The Status Match Master Thread - Page 2

MileTex · Oct 3, 03, 10:42 am

Excellent info

Anyone know what hotels policies for matching are?

**gleff** · Oct 3, 03, 10:52 am

Quote:

Originally posted by Beckles:
Based on anecdotal evidence, US generally does not comp to Chairman's Preferred, though it is known to happen.

My only experience with requesting a comp from US was for a friend of mine out of NYC (early 2003). She faxed in her DL Plat and received US Chairmans. No problem, no questions. That's why I didn't qualify my statement. But of course YMMV, and more data points here are useful.

alexwuk · Oct 3, 03, 11:24 am

A quick note on bmi's comping policy:

As it currently stands, they will match BA Status like for like (i.e. BA Silver comped to BD Silver, BA Gold comped to BD Gold).

Just fax in a request, along with a printout from the BA site showing your status, or a BA statement showing your BA status.

Regards,
Alex

mikey1003 · Oct 3, 03, 1:56 pm

Gary,

Thanks, great thread.

It would be nice to have an up-to-date spread sheet of what each plan offers

qualification (ie miles, segments, mileage multipliers, etc.)

Benefits

Quirks (ie DL waives charges for some overweight bags for elites etc.)

FC_Dave · Oct 3, 03, 3:53 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by MileTex:
Excellent info Anyone know what hotels policies for matching are?

Hilton - Comp anyone with a pulse
Starwood - Will match Hilton
Marriott - Depends on who you talk to(I got a gold comp through 2005 from a Hilton Diamond without docs) -

FC_Dave · Oct 3, 03, 3:59 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by ozstamps:

As a further addition to gleff's initial post, maybe a footnote under each plan to folks as to the OPTIMUM time to apply for a comp would greatly assist new comp seekers.

Some plans comp you only to end Feb 2004 if you are approved by Date x, but to end Feb 2005 if approved a week later.

Such dates are WELL worth posting!

Made this mistake with Delta a couple of years ago got comped a year before I really needed it and ended up connecting in Bush since I had status when Delta would have gotten me there non-stop

Unless someone knows different right now would probably only get you status through February 2004 with very little time to earn status for the following year.

There is some magical date (< January 1, 2004) where the status will be extended through 2005. At that point you could make the decision to fly and earn on the program that makes the most since in the total travel package

opus17 · Oct 3, 03, 4:14 pm

I have no personal experience with this, but some past threads here seem to imply that the "once in a lifetime rule" doesn't always apply.

Can someone verify?:

(*) United will continue to comp high elites from competing airlines. (In other words, they will comp a DL Platinum to PremEx every year, if asked, even with minimal UA activity).

(*) Alaska will comp every other year.

hfly · Oct 3, 03, 5:02 pm

To further expand on what ScottC stated, BA does comp/status match, whatever, but want one of the following:

1) For you to be from a market that they are "hungry" in (I would think for example that Holland would be a target for them at the moment).

2) That you can demonstrate that you are a big flier (just hitting 100k a year isn't enough as Scott correctly notes, however if you can show that it was all flying J, you'll get it)

HomeToPit · Oct 3, 03, 5:47 pm

Thanks for the info!

You never know how your situation will change and what airline you'll need. With the once in a lifetime comp in mind, I'm going to start printing out all of my year end statements for all airlines and hotels.

I was going to try and score a status match from Northwest a few months ago and they asked me to fax in current AND year end statements. From the web I could get the year end statement from 2002 from United but not from USAir, they only go back 6 months, and I really didn't feel like calling them.

Again, thanks for the list!

Peace

Counsellor · Oct 4, 03, 7:49 am

Quote:

Originally posted by ermdjdsj:
Another useful piece of information to add to this thread would be information about status EXPIRATION policies/tier drops on the various airlines:

For example, even if I make NW platinum this year (flying 75,000 EQM), if I fly almost no miles on NW the following year my status will drop to nothing. But I've heard that on some other airlines (I think AA) you only drop one elite level per year, so it gives you at least a couple more years of SOME status on that airline, which could be important to some of us.

Does anyone have a quick summary or link to various airline tier-dropping policies?

Might be a good topic for a new thread.

So far as I know:

Lufthansa Miles and More will drop you only one level if you don't requalify (however, they give you two calendar years to requalify - but you must requalify in one of them, can't carry status miles over from one year to the next).

KLM Flying Dutchman drops you one tier at a time, at least for the moment.

NOTE that these policies can change - without prior notice.

[This message has been edited by Counsellor (edited 10-04-2003).]

QuietLion · Oct 4, 03, 9:25 am

When National went under, America West gave us Silver with a challenge for Gold.

QL

CPRich · Oct 4, 03, 2:57 pm

Quote:

Originally posted by opus17:
I have no personal experience with this, but some past threads here seem to imply that the "once in a lifetime rule" doesn't always apply.

Can someone verify?:

(*) United will continue to comp high elites from competing airlines. (In other words, they will comp a DL Platinum to PremEx every year, if asked, even with minimal UA activity).

(*) Alaska will comp every other year.

UA (PremEx) and AA (Plat) have comped me three years running, along with Delta (Gold) and CO (Plat) twice. These were tied to our corporate contracts so I don't think I've burned my one-in-a-lifetime with them. I just sent a copy of my US CP statement with 225K YTD miles to our travel agency and they handled the rest.

luckypierre · Oct 4, 03, 4:25 pm

when continental started the HoKey nonsense, I sought a comp from American. They comped my platinum continental status (at the time i was flying about 110 segments and 90-100K miles on CA) to platinum (mid-tier).
it was straightforward and consisted of faxing a recent month's continental statement

**gleff** · Oct 5, 03, 11:56 am

Any knowledge (links, especially) regarding:
Airtran, ANA, TG, SQ, CX, NZ, QF, Frontier, SAS..?

I'd love to incorporate more knowledge into the thread. Thanks!

landspeed · Oct 5, 03, 12:54 pm

Re: the commonly accepted "one-time only" rule

Does anyone have any experience with "friends" getting comped on an airline a second time by opening up a second account at the airline on which they want to be comped? Or do the airlines cross-reference names/addresses/etc. for a status match request?