How To Use The Alaska Airlines Status Match To Earn Additional Frequent Flyer Benefits

Elite status brings many excellent benefits when traveling. This can include better treatment and handling at the airport, lounge access, additional luggage and better seats onboard, complimentary upgrades, and faster points or miles earning. Benefits are offered with the airline you hold status with – and across all alliance members where appropriate.

Traveling with an airline outside the alliance can be a shock. Suddenly, you are back to the start with no benefits. Airlines know this and often offer to match your status with another airline/alliance. Alaska Airlines currently offers such a status match for elite members with several other airlines. Based on your existing status, you receive Mileage Plan status for 90 days – and can have this extended if you fly enough.

The Alaska Airlines status match

Alaska Airlines currently runs a status match challenge. This allows the traveler to receive a complimentary matched status with Mileage Plan for 90 days (based on the level with another program). If a certain amount of flight activity is achieved within these 90 days, the status is then extended (as with standard earned status).

Photo: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock

You can be matched to three of the four elite levels, including MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K. However, you cannot be matched to the highest MVP Gold 100K level – this has to be earned in the normal way.

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Airlines will rarely make a status match open to everyone. Instead, they choose specific airlines and loyalty programs based on their target market. Alaska Airlines offers a match for elite members with most of the main US-based airline loyalty programs, as well as some other regional ones. Programs matched include:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• American AAdvantage
• Delta SkyMiles
• Frontier Miles
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus

How to apply for a status match

To apply for a status match, you simply complete the form on the Mileage Plan website. You need to include the details of the program where you hold status and attach a screenshot of proof of status and flight activity for the previous year.

Some important terms of the status match include:

• You can only take advantage of the match once per account.
• The match offer is only available to USA and Canadian residents.
• You must have earned status through flight activity with the other airline program (not through credit cards, promotions, or another match).
• If a challenge is started in the first half of the year (up to 30th June), it will be extended to the end of the year.
• Various status benefits are not offered as part of the match. Bonus miles for MVP Gold 75K are not awarded at all, and benefits such as lounge passes and Gold Guest upgrades are only awarded if the status is extended.

The level you receive with a status match is fixed and based on your elite level with another airline. Of course, if you hold multiple elite statuses, it is worth choosing the higher level to match. Matches are made according to the table below:

How to receive full status

The matched status is valid for 90 days. During this period, you will receive all the benefits of the matched level when traveling with Alaska Airlines. The status will also reflect with oneworld, giving appropriate alliance-wide benefits if traveling with other airlines.

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To keep the status beyond 90 days requires meeting a certain level of flying with Alaska Airlines. This is separate from the standard elite miles earning – this is purely flown miles on Alaska Airlines flights – in any cabin. Clearly, you should take up the challenge when you know you have enough flying planned.

• To maintain MVP status, you need to fly 5,000 miles within 90 days.
• To maintain MVP Gold status, you need to fly 10,000 miles within 90 days.
• To maintain MVP Gold 75K status, you need to fly 20,000 miles within 90 days.

If extended, the duration of the status depends on when the challenge was started. It is much more beneficial to start a challenge in the second half of the year to receive up to 18 months of status.

• If the challenge is started in the first half of the year (up to 30th June), it will be extended to the end of the year.
• If the challenge is started in the second half of the year (after July), it will be extended to the end of the following year.

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The Different Tiers Of Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan Program

Elite status offers free upgrades and more benefits with Alaska Airlines, plus baggage and lounge access with Oneworld partners.

Other ways to get oneworld status

The Alaska Airlines status challenge is a good way to get status in the oneworld alliance quickly. Clearly, it does not work for everyone, and there are several other methods to consider:

Status matches with other airlines. The Alaska Airlines status challenge is not the only one on offer. Such offers can change regularly.

American Airlines AAdvantage currently has a status match open to elite members with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. This works in a similar way, with status awarded for four months and extensions based on Loyalty Points earned over that period.

Photo: Carlos Yudica | Shutterstock

Royal Air Maroc also currently offers a challenge, open to members of a wide variety of non-oneworld airlines across the US, Europe and the Middle East. This works differently, with a fee to apply for the match (between $150 and $1500) and then minimal flying requirements with Royal Air Maroc.

Read more about status matches with oneworld

Receive status with Qatar Airways credit cards. Oneworld member Qatar Airways currently offers two cards in the US market, issued by Visa in partnership with Cardless. These offer various benefits, including elite status.

• The lower level Visa Signature card gives Silver status with Qatar Airways Privilege Club. This is equivalent to oneworld Ruby status.
• The more expensive Visa Privilege Club Infinite Credit Card ($499 instead of $99) gives Gold status, equivalent to oneworld Sapphire status.

Image: Qatar Airways

Earn status the normal way. While the requirements for elite status can at first seem daunting, if you have several flights planned, especially in premium cabins, it might not be that difficult. There are ways to expedite this. For example, British Airways Executive Club awards Tier Points by sector – so taking connecting flights with a partner airline can double earnings. The same program also has a very lucrative promotion currently, which awards double Tier Points when booking a British Airways holiday package.

Have you taken part in the Alaska Airlines status challenge? Do you plan to do so? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.