Lifetime status by airline -- attempted summary
 

Hello everyone. I tried this some years ago, will try again now. I see that there are numerous threads on lifetime top elite FF status but none too comprehensive I think.

So, I will attempt a brief summary to see if I got this right - so, please go ahead and correct me ! I will then edit this post on the basis of the info received in later posts. I will do this only for the three major alliances, as I guess this is what most of us are in for. I will also only focus, in a concise manner, on the highest attainable tier by alliance, i.e. Elite Plus for ST, Gold for *A, and Sapphire for OW (on the understanding that OW Emerald is not available for lifetime in any manner, right ?).


Sky Team (to attain ST Elite Plus status)

* AF/KL: Lifetime Platinum after 10 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level

* DL: Lifetime Platinum after 4M "Medallion Qualifying Miles", i.e. from any ST flights

* KE: Lifetime Million Miler after 1M miles on any ST flights

My assessment: If one does plan to qualify for AF/KL FB Platinum for 10 years, that's best. If not, KE is also very good.


Star Alliance (to attain *A Gold status)

* BM: Lifetime Gold after 10 consecutive years of membership at the Gold level

* CA: Lifetime Platinum after 1M kms on CA-coded flights only

* MS: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on MS flights (or all *A flights ??)

* OZ: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on Star Alliance flights

* SA: Lifetime Platinum after 6 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level

* UA: Lifetime Premier Executive after 1 million miles on UA or CM only

My assessment: If one plans to fly enough for 10 or 6 years, BM and SA are good. Otherwise, OZ is the most achievable. UA is good but only if you fly UA/CM.

Comment and question: It should be noted that many of the above however are not flagship carriers (e.g. BM, CO, OZ, UA), while some are (e.g. MS, SA, not sure about the status of CA). The way airlines are going, I would rely more on the flagship carriers, e.g. MS and SA have a higher chance of continuing to exist, than BM, OZ, or even CO and UA. What do you think ?

Question: does anyone know whether *A plans to introduce anything higher than *A Gold, since so many *A members have two or more tiers that are equivalent to *A Gold ?


One World (to attain OW Sapphire status)

* AA: Lifetime Platinum after 2M miles from any source [However, NB: as AA Platinum, you get no lounge access in AA lounges when travelling on AA domestically, while you would get access as OW Sapphire with another airline]

* QF: Lifetime Gold after 14,000 status credits

Assessment: AA is quite easy to achieve. QF is good for those down under.

Question: Am I correct that there is no way to attain lifetime OW Emerald ?


Please send corrections etc so we can update this.

AA currently only counts actual flight miles towards lifetime status, as a result it would take 40-200 years of barely re-qualifying each year to earn lifetime status at a particular level (miles takes 40 years, segments takes up to 200). If you rely on promos like DEQM your progress towards lifetime status will be considerably slower.

This ended December 2011. Discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...ec-2011-a.html

which airlines is BM?

the OP probably means BD/BMI. However as BD is no longer a *A member, this very lucrative option to earn lifetime status no longer exists.

Did that program even exist for 10 years?

BD existed for many years and until its demise earlier this year was by far and away the worlds most lucrative program. There are many BD lifetime golds out there, although that means nothing now that BA have taken over.

OZ have lifetime *G at 500k

recap
 

Thanks everyone !

So the changes I am noting would be:

* AA: info is correct, but with the HUGE difference that only base miles now count

* BD/BM (whatever it was called, I did bean BMI): no longer applicable

* OZ: only 500K and not 1M miles, correct ?

Let me know if above is right, any additions etc, so I can change the summary as necessary.

Lifetime status by airline -- attempted summary
 

KE is also 500k.. But no STE+ before reaching it...

As I found out many moons ago, Useless Air ignores 1000000 miles. Not that I would fly US anywhere. :rolleyes:

Cheers

Correct.

I believe OZ has two different Lifetime status levels, one is earnt after 500k miles and the higher one is earned after one million miles

Additionally, AC also offers lifetime status:

Lifetime Elite status after 1 million status miles earnt on AC operated flights only
Lifetime Super Elite status (AC´s highest status) after 3 million status miles earnt on AC operated flights only

IIRC US Airways awards lifetime status (can´t remember which level) after 1 million miles on US operated flights.

Unless the benefit has been enhanced, LH offers Lifetime Senator (*G) status if:

- you are over 60 years old AND
- you had SEN status for 10 consecutive years AND
- accumulated 1 million status miles

(that´s if I remember the criteria correctly)

IIRC lifetime status on LH is an unpublished benefit, is not automatically awarded and needs to be requested by the FF once he no longer qualifies for SEN status the regular way.

Finnair offers lifetime Gold (OW Sapphire) and Platinum (OW Emerald) at 3M & 5M points respectively. :)

I'm not certain though, whether or not this is BIS miles only, or if partner miles count too. :p

Appreciate this effort.

Is this still good?

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/2010/08/14/air-canada-introduces-lifetime-status/

USAIR Levels
 

US does have a 1,000,000 lifetime program, and here are the details.

1) Only miles flown on US metal, partner travel does not count.
2) Only the actual flight miles count
3) Credit card miles and bonus miles do not count

That is how they count.

Here are the terms

Lifetime status has a expiration date if you do not do any business with them in 18 months it expires before your expiration date. For this you get Lifetime Silver Status, this is US lowest status level.
One of the hardest programs to get into, with the lowest status granted.
BTW, I have this status x2.

Assuming one was starting from scratch and not on the former citi aadvatange gravy train.

Prime example being my father: Long time citi aadvantage holder. A kayak traveler that rarely flies AA except on award tickets. Has about 850k lifetime miles simply from the credit card. Im trying to convince him that GLD is better than nothing and to fly AA more.

I think your list is an oversimplication. AA has several MM tiers, just as UA has many MM tiers and extra benefits.

For example, at 1MM UA, you get minimum Lifetime Premier Executive (STAR GOLD) + Spouse/Partner matching status (matched up to current year status - e.g. if you are 1MM but also Premier 1K that year, then your spouse also gets 1K that year, and 1P minimum after that if you dont requalify - make sense?) This is actually HUGE.

Subsequently at 2MM UA, you get Lifetime Platinum + Spouse match, at 3MM UA you get lifetime 1K + spouse match, and at 4MM UA you get Lifetime Global Services + Spouse match.

Don't forget the spouse match on UA Lifetime program - this is actually quite huge.

Is that points? or miles?

Indeed, however this is only useful if you:
(a) have a spouse; and
(b) said spouse travels

It depends where relative to the next goal you got on the former Citi AAdvantage gravy train. Someone who just crossed 1MM in the nick of time is as far away from Lifetime Plat as someone starting from scratch is to Lifetime Gold.

Furthermore, someone who already have Lifetime Gold has no "incentive" to fly just enough to attain Gold. Their pursuit of elite qualifying whatevers only matters if they can make it up to Platinum.

Of course, if they're flying (paid) enough to just make it up to Platinum each year, and without using DEQM promos, then it'll "only" take them 20 years of that to get to Lifetime Plat from Lifetime Gold (that was achieved in the nick of time the old way).

Points.

and (c) said spouse doesn't travel enough to earn status on his/her own

I can see it already: Green card spouses are out, lifetime status matching spouses are in! (And I presume UA is not quite as inquisitive about you proving your marriage is "real" as the USA immigration people are!) :D :D :D

SAS offers a "secrete" EuroBonus Gold *Gold life time status level, much like LH one has to be over 60 years old AND have had EBG status for the last 10 consecutive years.

Excellent resource, thank you. I am replying to "bookmark" this thread.

Question, am I correct to assume that

'* QF: Lifetime Gold after 14,000 status credits '

Is for for flights only coded QF or on all A* flights??

OP, DL gives SkyTeam Elite + to Gold Medallions, and you get "complimentary annual GM" as a 2MM on Delta. So you don't need 4MM.

Had over 1000000 US BIS Miles years ago and got nada. One of many reasons I dumped them as soon as I could.

Nice that "Lifetime Staus has an expiration date". :rolleyes:

Cheers

Thanks for this list. Was looking for something similar to it.

+1. Thanks.

And, AFAIK, it's not just BIS miles, but all MQMs. My 25K from a MR transfer of 50K years ago counted toward my lifetime number. I think direct cc MQMs do also.

^

A bit off topic maybe, but I got a nice card from UA while flying last month, congratulating me on a 25 year anniversary with MileagePlus. It took me off-guard because I certainly haven't been counting.
I am wondering if lifetime status is a lot easier to achieve now than it was at inception. 25 years ago, for example, the US and CO flights definitely never counted to PQM on UA. But since mergers, I'm not sure how those counted. I believe that all of my historic CO miles got added. In ~2001, my first US account was closed with all points added to my UA account. I suppose that my current, reincarnated US account absorbed whatever my HP account had but nothing that my PSA flights ever accumulated. It's too bad that my UA flights from the 1960's and 1970's don't count to my UA lifetime accumulation.

I think I've been a member for 26 now. No card. But how much do you actually fly on UA?

Joined most of them when the first started "officially". My AA Number is actually my TWA number. They transferred it when they absorbed TWA.

Cheers

I'm kinda bummed that I lost my good UA number after the merger. I hate my CO number.

That's true, the MQMs from Delta Platinum Amex and Delta Reserve count toward MM balance.

IIRC, I believe KE was a really easy 500k miles. Somebody who is more familiar with KE SkyPass could chime in on this than me of course.

Just to confirm, my Amex MQMs did increase my MM total. Still a loooong way to go though.