Imagine holding a high level of frequent flyer status for a lifetime. Sounds good, doesn’t it? It is one of those perks that some airlines offer in their loyalty scheme.
This is the reward for sticking with the same airline for what could be years on end. It means that if you retire and no longer travel for work, you can keep your elite level forever.
Is Lifetime Status Achievable?
British Airways offer Gold for life in their Executive Club. You need 35,000 tier points to achieve this, which is quite a lot. Considering you need 1,500 each year to achieve Gold, it would take you over 23 years to get this forever.
Once you have it, you will be Emerald in the oneworld alliance, giving you access to the first class lounges of all the member airlines. It sounds pretty sweet!
Fellow oneworld carrier Qantas offers lifetime Silver and lifetime Gold. This means achieving 7,000 or 14,000 status credits and it gives you Ruby or Sapphire in the alliance.
Considering it takes 700 status credits to reach Gold, it means a 20 year journey if you hit that mark every year. Sapphire gets you business class lounge access and the associated perks, so it’s not as good as what British Airways offer.
Is It Worth Chasing?
While it would be nice to have, I think chasing it would be a little difficult unless you had a lot of money. I have 3,999 status credits with Qantas, which are pretty much dormant since I switched to British Airways many years ago.
Since then, I have managed to rack up just 6,215 tier points with BA, meaning I am quite far away from the goal of 35,000. I’d sure like to have lifetime status, but I think it is going to be out of my reach unless I do some serious flying in the next 20 years.
Overall Thoughts
Lifetime status is a pretty cool goal to aspire to if you’re serious about your frequent flyer level. Some airlines don’t offer this at all, so you would be smart to make sure you’re a member of a programme that does offer it.
You never know, you might just reach it naturally! Do you have lifetime elite status with your airline programme? Has it changed your flying habits at all? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Elite status with airlines used to mean so much more. But now that there are so many elites, unless you are top-tier, mid-level status gives you about the same rewards as being a cardholder of the airline’s co-branded credit card. To me, there simply isn’t enough reward for the average flyer.
I’d say that is a uniquely American thing in some ways. Here in Ireland, we have no credit cards related to airlines at all. In the UK, there are cards linked to British Airways, but you can only earn points on your spend. You still get better earning rates by flying – on some fares. I guess all of it is working for the airlines though, since they’re the ones letting it happen. People are flying a lot more nowadays, but I don’t think the qualifying levels for elite membership have moved in years, so you will naturally have more… Read more »
Why bother? the airlines just keep moving the goalpost and taking benefits away. (I’m looking at YOU, United.)
The only benefits I need are business class check-in, priority security and lounge access. If they were all I was offered, I’d be happy enough. All the other things like bonus points for higher levels and extra baggage and what not are nice to have but not vital. You are right though, a lot of programmes have decreased benefits now the economy is doing well. Thanks for the comment!
You younger FFers fail to recognize the concept of Lifetime Elite Status was established so loyal customers approaching their retirement years could be recognized for that loyalty and continue to receive on-the-ground (and some in-the-air) treatment when they had to buy their own (generally economy) tickets and fly less often. That’s why the European carriers like LH and BA set their thresholds so high, assuming 20-30 years of regular business (and some leisure) flying. LH at one time even had an age requirement of at least 60. Of course, US airlines cheapened the practice and pretty much made it a… Read more »
The concept of status for life is a sound one and I think the thresholds should be very high. It shouldn’t be something that is easily achievable at all – that part I don’t mind. It’s something I would love to have, but I would never chase it. This is what I have heard on and off from people who do have lifetime status when they’re young. They don’t feel any particular need to continue to be loyal, so they try other things. It’s a shame really – loyalty as a concept has been reduced to a game by a… Read more »