Why Holding Onto Elite Airline Status Is Getting Harder
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Here's your Money Briefing for Monday, November 14th. I'm Daniela Cheslow for The Wall Street Journal, in for J.R.
What are the recent changes making airline elite status harder to keep?
Whelan. We've been talking a lot on the show about how cheap airfares are gone, with the cost of flying going up by as much as 40%. Well, don't count on your frequent flyer miles or elite status to make travel more pleasant.
You see these programs ballooning in size and you see the complaints coming out that it's much harder to get those sought after upgrades on seats, that the lounges are packed to the brim with folks. So some of this is airlines trying to fix things and make it a little bit more premium for those folks who are flying with them the most.
So what do you need to know to keep your status? And is it worth it? We'll get some insights from our travel reporter, Jacob Passy, after the break.
This podcast is brought to you by ReliaQuest. Cyber criminals are constantly attacking. They want your data. They want your identity. They want your innovation. ReliaQuest fortifies your business with agentic defense, AI that detects, contains, and eliminates cyber threats in minutes. It helps your security team move faster at the work that matters most to protect the business now and delivers insights to help them predict what's next. ReliaQuest, agentic defense for the enterprise. Learn more at ReliaQuest.com. That's R-E-L-I-A-Q-U-E-S-T dot com.
It takes a lot to earn status with airlines. Some rungs on the elite ladder require spending at least a quarter million dollars on a credit card branded with an air carrier. Now that elite status is in for a change. Jacob Passy is following the ups and downs of flight status for The Wall Street Journal. And he's with me now. Hi, Jacob.
How did the pandemic temporarily alter elite-status requirements?
Hi there. Great to be here.
Jacob, we're talking about elite elite status. Is this a first world problem? Like what does this elite status give travelers and how has that changed over the pandemic?
It is a little bit of a first world problem. There are a lot of benefits. You get upgrades to first class or business class. You get access to their really nice airport lounges. You get to board the flight earlier, even if you're not in first or business class. You get a separate check-in lane at the airport when you arrive. During the pandemic, airlines made it easier to maintain your status.
Which airlines are shifting to spend-based qualification and how much did they raise thresholds?
So in a lot of cases, they reduced the requirements, they extended status, so you didn't need to worry about flying or spending money on credit cards to be able to continue to qualify for your status level. They were just extending it automatically. And that slowly started to end as travel picked back up again.
Tell me about the way some carriers are raising their requirements.
So Delta recently announced that beginning in 2023, their frequent flyers will need to spend about 33% more on flights to qualify for the gold, platinum, and diamond tiers of medallion status for 2024. American earlier this year completely overhauled their program, restructured it, So they are much more prioritizing how much you spend rather than how often or how far you fly. United made similar changes actually before the pandemic. So in general, we're seeing this shift away from rewarding you for how often you fly or how far you fly towards just how much you spend on your travel. Why is this happening?
What are the reasons the carriers are giving for these changes?
There's a theory out there that a lot of these changes are coming about out of necessity. These programs have surged in popularity thanks to sites like The Point Sky that have made it easier to learn how to gain status and game the system.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:42
2
What are the recent changes making airline elite status harder to keep?
0:42–2:23
3
How did the pandemic temporarily alter elite-status requirements?
2:23–3:00
4
Which airlines are shifting to spend-based qualification and how much did they raise thresholds?
3:00–7:09
5
Why are carriers moving from loyalty-by-distance to loyalty-by-spend?
7:09–8:08
Speakers
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