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As the current travel crisis continues and as it becomes increasingly obvious that most of us are not going to be able to travel for a significant portion of this year, airlines around the world have been taking measures to keep their frequent flyers happy. In this post, you’ll find brief details of what some of the major airlines around the world are doing for their frequent flyers together with links to further information where possible.
US Airlines
Alaska Airlines
- All flyers with Alaska Mileage Plan status will be keeping that status through 31 December 2021
- Elite Qualifying Miles earned in 2020 will be rolled over into 2021
- Status match trial statuses are being extended to 31 December 2021
American Airlines
- All American Airlines AAdvantage elite status holders will have their status extended through January 2022.
- Elite status targets for 2020 have been reduced
- Executive Platinum rewards thresholds have been reduced
Delta
- All Medallion Status for 2020 will be automatically extended for the 2021 Medallion Year.
- All Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) from 2020 are being rolled over to 2021 to qualify for 2022 Medallion Status.
Hawaiian Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines has extended all elite statuses through February 2022
- Hawaiian has reduced this year’s elite status thresholds by half. Pualani Gold status now required 15 segments/10,000 miles and Pualani Platinum now requires 30 segments/20,000 miles.
JetBlue
- All current Mosaic members have had their elite status extended through to the end of 2021.
- JetBlue has reduced the criteria for earning Mosaic status in 2020 by half. The new requirements for Mosaic status are 7,500 points or 6,000 points + 15 segments.
Southwest
- Elites statuses for all A-List and A-List preferred members are being extended through 31 December 2021
- Southwest has announced that it will be adding 15,000 tier qualifying points and 10 flight credits to all Rapid Rewards accounts for this qualification year.
- All Rapid Rewards members will see 25,000 Companion Pass qualifying points and 25 flight credits towards a Companion Pass added to their accounts.
United Airlines
- All flyers with United status up to and including Premier 1K will see their status extended for a year – statuses will now expire in January 2022.
- At the time of writing, United has made no official mention of status extensions for United Global Services elites.
- MileagePlus status earning targets for 2020 have been reduced
- MileagePlus status earning targets for 2021 will be reduced but details of this have not yet been released.
Select Other Major Global Airlines
Air Canada
- Air Canada has announced that it is extending all Altitude elite statuses through the end of 2021.
- Air Canada elites who earn status again this year will be able to gift status to another flyer.
Air France/KLM (Flying Blue)
- All Flying Blue elite statuses that were set to expire between 1 March 2020 and 28 February 2021 are being extended by 12 months.
- Flying Blue has lowered elite status requirements for this year for members with a qualification period ending in March, April or May 2020.
Avianca
- All LifeMiles members whose current status was set to expire in 2021 will now have that status extended through 31 January 2022.
- Avianca has confirmed that it will be reducing the number of miles/segments, and dollars that flyers will have to earn in order to improve on their current LifeMiles status in 2020 but, at the time of writing, the airline hasn’t yet announced what these new targets will look like.
British Airways
- At the time of writing, British Airways has not announced any status extensions.
- Executive Club members with membership years ending in April, May, or June 2020 have been given reduced earnings targets for their membership year.
Emirates
- Emirates elites with status expiring between March 2020 and September 2020 who are unable to retain their existing status, will have their existing status extended until 31 December 2020.
- Emirates elites with statuses expiring prior to 1 April 2021 are being offered reduced targets (70% of regular targets) to renew elite status for a further 12 months.
Etihad
- At the time of writing, Etihad has not announced any status extensions.
- From 31 March 2020 Etihad has been crediting Etihad Guest accounts with bonus tier miles based on the monthly average of miles members earn flying with Etihad Airways and are required to maintain their existing Tier.
Lufthansa Group (Miles & More)
- At the time of writing, Lufthansa Group airlines are not offering universal status extensions.
- Miles & More has announced that it will be offering “goodwill gestures for retaining status” during 2020 but it hasn’t said what the criteria are for these goodwill gestures or when members can expect to receive them.
Qantas
- Qantas has confirmed that is frequent flyers will be receiving status extensions equivalent to the status they held on 19 March 2020.
Qatar Airways
- All Qatar Airways Privilege Club elites statues that are set to expire by 31 January 2021 are being extended by a period of 12 months.
- Qcredits held by Gold and Platinum members will now be valid for 2 years (as long as members retain their status)
- Qcredits are now refundable
Singapore Airlines
- Singapore Airlines is extending status for KrisFlyer Elite Silver and Gold members and PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club membership for one membership year.
- Elite Gold Rewards and PPS Rewards that are set to expire between July and December 2020 will now be valid through 31 March 2021.
Click for further details – KrisFlyer & PPS Club
Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin Atlantic Silver and Gold Flying Club members have had the expiry date of their membership year extended by 6 months for this current membership year but elite status targets are not changing.
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members who have earned companion vouchers, upgrade vouchers, or Clubhouse access vouchers that were still valid as of 13 March 2020, will have the expiration day of those vouchers extended by 6 months.
Bottom Line
It’s interesting to see which airlines are taking significant steps to keep their frequent flyers happy and which don’t appear to be trying. A lot of the major airlines have stepped-up and extending statuses for a year but airlines like Lufthansa and British Airways don’t appear to be making much of an effort at all.
No doubt there will be changes to this information as the travel crisis continues so I’ll update this post as and when more information is released.
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