Never got an answer on my Turkish Airlines question. Does any one know if Turkish Airlines does a status match? Or Asiana or ANA? Thanks,

You probably didn't get an answer because no one knows.;) I would go with no, unless anyone has different experiences....

i matched beginning of last week CO Gold and got BMI Gold - think i got lucky (no pun in intended :D) ) and sneaked in last minute, as they just announced they are ceasing US flights..........makes no sense to match us now?!?

When did you send your match request in? I emailed my request with my AA Plat details on Nov. 4th. Am still a Blue+ :confused:. How long before you got a response from them?

Wow, you did get lucky. I submitted my request the end of the week before, and have heard nothing yet. :( How long did it take you to get a response?

Thanks for the report. Just curious, what documentation did you send in for the status match?

I will recheck the dates tomorrow from my office computer (sent it from there) but i think I got it within 2-3 days.

I emailed a screenshot of my account showing miles + status on CO; and accompanied an email with the blabber of flying with BMI to the UK in 09 etc.;)

bmi didn't kill all transatlantic flights, just the ex-MAN ones IIRC. bmi has been flaky lately in matching, sometimes responding quickly and sometimes not at all. If you don't get the status upgrade in say 3 weeks I'd resubmit.

AFAIK, the don't. I asked some 2 years ago, while they were not *A members yet, but I travelled with them quite often, and they said no...

Email request sent on Friday 31/10 reply from BMI on Tuesday 11/4.

Spoke with UAL reps and they stated the elite status match program had been discontinued "temporarily" and would like be re-started in early-2009. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Yes, I did have a similar experience and am wondering how to respond.

So I sent United an e-mail in April to see if they'd match my Gold Status on NWA. I received a prompt e-mail response saying they would and to send a copy of my statement to them 7-10 days before I will begin flying with them and I'll then have 90 days to fly 15k to maintain the status.

Well.....I have a couple long-haul trips booked on UAL in the next month, so I e-mailed them PDF copies of the requested documents, and then received a reply the next day saying that status match requests ended on 10/31 and to contact them again in January. I e-mailed back seeing if they could still give me the challenge as there was no mention of a deadline in the previous e-mail, and I received a response that "it wasn't possible at this time." What gives?

Comments/insights appreciated. Anyone figured out a way around this?

So let me see if I have this correct...

I am GM on Delta/ST Elite...

I can ask CO to match my status and it will be for *A?

Continental will join the *A in 2009. However, a date is not set in stone. Some are reporting that it'll be late in 2009. My recommendation would be to hold off until next year or until their official entrance in the *A is clear.

will anyone status match this late in the year? if so, how long will it be valid?
 

need some sage advice..

i am presently DL silver (expires 2/09), and will become AA 1MM gold in a couple of weeks. i have copious miles in each, but am nowhere near requalifying with ANY program.

a few questions:

1) how likely is it that any FF program will match me this late in the year? should i even bother?

2) even if someone does match, when is that newly minted status likely to expire?

3) given my present statuses, which program would it make the most sense to match into? my travels, due to the particular (sometimes remote) destinations and limited services to each, flight schedules, etc, have unwillingly been distributed accross a few carriers. i know the importance of trying to stick to just a carrier/team or two, but most of my trips have been last minute, and i did not have the luxury to always use the desired carrier/team.

thank you in advance for your collective valuable insight!

El Al also will match status. Usually they match at a lower level (e.g. CO Plat to Matmid Gold) than one's current status with another carrier.

To apply for a match you must already have an El Al Matmid number. Fax a copy of your elite status card & the last two months of your FF account statements, showing flights and points to
El Al Airlines
Matmid Frequent Flyer Program
Fax # 011-972-3-760-4043

Once matched, you must requalify for status within 6 months.

Thanks for the info, davidy! I've gone ahead and updated the OP.

cabrits, many airlines will match this late in the year, and for most airlines your status would be good through early 2010, so you'd get quite a bit of time. As for which program to match to, it's hard to answer that. It all depends on where you travel and what you're looking for.

thanks!
 

thanks lucky,

another quick question.. would i have a better chance of getting matched with DL silver? or AA 1MM gold?

do other programs not tend to match AA 1MM/2MM much?

thanks again!

I'm guessing that if you have any flying activity with AA at all, it would work for status matches as well, although I can't guarantee that. If it works it should be no different than matching with DL.

Which email address did you use?

I'm doing a fair bit skyteam flying at the moment and with Air France's calender year rules I've no chance of getting enough sectors to get lounge access for ages.

If I could get CO Plat then that will get me in the lounges at CDG and FCO and give me time to actually retain the status.

Assuming they will match my 100+ sectors on bmi in the last 12 months.

Lucky you can add that NH and JL does not status match. You must earn it the hard way as I did with flying!

I got my status match for BMI Gold today! Thanks to all for contributing info to this thread. :)

Aeroflot also does not status match. I've asked twice and have never even gotten responses from them. No word in Russian for it I guess?

Updated, thanks.:)

Asked for BD Status match and got it in exactly one week :D

Yes, that's true. But do you actually earn/maintain status on BMI *and* UA, or did you just status match to BMI? Because I certainly wouldn't trade 1K on UA, for being 1P on UA *and* Gold on BMI. In the most simplest sense, that seems to be trading 6 SWU's and lots of CR1's for domestic lounge access. Am I missing something? Now if you fly 150k a year and can get 1K *and* BMI gold, that's another matter. But from your profile, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I answered my own question, empirically.

Yes, NW matched my UA 1K status by granting me NW Plat through 2010. This does seem strange that they would do this, considering I was NW silver at the time. Maybe they are currently handing out status like candy..... if you're not going to exist in another year, what difference does it make? :D

One strategy is to just get it for a year and it basically acts as a free RCC membership (only valid when traveling on a Star flight and you don't get free internet, but still). Otherwise one can try to maintain it, although I'm guessing after this year the BMI DC program won't be quite as lucrative as before.

Keep in mind that this may very well be the last opportunity to status match to BD, since things'll change when LH gets their hands on 'em.

Did they give you a new account #? In other words, do you think, they were away of your status?

Same account. When I login, it says Plat and all my miles show up. I gave them my WP number in the status match request. I guess they knew what they were doing..... still seems odd.

>>>>>

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=888336

Some highlights (at least my take)
•We also have very different technology platforms, and have selected the NW loyalty platform as our ultimate base. As a result of this choice and these ultimate contract resolutions, the exact timing of integration in 2009 and how program benefits roll-out is still up in the air.


<<<<<<

Any reason to be concerned about this? What do they mean by saying that NW will be the base? The assumption all along has been that WP will go away making this a free match, but if they keep WP as the base, maybe not..... thoughts?

I agree with everything you say here Lucky. I was just pointing out that I don't think I would trade 1K for status in two *A airlines, which seemed to be the point of some other posters.

That is a dilemma I will be facing next year. I have ended up around 70k EQM on UA for the past two years. Too far from 1K and with no in-between status to shoot for - the choices rewards at 75k are a laugh. So, I am currently using the fact that BMI has a 12 month window and needs only 38k to re-qualify to my advantage. Once I got my status match (yup, I did get a match), I started pumping miles into BMI. The goal is to get as close to re-qualification by Dec. 31st. I know I will not hit 1K on UA this year and have already made 1P, so I have nothing to lose. Starting Jan 1st, my 1st goal is to re-qualify 1P on UA. And then decide, do I have a shot at 1K or should I put the balance of my miles on BMI. I will not know till I get there... I agree that if I have a legit shot at 1K, domestic lounge access is not a good enough reason to requalify gold on BMI. Heck, if I get to 1K, I will use 45k miles to buy RCC access :D

Thanks for your reply.

CL

UA Status Match onhold for 2008 ?
 

I sent a status match request for a friend of mine to UA but was told the program is suspended for 2008 (effective Oct 31) and will resume in mid Jan. Anyone else have the same experience ?

Yes, several people have reported the same thing earlier in the thread. I'll go ahead and update the OP to reflect that.

Yes. I've had a similar experience. Not sure why they are doing this. I'm wondering if anyone has any good insight.

Great question, given that I just faxed in my request to NW. :confused:

Then again, holding out forever on status matches might not be all that different from hoarding miles... devaluation might make the same status later on less valuable. In other words, if NW granting me 1+ years of Plat means I can not match again with TheNewDelta later on, it's not the end of the world for me and I am not going to worry about it now.

How long did it take you to get matched?

About a week. Similar response from NW was reported by Lucky on his blog.

I don't disagree. I'm not going to worry about it. In the (future) worst case, we can always plead ignorance, saying that we matched to NW which is obviously now defunct, and that this should have nothing to do with DL.

That said, I wouldn't have done this otherwise, as I doubt I'll fly SkyTeam more than 2 or 3 times next year.....