I enter 2021 with top-tier status on both American Airlines and United Airlines as well as with Hyatt. But where I end 2021 is an open question…and at this point I’m in no rush to make a decision.
Elite Status In 2021?
Obviously, I’d love to keep top-tier status with all three programs. Each are highly-valuable in their own respect and make the travel experience so much easier.
But if you haven’t noticed, much of the world is still off-limits to travel, particularly leisure travel. Furthermore, my business has changed and beyond blog review trips, I do not plan on many business trips in 2021.
And so I’m left with this dull pain that it will be my last year having top-tier status with any airline for the foreseeable future.
As for Hyatt, it will only take 30 nights to re-qualify for Globalist status this year and I will easily do that. In fact, I still hope to somehow hit 60, though we’ll have to wait and see what transpires on the pandemic front. And despite my affinity for airline status, points and miles serve as an adequate substitute in many situations. Not so with hotels, where enjoying suite upgrades, free breakfast, and late checkouts is much more difficult to purchase with points.
I still have status with Hilton (Gold) and Marriott (Gold), but will not make an effort to frequent those hotel chains this year. Hitting 60 Hyatt nights will be difficult enough.
As for my airline options, the idea of being a free agent does not sound liberating to me. Quite the contrary, it sounds a bit risky if the music stops and all the chairs are taken. Furthermore, I’m not accumulating points like I once was with both businesses essentially shut down.
Yet I don’t see how I can possibly justify spending the money required for status re-qualification on the basis of Live and Let’s Fly and leisure travel alone.
CONCLUSION
It’s a bit premature to plan at this stage with borders closed and pandemic numbers spiraling out of control. That shouldn’t stop us from considering our options, but I’ll likely have to revisit this issue later in the spring as we see if the situation around us improves or becomes even worse. Nevertheless, I wanted to start a discussion now. It’s 2021 after all…
What are your airline and hotel status goals for 2021? Anything I am missing in my analysis?
I have no delusions about my ability to hit 1K again on United in 2021. It’s not happening. Until I’m able to travel for work again, I don’t even see the point of setting a status goal for 2021. 🙁 So I am all the more pleased at having hit Million Mile status with United in 2019; the timing was excellent. Gold status never struck me as anything all that special, but I have this idea that all status levels will be worth a little more over the next couple of years than they used to be. I’m kinda banking on that in the short term.
Happy new year Matt!
I’m 1K with United and Gold with BA as well as globalist with Hyatt, titanium with Marriott.
I don’t see myself qualifying with BA again.
However I have a couple of business trips planned in the first two months and taking advantage of the United pqp promotion and the decreased requirements, I do think United status is reasonable for me.
I’m almost there requalifying with Hyatt thanks to their end of year promotions and double nights for early 2021. Don’t think I’ll make it for Marriott.
Since my travel volume is decreasing at least it makes sense for me to try for the statuses that make requalifying easier.
@ Matthew — EXP is WAY easier to keep than 1K. Two roundtrips in QSuites from LAX to SE Asia, and you will be about 80% of the way to EXP again. Plus, if you have some SWUs still available, you could easily use those to take a trip Germany on AA. I don’t see why you couldn’t do that.
A Platinum here with UA, done merely for fun, travel and adventure. Self-sponsored too. Me and my spouse will definitely not hit the “airwaves” this year. What is the point?? Although it is going to hurt immensely losing status this year for the first time.
You know, you got me thinking about what I was trying for this year and in a huge Captain Obvious moment it struck me that not only is there a huge difference between requalifying for hotel status versus airline status in that you can get really good status with hotels strictly using awards but that everyone who gains status on award nights owes a huge debt of gratitude to SPG for initiating the policy of free nights counting toward status. Other companies simply followed suit. Obviously, airlines have gone the diametrically opposite direction by making flying less useful for almost everyone by making mileage flown irrelevant. Except Alaska, of course.
On the goals for the year, I currently have Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Globalist, and Hilton Gold through a credit card. I have Alaska MVP. Between various things, I already have 30 nights with Hyatt once they post; between credit card spend and stays I figure hitting 60 is realistic and certainly worthwhile. I have 30 nights with Marriott through credit cards. I think that I’ll get 20 additional nights through using certificates, free nights, and a few paid nights. Although Marriott has been less than inspiring on the promotion front yet again, I suspect that they’ll offer double elite credits or something similar to incentivize business. I’m just close enough to lifetime Platinum that I believe I’ll make the effort, particularly since the 30 credit card nights count toward lifetime status. I don’t pay for enough flights to have much chance for elite status for any airline unless Marriott comes up with a promotion good enough to get Titanium status which comes with United Silver.
I don’t really get the value of hotel status, I do usually have something with Accor and sometimes 4-stay silver with Hilton, but have never felt it to be worth pursuing. I can only see it working if you are bound by a corporate contract or if you frequently visit cities where hotels from the big global chains are the only real options. In most other cases, it’s usually better value to stay in independent hotels or smaller/locally-focused chains (e.g. Sercotel in Spain, iH in Italy, Rotana in/around the Middle East)- the ‘open market’ premium for a better room tends to be smaller when the rooms are less likely to be filled by the swelling ranks of status holders and corporate-discount travellers from another continent.
Those at risk of being left without airline status (whose benefits are much more obvious/valuable to me) could think away from their usual ‘home’ carrier and try to find an airline which has lower qualification requirements as a temporary replacement- e.g. TK or UX.
@ PM — IMO, hotel status is only worthwhile in a couple of cases. First, with “free” credit card status (think Marriott Gold/Platinum or Hilton Gold/Diamond that is handed out to anyone with a pulse), you can get a slightly to moderately better room and free breakfast without any real loyalty in return. Second, with lots of nights (think REAL Hyatt Globalist at 60 nights+ or InterContinental Royal Ambassador), you can obtain substantial benefits like suites, lounge access and free room-service breakfast at 5-star hotels in exchange for your significant loyalty. The problem with this second group is that you need to travel a lot and have two or more of these statuses to not end up being trapped by the loyalty program. If you ONLY stay at Hyatt or ONLY stay at InterContinental, etc, then the chain is winning the game. If you stay in hotels frequently enough (>120-150 nights per year) to be disloyal and have choices in larger destinations, then you can come out ahead. Otherwise, if you are only obtaining mid-tier status at one of these chains in return for your undying loyalty, you are losing out and should absolutely become a “free agent.”
Star Alliance: SQ renewed me for another year. Thus far I have retained LH Miles & More as a second programme. But I increasingly find it underwhelming. So, for SQ I won’t have to put any effort in because they’ve renewed me again; for LH, I don’t see the incentive to put any effort in.
Oneworld: I’m using BAEC and they as well have renewed my status for a second time. I am merely Silver (OW Sapphire) and would have renewed anyway. Gold is out of reach for me as I’m based at a Star Alliance hub.
Skyteam: Currently Platinum with Delta. Depending on when the US re-opens to me as a European, I might go for a requali. Just flying on awards to requalification sure sounds like fun. 🙂