They all tend to (a) be quite expensive and (b) in most cases not enough by themselves to even get you to the lowest level of status.

The exception to (b): Qualify for Marriott hotels Platinum status (75 nights, or credit card + 60 nights), and you get UA Premier Silver (first level) elite status ias a side benefit. (Staying 60 to 75 nights in a hotel is "without flying", so since that's how you phrased your question, it's a valid answer. But of course, it only works if you stay in hotels a lot more than you fly, because most of your travel is on the ground.)

And the other thing to ask is whether the first level of status is worth enough to work all that hard for. These days, it's giving you less and less guaranteed benefits while the credit card associated with the airline gives you more and more of those benefits without havings true status.

And the other issue is that airlines are more and more (DL and UA already, who's next) requiring an "airline spend" component to earn status through qualifying miles, so unless the credit card (or whatever) waives that, it may not help much (the same way mileage runs may no longer help much at those airlines).


And welcome to FlyerTalk, theglobalnomad1!