Most airlines with rewards or miles programs also have elite status programs. Gaining elite status with an airline can unlock all sorts of valuable benefits, including:
Free checked bags
Complimentary upgrades
Priority check-in and security
Bonus miles on flights
Early boarding
Airport lounge access
But achieving that status is still one of the hardest tasks in the travel rewards world. This is mostly because frequent flyer status still requires quite a bit of flying -- though that's starting to change.
The best way to earn status is still to fly frequently
As a blanket statement, the very best way to guarantee you earn elite status is to directly book, pay for, and take a lot of flights with the same airline. Typically, this is easier for folks who fly for work, be it paid for by the company or for their own small business.
Each loyalty program will have its own points or miles system (or other "currency") and a different target number you need to earn to reach each status tier. Generally, you'll need to spend a certain amount of money with the airline and/or fly a certain number of miles.
There are usually bonuses for booking higher fare classes. For example, international business class flights will usually get you to a higher status tier faster than short basic economy jaunts.
Second best way: Airline credit cards
Folks who love travel rewards cards will be glad to see that it's getting easier to earn airline status without traveling like it's your job. Many cobranded airline cards are starting to include ways to boost your elite status journey.
Earning American Airlines elite status without flying
The currency you need to earn American Airlines (AA) elite status is called Loyalty Points. AAdvantage Gold status -- the lowest elite status tier -- requires 40,000 Loyalty Points.
Most American Airlines cobranded credit cards earn 1 Loyalty Point per $1 spent on purchases. So, spending $40,000 on your eligible AA rewards card would get you Gold status. But there's no cap on how many Loyalty Points you can earn with your cards. So you could potentially spend $200,000 and reach the top AAdvantage Executive Platinum status which requires 200,000 Loyalty Points.
This may be particularly interesting for business owners, because you can get AAdvantage cobranded small business credit cards. If you can put a lot of business expenses on your card, you could earn elite status even if you don't need to travel a lot for your business.
Earning United elite status without flying
There are two paths to earning elite United Premier status:
Obtain both PQF (Premier qualifying flights) and PQP (Premier qualifying points), or;
Obtain a higher number of PQP
In layman's terms, PQF refers to the flight segments, or how many miles you spend in the air on United flights. PQP is basically just how much money you give United to purchase flights, upgrades, and seat assignments.
Multiple United cobranded credit cards can earn PQP based on your credit card spend. Specifically, eligible cards earn 25 PQP per $500 in card purchases. At this rate, you would need to spend $100,000 to earn the 5,000 PQP you need for the bottom-tier United Premier Silver status.
One thing to keep in mind is that United credit cards have caps on how many PQP you can earn. The more expensive the card, the higher the cap. United's top-tier cobranded card is capped at 10,000 PQP per year.
Earning Delta elite status without flying
Early in 2024, Delta changed the requirements for Medallion status to a single spend-based currency: Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD). This means you can now spend your way to Delta Medallion status with your Delta cobranded cards.
First, eligible cardholders can get an MQD Headstart in the form of $2,500 MQDs each year just for being a cardholder. (Note this only applies to the expensive top-tier personal and business cards.)
Plus, most Delta cobranded cardholders will also have a way to earn an MQD Boost through card spend. Depending on your card, you may earn $1 MQD per $20 spent, or $1 MQD per $10 spent on your card. (The latter applies to, you guessed it, the cards with the most expensive annual fees.)
Reaching Medallion Silver status requires $5,000 MQDs. So, assuming you have an eligible card, you could potentially get the $2,500 Headstart then spend $25,000 on your card to reach Silver status.
Consider the opportunity cost
Before you run out and start putting all of your spend on your airline cards, take a minute to consider the cost. (No, I'm not talking about the annual fees -- though those are definitely worth consideration; some of these cards cost more than $500 a year!)
I'm talking about the opportunity cost. What are you missing out on if you move your spend to your airline cards instead of using other credit cards?
Although a few airline cards have useful bonus categories, you're still likely to lose out on a ton of rewards you could earn if you were maximizing those instead. For example, even if your airline card offers you double miles on restaurant purchases, a restaurant rewards card that earns 4X transferable points per dollar is going to blow that airline card out of the water in value.
If you fly enough that airline status would be truly valuable, consider a strategy that involves both flying and spending. This will help you earn status in a more organic way (and without wasting so much rewards potential).
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