JordanK

I'm going to be doing some flying around the US (purely domestic) and Europe (purely EEA), so no AC options available.

I've seen some threads about AC status matching US carriers, but does anyone know of any US or European carriers that will offer a decent status match for AC SEs?

acrooksie

I don't believe Star Alliance carriers offer status matching from each other, so in the US you couldn't go with United.

This article has a lot of information: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airli...es-challenges/

kuba_kuba

I just matched with Delta over the weekend - fast, easy process. Just google Delta Status Match

SKYEG

You can status match with Delta or Alaska with AC. They will give you 90 days temporary status and a period to hit a certain miles to maintain the tier. I’d go with Alaska if you are out west. Amazing program, amazing mile redemption options. 100% on free upgrades as just an AA EXP on AS this year. Just apply directly with both.

You may be able to do one with AA. They offer a case by case match, and you may or may not receive temporary status while doing the challenge. You will have to hit both spend and miles with AA to maintain. AA also likes not only to see status, but statements of spend as well. There’s also a pay to challenge option for some corporate employees where they receive status during the challenge but have to pay for the temp status. YMMV. It’s the hardest program to maintain and hit top tier so I’d stay away from AA for now.

You won’t be able to with UA with AC since they are star alliance but what you could do is match your SE with delta/alaska and try to match that with UA. Since it’s a matched status, it may not work. If you can get the workaround to work, UA offers a similar status published challenge like Delta. Very easy to hit and maintain as well. If you’re still going to be flying AC, you can try for this route as UA makes the most sense.

if I can remember - I believe delta doesn’t have spend requirements if you live outside the US but united and American you still need to hit the spend portion as well as the miles/points. Back when I was UA1K living in canada, UA didn’t have that spend portion for Canadian residents.

Good luck

asovse1

Hear hear, seconding with Alaska if it benefits you, for me personally, the reciprocal benefits with AA for those with AS status is enough to be loyal with AS. The status match should take three business days at most to be honest, and meeting their 20k EQM challenge isn't difficult with how cheap USA domestic/transborder flying can be


Too bad AS shot their YEG options in the foot and have been slow to recover with covid, hopefully you'll find better luck with your own outstation

If you can afford to wait...i wonder if AS will update their status challenge mapping such that AC SE -> ASmvp100k? One can hope!

kalderlake

WS are offering status match today for AC and a couple of other programs.

Register by Sept 20th, 2022.

Eg. 25K matches to WS Silver.

Lasts until Dec. 15th, but you can extend it to all of 2023 if you spend 20% of the normal spending requirement.

I found in on RFD, but here's the PoT link which has all the details:

https://princeoftravel.com/blog/stat...d-or-platinum/

Adam Smith

Just a quick moderator note: I think this thread is okay to live in the AC forum, but let's keep it fairly limited to what programs are eligible to match AC status to. For in-depth discussion of other airlines' status match programs (and the FFPs themselves), please visit the relevant OAL forum. For example, the new WS status match program has an existing thread over in the WS forum.

Benner

I applied for the Delta Status challenge last month from SE to Medallion Platinum. I managed to book a cheap AF flight earlier this year for this month YYZ > CDG > BER (destination) > CDG (stop) > YYZ in J for $2,300 all in. I've now qualified for Gold and have a DL flight coming up YYZ > ATL > MEX > ATL > YYZ in J that will secure Platinum for me.

I figure I already qualify for SE for 2023 and have a banked year, so I want to try some different airlines. It's kinda fun to see how different crews operate, how different airlines configure their planes and different onboard product strengths and weaknesses. I have to say as a regular AC flyer I was blown away by the AF experience (especially the food).

Changeup2000

Alaska’s status challenge needs you to fly Alaska only, so no one flight with AA to Europe trick. You have to fly about 4 transcontinental return in 3 months to get It. Not that easy b

asovse1

Yeah, I guess I was speaking from a very biased position when I was writing that post. AS sometimes (usually, even) has rock-bottom fares between the Bay Area and Hawaii, which were easy mileage runs for me when I was doing their status challenge

Western Canadians have easier access to their Seattle hub as well, which also benefitted me greatly for quick work hops

Changeup2000

I think AS suits MVRD and FVRD flyers pretty well, especially if BLI is more convenient to you than YVR.

However, it appears AS status challenge is once a life time, so maybe the timing needs to be chosen more strategically.

I am thinking about doing a challenge with DL. It is much easier than AS as it allows flying other Skyteam planes and you can do it once every three years.

Of course this is only after I secure my SE status. Star Alliance still got the best worldwide coverage.

Aker

I agree delta is a good status match for AC. It's too bad their miles are useless, but otherwise service on delta is great.