I had 1.5 A+ points as of 8/10 with no additional activity since...now I have 9.5 A+ points. Haven't gotten the "You're Welcome" letter from AT from the fax I sent in...maybe it will say something in there. Meanwhile, I'll assume it's a YMMV situation? Heck, regardless, I'm just happy with the match.

I'm going to be dropping from UA 1K to (at best) UA 2P next year. I doubt I'll ever make 1K again (changed flying patterns at work), so I'd like to take advantage of it while I can. Ideally I'd like to find a way to still have *A Gold next year. One idea would be to match to CO via Delta - is this likely to work? I'm also happy to "move" to the UK, if that opens up any more options.

Just got matched to CO Plat recently via Delta Plat. I emailed a scan of my plat card and a screenshot of my skymiles page and the match came 4 days later.

I pulled the trigger too early on my CO account and matched in June and only got it through 2/11. I'm hoping to get something to keep me going to 2/12 by which time they should be done.

Here's my question... could I create a new CO account and then get them to match my DL status? Last time I used my AA EXP. If I create brand new CO account and ask for DL PM match, think I will get away with it? At the end of 2011 CO won't exist any more anyway

June ist not too early. Your status should be valid till Feb 2012 though it doesn't say so on your card. You will receive a new card next year.

If you want to be sure drop them a line.

Has anyone had any luck matching CO PLAT from a US CP? Or does CO's recent move to SA screw that up?

My bad, it was in May. The email clearly stated status will last to Feb 2011. I have a *A trip in Jan where we are going ski-ing so the $200 odd we'll save in baggage fees make it worthwhile.

I am pretty sure I can get away with opening a new account. I can put in my work address which is in a whole other state.

Hi:
Just out of curiosity, decided to study which airlines do match and which airlines do not match. Also thought of finding out how much miles/flight segments are enough to get a status match. I used various statements showing different levels of flight activities to find out how much is enough? (I took liberty to alter statements but it was just for research purpose. Once they sent me their decision on my match request, I declined offer of all of the airlines. So don't question my moral /ethical standards! I am Platinum with only Continental which is legitimately earned. I have no fantasy of collecting platinum cards either!) Here are my findings:

1) Continental: Matches platinum status of most airlines with their platinum. Especially Delta PM. Even if the Delta statement I sent contained just four domestic flights. As long as you are Delta Platinum. You will be Continental Platinum!

2) Delta: Delta matched Continental without much difficulty. I had just one international flight and YTD elite qualification miles just enough to show me a platinum. They declined to match US Airways status citing they are part of the same alliance and hence can't match.

3) American Airlines: They flat out declined to match status of even after showing platinum status with both airlines Delta and Continental citing not enough airline activity. So if you do not have at least couple of long haul flights on your statement and more than 100K elite qualification miles, don't bother to ask.

4) Cathay Pacific: If you know, when you are taking domestic flight on AA, even if you are Platinum, you can't enjoy their lounges with Economy Boarding pass. However this is applicable to only US FF programs. So if you are Platinum on CX which is also a One world member, you can use that card to access lounge in US while flying domestic on economy cabin. However CX proved to be the toughest to convince. Even if you have more than 500K EQMs and more than 15 international long hauls on your statement, they will offer you only up to Silver Status. I did back and forth emails couple of times explaining I will be flying quite a bit on HK-NYC route but they still didn’t bulge. So don’t waste your time.

5) LAN: They told me flat out that they accept status match request from only OneWorld member airlines. That was really strange to me. Why would one try to match status within the same alliance? And why the alliance would allow airline to match status of another member airline.

6) Malev: They needed platinum status of any airline but at least one activity on Malev or confirmed booking on Malev. If you are trying to get a match for just sake of collecting flashy plastic cards, You can always book a full fare domestic ticket on Malev to fly after six month and cancel it once you get the status granted. However since it is in Bucharest, not sure if lot of people would find it useful

7) Swiss: Flat No. They said I need to contact Miles&More directly. And M&M doesn’t match status with any airline. Considering the program itself is consortium of FF programs for two dozen European airlines, it makes sense. Don’t waste time.

8) Air India: Since they are expected to join Star Alliance, it might be a good idea to have your status matched before they join SA. Same rule applies for accessing US lounges while flying on economy. If you are member of Continental/United/USAir, you can’t access their lounge but if member of any foreign airline alliance, you can.
So I tried to contact the airline’s US office. They asked me to contact their FlyingReturns program directly. Well they said, they “may” consider matching continental airlines. But call center doesn’t have any information on that. So they advised me to visit frequent flyer office in Mumbai or Delhi personally and talk to the manager!! I think this government operated airlines needs to improve a ton before they are accepted in any global alliances. Don’t even bother to look at this airline FF program for now.

9) Jet Airways: After failure with India’s flag carrier, I thought of trying their best option available. Jet Airways seems to be the best airlines that India has to offer as of now. I contacted their Jet Privilege program. They didn’t commit any thing and took their own sweet time to think. At the end they came up with offer to match gold status. It is said that Jet may join One World and they have one of the best inflight services in the industry. I flew on their NY-London sector and it was way way above the standard of US or EU airlines.

10) South African Airways: They would match platinum status of Delta. Even if you have bare minimum EQMs to qualify for platinum on your statement with few domestic flights. They do not seem to care much in granting status matches. Could be an easy effort if you need it.

11) TAP Polish: They never responded to my email!!!

12) British Airways: They responded to my email with quite hesitance. They told me that to be fare to all our premium customers we do not directly match the status. You can contact our customer service at XYZ number to discuss your options. Even after showing tons and tons of international flights and tons of miles on both continental and delta they didn’t agree (I knew BA is tough so I was prepared for this answer)

13) Copa Air: If you are platinum on Continental, you won’t need this nor they will approve. So I used Delta statement to request status match. (But I had to say that I am moving to Panama City so will be flying a lot on Copa). They responded within hours with yes.

14) Qantas: They said they do status match for specific SE Asian airlines for the resident of that region only. In any case, if you are US resident, status on Qantas is not much helpful anyway.

Hope this was helpful. It’s an interesting world of miles, points, lounges and status!!

Enjoy!

Thanks HBSFlyer!!! I am pretty certain in the time I've been here on FT, that is far and away the most useful first post I have seen :)

Well, found out the hard way... :(

Post Merger: Will CO Plat's Become UA Plats?
 

Now that the merger is fully approved, when do you think the blend of FF accounts will occur and if you are say Plat on CO, but nothing on UA, will you become Plat on the new UA? I'm thinking of doing a Plat Match from DL to CO and then wait for the merger and program blend to complete, hopefully making me Plat on the new UA. Since CO only requires documentation of current status, instead of challenge, I think this would be the best option. Any thoughts?

+1,
a very good post.

+2 ^

HBSFlyer
 

Just would like to add few points to the excellent post by HBSFlyer:

Malev - you can match any card you have (silver, gold, platinum) but need to actually fly one segment with them, no matter what the booking class is. For more info: http://www.malev.com/offers/fly-at-a-higher-level


Czech Airlines - they currently do card match on pretty much same conditions as Malev. You can get Sky Team gold/platinum card, but not sure what use it will be, except the lounges and extra weight on some flights. For more info: http://www.csa.cz/en/portal/loyalty_...card_match.htm

Miles&More (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austria etc) - they ocassionally do Card Match, but it is sort of for invited only. It works in selected countries only. Last year they did it for countries where they expected lot of people having Flying Blue cards, trying to take over FB's customers after the unpopular changes in FB programme.

Thanks for the summary. Are SAA part of *A? Will it give you lounges then? For how long is the match?