Status Matching
 

I had never heard of status matching before reading about it in an article today. Apparently, if you reach out to some airlines, they'll match the status you have with another airline? (Though it sounds like this sometimes, though not always, requires you to meet certain conditions.)

Has anyone tried this with their Delta medallion status? Which airlines did they have luck with? Any tips on how to go about this? Who exactly do you contact at the airlines and what conditions, if any, have folks encountered?

Delta does have a status match!
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/medallion-program/status-match-challenge.html

Thanks! But what I was getting at was the opposite way around, i.e. I have Delta status and am wondering how folks have leveraged that for status on other airlines.

I looked into matching with United, but it wasn't going to work well with my upcoming travel schedule and/or my feeling about flying with United.

Essentially, you are given status and a period of time to meet certain requirements in order to keep that status for the remainder of the year.

It is usually for a period of 90 days and in order to keep it you have to meet 25% of that status' requirements.

There's a master thread and an entire website devoted to this. Enjoy. :)

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...thread-48.html

StatusMatcher | Obtain Elite Travel Status

Awesome. Thank you!!!

Sorry for completely mis-reading your post. I can share that AA has a status challenge, but existing status is not required. It's a pretty good deal if you can meet the requirements for AA Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire) because it includes MCE (their C+) at booking time for you and everyone on your itinerary, you pick the seats no upgrade games like with DL. Also a benefit is selecting your seats on BA flights at 7 days before travel (even business class on BA requires seat assignment fees).

Those are true statements. I felt it was worth the $500 fee for Plat, as I timed it right for an 18 month membership and had 6 or so round trips with my wife in MCE, plus I had gone from zero-status to Plat so it was a nice change to be Priority. After that I kept it up for a few years of Gold (which just lapsed as I switched to DL). If I go back to AA I would have my wife execute a plat challenge.

Wow, time has changed. Back in the days, not so long ago, status match was instant, no challenge or fees. Flying in those days were grand.....

Jiburi

Don't believe AA has done straight-up matches in many, many years. There are threads on their status challenges going back to 1998 --

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...challenge.html

I believe that WN and AS are the only major US airlines that don't have a challenge requirement. OP should keep in mind these match/challenges are generally only once in a lifetime or once every X years. It's not something you can do continuously year after year to maintain status on other airlines.

​​​​​​There may be other versions out there, but the WN A-list matches I've seen recently (and did one last year to stack with the CA Companion Pass offer) were UA/DL style, limited-time match upon approval, but must fly 3 RTs/6 one ways to keep for a year.

"Had" -- it expired at the end of the year :)