miles) in their current program.
Whether you're working toward a revenue requirement for
elite airline status
or you can't find award availability for your travel dates, sometimes you have to pay for a ticket with cash rather than
miles or points.
Great for Positioning Flights: Sometimes the hardest part of getting to the jumping - off
point for an amazing award itinerary
or a mileage run that will help you rack up the
miles for
elite status (
or an award) quickly like the current one from Los Angeles to Singapore (LAX - SIN) is getting to the actual gateway you have to fly out of.
For example, Executive Platinum required either 100,000
elite qualifying
miles or points,
or 120 segments.
Under the current system, you can qualify for
elite status based on
elite qualifying
miles,
elite qualifying
points,
or elite qualifying segments.
In its most basic form, it allows
elite members of both Delta and Starwood Preferred Guest to earn bonus
points or miles when staying
or flying with the other, even if you don't have
elite status in both programs.
We don't have frequent flyer status with any airline,
or any hotel
elite status (since the best luxury hotels, such as Aman Resorts, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and luxury boutique hotels don't belong to loyalty programs), so our primary
miles and
points earning is from credit card signup bonuses, category bonuses, and credit card spend.