Sep 15, 2021, 4:27 pm
Last edit by: Bohemian1
A status pass does not confer your status to the recipient.
So, for example, if you are Super Elite, your beneficiary does not get or have Super Elite privileges. They do not get any kind of Star Alliance Gold privileges.
What is a status pass?
A status pass (sometimes abbreviated as "STPA") grants passengers many of the benefits of elite status (detailed below). One status pass is applied to a booking and extends benefits to all passengers (up to 9), on all flights, on that booking.
The benefits of the STPA don't exactly correspond to any elite tier.
The status pass must be applied before travel commences. It cannot be applied after any flights have been taken. It is unclear whether there is a deadline to apply the pass. A pass can be removed from a booking up to 6 hours before travel commences.
What does a status pass get you?
What DOESN'T a status pass get you?
How does a status pass get added to a reservation?
The pass must be applied by the person with elite status (E50K, E75K, Super Elite). It can be done through the AC app or via the AC website.
In order to apply the pass, you will need the PNR (booking reference) and last name of any of the passengers on the PNR.
How do I know if the Status Pass actually was added? How can the PAX prove to airport staff that they have one?
The person granting the pass should see the pass applied in their Benefits section under Status Pass. Look at sent passes.
cowtool PNR lookup will indicate "A status pass has been applied" for reservations where it has been successfully applied.
The PAX should have "STPA" on their boarding pass.
Are status passes different depending on the status of the person giving the pass?
No. All status passes are the same. Whether the pass was given by an 50K or a Super Elite is irrelevant.
My status pass expires December 31 2023. What does that mean?
The status pass must be applied before the expiry date. The actual travel can take place any time in the future.
Do they work for award and cash bookings?
They can be applied to both.
So, for example, if you are Super Elite, your beneficiary does not get or have Super Elite privileges. They do not get any kind of Star Alliance Gold privileges.
What is a status pass?
A status pass (sometimes abbreviated as "STPA") grants passengers many of the benefits of elite status (detailed below). One status pass is applied to a booking and extends benefits to all passengers (up to 9), on all flights, on that booking.
The benefits of the STPA don't exactly correspond to any elite tier.
The status pass must be applied before travel commences. It cannot be applied after any flights have been taken. It is unclear whether there is a deadline to apply the pass. A pass can be removed from a booking up to 6 hours before travel commences.
What does a status pass get you?
- Priority check-in
- Free checked bags (3 per passenger), with priority baggage handling
- Priority security
- Access to Maple Leaf Lounges ("MLL", including international lounges) and Cafés, prior to your departing flight
- Priority boarding (Zone 2)
- Priority standby
- Unpublished benefit: the STPA seems to confer eUp priority similar to 50K status
- More details in the FAQ here
What DOESN'T a status pass get you?
- Access to Signature Suites
- Access to lounges not operated by AC
- Free seat selection
- MLL guesting privileges
- E50K status (some of the status pass benefits are similar, but are certainly not comprehensively equivalent to E50K)
- *G status
How does a status pass get added to a reservation?
The pass must be applied by the person with elite status (E50K, E75K, Super Elite). It can be done through the AC app or via the AC website.
In order to apply the pass, you will need the PNR (booking reference) and last name of any of the passengers on the PNR.
How do I know if the Status Pass actually was added? How can the PAX prove to airport staff that they have one?
The person granting the pass should see the pass applied in their Benefits section under Status Pass. Look at sent passes.
cowtool PNR lookup will indicate "A status pass has been applied" for reservations where it has been successfully applied.
The PAX should have "STPA" on their boarding pass.
Are status passes different depending on the status of the person giving the pass?
No. All status passes are the same. Whether the pass was given by an 50K or a Super Elite is irrelevant.
My status pass expires December 31 2023. What does that mean?
The status pass must be applied before the expiry date. The actual travel can take place any time in the future.
Do they work for award and cash bookings?
They can be applied to both.
Status Passes - what are they and how to use them?
Dec 17, 2022, 1:52 pm
#331
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan SE AND 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum , L'Accor Platinum
Posts: 9,580
Status pass expires Dec 31.
I have just given a status pass to someone who will go from YOW to YYZ to DEL in a few days.
But returning after the New Year.
So will the status pass only be valid on the departing flights, or also on the returning flights to be taken in 2023?
I have just given a status pass to someone who will go from YOW to YYZ to DEL in a few days.
But returning after the New Year.
So will the status pass only be valid on the departing flights, or also on the returning flights to be taken in 2023?
Dec 17, 2022, 2:33 pm
#332
Join Date: Oct 2022
Programs: Aeroplan SE; Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador
Posts: 1,553
Status pass expires Dec 31.
I have just given a status pass to someone who will go from YOW to YYZ to DEL in a few days.
But returning after the New Year.
So will the status pass only be valid on the departing flights, or also on the returning flights to be taken in 2023?
I have just given a status pass to someone who will go from YOW to YYZ to DEL in a few days.
But returning after the New Year.
So will the status pass only be valid on the departing flights, or also on the returning flights to be taken in 2023?
Dec 18, 2022, 5:19 pm
#333
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: YHZ
Programs: AC SE100K, AC 1MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold,Hertz something or other, Sandals Sapphire, etc
Posts: 1,163
Update: when my son checked in with LH in PRG the agent was going to charge for bags. He showed her the status pass on his phone and his entitlement to the free bags. She checked and said she could see the entitlement in the system and gave him the free bags.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
Dec 18, 2022, 6:04 pm
#334
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,166
Update: when my son checked in with LH in PRG the agent was going to charge for bags. He showed her the status pass on his phone and his entitlement to the free bags. She checked and said she could see the entitlement in the system and gave him the free bags.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
Was he able to get in at the Senator lounge by scanning his BP? Or is he just good a sweet talking his way into things?
Dec 18, 2022, 6:50 pm
#335
Join Date: Oct 2022
Programs: Aeroplan SE; Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador
Posts: 1,553
Not sure how it works, but LH did do weird things to accommodate AC elites. I just got an exit row seat in an LH flight a few weeks ago without paying anything.
Dec 18, 2022, 9:17 pm
#336
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan SE AND 1MM, HHonors Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum , L'Accor Platinum
Posts: 9,580
Update: when my son checked in with LH in PRG the agent was going to charge for bags. He showed her the status pass on his phone and his entitlement to the free bags. She checked and said she could see the entitlement in the system and gave him the free bags.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
So it appears the chance is somewhere above "zero"
Also, son is 25k but when he went to the Senator Lounge in MUC they also recognized the status pass and let him in. So he had a good 6 hours in that lounge before his flight.
Was it the SEN lounge in Frankfurt or the MLL lounge in Frankfurt.
I can not see any way that a status pass will allow a passenger into a non AC Star Alliance Lounge- but the MLL lounge in Frankfurt is an AC lounge.
Dec 18, 2022, 10:17 pm
#337
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC SEMM / HH Diamond
Posts: 3,166
Dec 19, 2022, 12:46 am
#338
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,331
Yeah, I'm... shocked.
I do agree LH knows a lot about AC status. But the cost to AC of a status pass goes up drastically if they're conferring any partner lounge access. Which, officially, they are not.
I do agree LH knows a lot about AC status. But the cost to AC of a status pass goes up drastically if they're conferring any partner lounge access. Which, officially, they are not.
Dec 19, 2022, 6:27 am
#339
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: YHZ
Programs: AC SE100K, AC 1MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold,Hertz something or other, Sandals Sapphire, etc
Posts: 1,163
Dec 21, 2022, 1:08 pm
#342
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: YHZ
Programs: AC SE100K, AC 1MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold,Hertz something or other, Sandals Sapphire, etc
Posts: 1,163
She asked him about the status pass and who gave it to him. He told her and gave her my aeroplan number (it was on an email to concierge that I copied him on). She apparently entered that and then he scanned his BP (with his aeroplan number) and she said it worked.
I would suggest clarifying before accusing someone of fraud!!
Dec 21, 2022, 2:24 pm
#343
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,331
Someone told the system that you were trying to enter the lounge, and AC paid for the entry.
I'm sure there are three different stories of what happened.
I'm sure there are three different stories of what happened.
Dec 21, 2022, 2:37 pm
#344
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: Aeroplan Super Elite
Posts: 101
@JordanK, any particular reason for this condition? It has been empirically verified that, as long as travel begins by December 31, the STPA will be valid for the legs in the following year as well.
I tried to share the status pass and it says the person isn't travelling this year so I can't share it. Any thoughts on why this might be?
Dec 21, 2022, 3:42 pm
#345
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: YHZ
Programs: AC SE100K, AC 1MM, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold,Hertz something or other, Sandals Sapphire, etc
Posts: 1,163
Actual version was agent knew my aeroplan number was not his. He was honest with the agent and she let him in... He scanned his BP so the "system" knew it was him, and not me.
Suggesting he committed fraud is a little over the top!!