FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
 

In general, status at the time of travel ( or changing awards) is what matters.
-- bag waiver, boarding group, upgrade priority, award fee waivers, ...

Your status at booking does not carry over -- with one significant exception.
If you use your status at booking to get E+ access, but then drop to silver or general member, you will not automatically lose your E+ seats. They will stick until a seating sweep event occurs (such as aircraft change, some schedule changes, ...)

Cleared upgrades would not be affected but waitlists are dynamically based on real-time status

PlusPoints can only be use for segments departing prior to expiration. Partially exception -- trip with connecting segments, segment 1 is before midnight 31 Jan local trip but segment 2 (if a valid connection but not a stop) is after midnight, the PlusPoints can be applied to both segments as a single trip.

Archive thread: What happens when dropping status levels – E+ access, upgrade priority & .. {Archive}