Everything You Need to Know About Program Changes & Qualifying for Elite Status with Legacy Carriers in 2015

Delta and United split elite qualifying and award miles, while US Airways downsizes from four tiers to three to merge into American Airlines’ AAdvantage.

Will you achieve elite status in 2015? Every year, airlines announce major changes to their loyalty programs, ranging from changing the amount of miles flown to how award miles are earned. This year will be no exception for flyers, as all three U.S. legacy carriers are making modifications. Here’s a look at the changes coming to the legacies’ loyalty programs.

United MileagePlus: Distance for Status, Fare Cost for Awards

Over the last five years, United Airlines has been slowly working toward big changes for MileagePlus flyers. In 2015, the Star Alliance member will make the biggest change of all: moving award miles away from a mileage-based system, and into a revenue-based system.

Effective March 1, United MileagePlus award miles will be granted solely on the base fare of the flight, before taxes and fees. The multiplier will be based on the MileagePlus status held by flyers. Non-elites will only earn five times the points from their base fare, while Premier 1K flyers will earn an 11-times multiplier off the base fare.

MileagePlus will also continue the revenue-based approach to earning elite status. In addition to earning status based on the number of miles or segments flown, flyers will also have the additional challenge of a required qualifying dollar spend on base fares. Flyers hoping to earn MileagePlus Premiere Silver will have to fly either 25,000 miles or 30 segments, and spend $2,500 on qualifying fares and Economy Plus purchases, with the minimum requirements increasing from there.

Delta SkyMiles: Good News, Bad News across Program

Changes are also coming to the Delta SkyMiles program in 2015. For the first time, flyers will be able to book award flights with a combination of miles and cash, in a situation similar to the American Express Membership Rewards program.

The Atlanta-based carrier also announced the elimination of blackout dates. This allows travelers to book nearly any flight, at any time, at multiple award levels.

However, Delta will continue the practice of revenue-based award miles, with the multiplier based on elite status — exactly like United. In addition, how flyers earn miles on SkyTeam partners is changing as well; some partners will offer full credit for distance flown as award miles, while flights on other partners (like Korean Air) will offer flyers zero miles.

While SkyMiles Medallion status will still be based on a combination of either distance or segments flown and Medallion Qualifying Dollars, flyers may have to spend more all around to reach the top tier of the system. Diamond Medallion hopefuls will now have to fly 125,000 qualifying miles or 140 qualifying segments, and spend $12,500 qualifying dollars.

American Airlines & US Airways: Two Frequent Flyer Programs Become One

In 2015, the long-awaited merger between American Airlines and US Airways is expected to come to completion, with the “New” American finally becoming one. As the merger continues, the two loyalty programs — American AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend Miles — are expected to come together in Summer 2015.

The “New” American loyalty program will be a three-tier system. Dividend Miles Silver flyers will be moved into AAdvantage Gold; Dividend Miles Gold and Platinum flyers will be moved into AAdvantage Platinum; and Dividend Miles Chairman’s Preferred will be moved into AAdvantage Executive Platinum. When the merge of the two programs is complete, flyers will be granted the highest elite status they qualify for.

Unlike the other two legacy carriers, American will not change how all miles are earned. All mileage — award and elite qualifying — will be based on miles flown, segments flown, or points accrued flying on American and US. In addition, the mileage requirements are not changing. The only increase for flyers comes in the number of segments needed to qualify for Executive Platinum, which is jumping to 120.

Despite the changes outlined above, qualifying for elite status in any of these loyalty programs is still very possible. We wish all FlyerTalkers good luck in achieving status this year!

[Photo: iStock]