Losing All Status
 

Since graduating college I have worked as a consultant for a large company. During the last 5 years. I have gained
• United 1k
• AA Gold
• JetBlue Mosaic
• National Executive
• Marriott/SPG Platinum 100
• Other randoms

I left my consulting role to go to industry. At the end of this year I will lose all my status (maybe be UA silver). What dawned on me right now is I haven’t boarded in a group lower than Group 1 in over 3 years!!

It will be strange adjusting to this new lifestyle when I travel. Group 5 and in economy no upgrades. Though also relieved I can now just book flights that are convenient and not to figure out how to remake statues. No more company paid business class or frequent upgrades on personal travel. Anyone else go through this?

You can atleast status match your status to e.g. Delta or Alaska, and have the status for one more year. Same for hotel - status match to hilton etc.

It's pretty easy to keep hotel statuses at no net cost to you. If you want them, even for the occasional leisure stay, you can have them.

As for airlines, it can be liberating to hold no status. ULCCs if you want to go bare-bones Y or, in many markets, affordable J/F fares if you need to fly a legacy carrier.

If you wish, you can earlier boarding with some airlines by holding their credit card, and even earlier boarding by buying their extra legroom seats.

Meanwhile, what's the last time you flew on AA? They've recently added many numbers to the boarding groups, so it's no longer case that all elites are in group 1. AA Gold is now in group 4, unless you happen to be in First.

But you still are in an early enough group that board ahead of most people. But, like I said above, if you get the credit card and/or buy extra legroom seats (called Main Cabin Extra at AA), you also board ahead of most people, because at AA that's now group 5, and so right after AA Gold. And, in fact, one expensive AA credit card gets you the same Group 4 boarding as AA Gold! See here for all the details on the new AA boarding groups:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ng-process.jsp

Just make sure you never buy "Basic Economy" fares, as with those you board dead last, don't earn miles, etc, etc.

As long as you have the airline credit card, you're exempt from having to board last or having to pay for a carry on when flying basic economy. So the airline credit card really helps there.

Losing status is fine. The problem comes if you ever restart flying and have to build it up again

Please follow the redirect as we move this query.

~beckoa, co-moderator Information Desk

How much weight did you gain?

I've been status-less (well, aside from UA silver that I hardly ever use) for several years now. It's lovely. You really notice how differently the different airlines treat nonstatus fliers. UA treats them like dirt. Delta and American are better. And I no longer feel beholden to fly UA like I used to. It helps living in a place that just has a small regional airport where I have to connect to get anywhere.

Don't I know it. My wife and I are UA 1K but my adult children have no status. Even as a 1K my wife says the FAs treat her (and everyone else) like dirt (I guess I'm used to it) but she enjoys the E+ and lounge access and TSA Pre.

My children, however, whom I treat to a flight out to CA once a year now say they will pay whatever extra is needed to fly BA, VS or Norwegian because they loathe UA so much.

The solution to having no status is just paying cash for First or Business Class tickets instead. Then you get all the key benefits anyway - certainly on airlines, I never understood the benefits of hotel status.

If you buy in the sale and are carrier agnostic then most of the time leisure travel in these cabins is entirely affordable. :)

The pain of losing status can also be mitigated by focusing your travel during the busy years on providers with a lifetime status program. Then instead of dropping to nil you keep at least something.

I am either cattle or silver, depending on the airline. Basic economy helps because then the chance of a gate checked bag is much less. The advantages of silver is then only a slightly better location of seats. I rarely check bags and don't mind boarding around the middle.

There are other ways to maintain your status.