anteater

You won't find an official response here because the tier has yet to be published. Those who do formally know the specifics cannot share and those who have gleaned some internal information are likely sharing their known subset of the information, which again could change prior to publication. 🤙🏻

WrightHI

Thinking about this a bit more, rolling out MVP 100K for the 2022 qualification year with 2021 EQM rolled over would make a certain amount of sense as part of a strategy for taking care of both elites who haven't been flying during the pandemic and those who have. There's been speculation about whether AS will extend 2019 status again or roll over EQM again. If they did both, the extension would take care of people who have been grounded during the pandemic and the rollover would take care of the ones who have been flying, while also making the elite population top-heavy. But if they then add MVP 100K, the levels would be a bit better distributed, with nobody losing the status they had in 2019 but people who did fly in 2020 and 2021 pushed further up the status ladder. Maybe not so goofy as I first though.

MaximusDamon

I'd say you already hit it. The mobile app hasn't been properly updated. When I called AS last week to clarify why I received 50K miles in my account and an email saying I had qualified for MVP Gold 75K after only having 79K in YTD Alaska/partner qualifying miles, the lady said something along the lines of "I don't know why they haven't updated that app. It's been like this for a while and we no longer count the difference between YTD Alaska miles and YTD Alaska/partner qualifying miles. If you have passed the threshold of 75K in either of those then you have hit MVP Gold 75K...it's no longer 90K with partners. They need to update that app because this is what we see inside on our systems and it has been like this for us for a while."

Sooooo...AS levels no longer care whether you have flown AS or OW partners, BUT they do have a segment minimum AS metal for each level.

MaximusDamon

Bear in mind it makes some sense to align levels as closely to AA as possible...especially if granting reciprocal upgrade benefits. And, we were told this partnership between AS and AA is closer than a standard OW partnership. For reference, AA's requirements and levels along with AS levels and requirements are:

OW Ruby // AA Gold (25K EQM or 30 EQS) // AS MVP (20K EQM or 30 EQS)
OW Sapphire // AA Platinum (50K EQM or 60 EQS) // AS MVP Gold (40K EQM or 60 EQS)
OW Emerald // AA Platinum Pro (75K EQM or 90 EQS) // AS MVP Gold 75 (75K EQM or 90 EQS)
OW Emerald // AA Executive Platinum (100 EQM or 120 EQS) // AS 100K? (100K EQM or 120 EQS?) (the EQS here is just a guess as nothing formal was announced yet)

I would therefore expect AS to raise the requirement for MVP to 25K EQM and MVP Gold to go to 50K EQM sometime soon...probably for qualification during 2022.
Also note that AA has EQD requirements that AS does not...so hopefully AS does not also adopt that any time soon...the current system is better for most I assume, and one of the last airline programs that still rewards based on miles not dollars.

Alaska does have minimum requirements for flying on AS metal at each level. They're listed as:
MVP - 2
MVP Gold - 4
MVP Gold 75 - 6
MVP 100K? - 24 (this is what I was told...which is a big jump from the required 6 for 75K - this is surely done to keep top elites on AS metal as much as possible)

jona970318

I know this is a little OT, but since we're talking about 50% accelerator/status extensions, does anyone have insight on whether the former will be extended thru BoY and/or if the latter is likely to come?

Mahogany

I hope they extend the 50% bonus through the end of this year. The only way I can get 100k, otherwise 5-10k short.

I didn’t fly in 2020, but fly a lot in 2021.

One thing to keep in mind is that not every elite is a US citizen or green card holder, as a result, many international destinations are off the table at this time.

vanillabean

2, 4, 6 seems really low. I had flown 22 segments at qualifying for MVP Gold recently.

anteater

2/4/6 segments is trivially low during non EQM bonus times too.

I hope it’s 24 segments or higher. If it’s easy for AS+OW elites to obtain most of their EQM outside of AS, purely AS travelers will be at a great disadvantage.

pmblinn

Stated slightly differently, I think it is intended to keep people with no intention of flying AS out of the elite ranks. And I'm OK with that.

Eastbay1K

I am ok with that, but if someone flies 100k on AS only and it is less than 24 segments, it would be a low blow not to give the 100k status.

vanillabean

That wouldn’t leave much room for SEA-PDX flights!

anteater

Aren’t the longest routes around 2,800 miles? 24 segments is only approximately 67,000 BIS miles. You’d need to be in paid first to just break 100,000 miles assuming you only did the longest routes for all segments.

AndyKehn

There's no way you get 100k even with 1.5x eqm with fewer than 24 segments realistically so that concern is moot. Hope they announce soon so I can lock in low fare rate + discount code.

WrightHI

A non-crazy travel pattern from HI could get you there this year, with the EQM bonuses and the cheap I fares early in the year, but this is a weird year.

anteater

Hawaii to AK 24 times in First Class with 50% EQM bonus is 150K, 100K would be reachable in 16 segments. Though, I imagine most AS elites aren’t FF to Hawaii like some of us. 🤙🏻