If you’re trying to qualify for airline or hotel elite status, you can use a variety of tricks and tools to get there faster. maybe you can take advantage of a matching or challenging status or use the correct credit card to unlock the next elite benefit tier. Unfortunately, no matter how you qualify, your status will almost always be short-lived. Within a year or two, you’ll be back at work trying to qualify again.
This is why many major airlines and hotel chains offer some form of lifetime elite status (often referred to by airlines as “Millionaire status”). These programs reward elite members who have been loyal to the same airline or hotel for many years — often a decade or more — the amazing gift of automatic status, regardless of flight. /activity of your stay for a year.
The freedom to plan your travels for the year without tracking your elite-qualified progress sounds appealing, but getting there requires a long-term commitment in an established environment. School is always changing. Today we’ll look at whether and when it makes sense to pursue lifelong elite status and long-term loyalty.
If you’re not familiar with the various lifetime status programs, you can check out our guide here:
Airline status million Miler
Frequent flyer programs dominate because they have the highest number of metrics and counters on your account dashboard — but each means something different.
The simplest number is your mileage account balance. These are often referred to as redeemable miles, as they are what you use to book award tickets.
You then have mileage, dollars, and segments that determine your eligibility for elite status in a calendar year. Lastly is your Million Miller balance, which is a completely separate number.
You can add your redeemable miles balance by one welcome bonus on new co-branded credit card and you can earn elite miles faster by flying in premium cabins. However, those two activities don’t always impact your progression to lifelong elite status.
AmericanFirst, only the distance traveled on flights destined for the US market is counted along with the base mileage earned on partner flights. unifiedmeanwhile, consider only the distance you’ve flown on United flights and exclude partner trips. Delta is the simplest, as all Standard Medallion Miles will count towards Million Miler status.
Sign up for our daily newsletter
Related: How much is Delta’s elite status worth?
Bottom line: It takes much of the actual flight to qualify for lifetime airline elite status.
Consider my start-up lifetime activity with American Airlines as an illustrative example. I have easily achieved AAdvantage Gold status over the past few years by earning 40,000 Loyalty Points each calendar year. What do I have to show for that? Just over 80,000 miles of my Million Miller balance. That’s because not all Loyalty Points count towards lifetime status.
At this rate, it will take me year to reach one million qualifying miles. And what awaits me at the end? The same Gold status I had with a one-time bonus of 35,000 miles (worth $619 based on TPG’s current valuationthough who knows how much they’ll be worth after nearly four decades).
I may not be the ideal candidate for the position, so consider the top-level elite of Executive Platinum. Even though they have traveled 100,000 miles or more in a year, it still takes a decade to reach Million Miller status. Also, rewarding an elite Platinum Executive with lifetime Gold status is as pointless as giving it Emirates First Class passengers use leftover drinks from the economy class meal service.
Even at 2 million miles or 20 years of commitment, the highest elite status you can achieve with American Airlines’ lifetime elite status program is Platinum. That would be a great gift if it happened naturally, but hardly enough rewards to fly 2 million revenue miles with the same airline.
Related: How much is American Airlines elite status worth?
United Lifetime Elite Status Program likely the only exception. While it only counts United flights to qualify, your first 1 million miles landed you in Premier Gold, an average class equivalent to the highest you can get with American. After 4 million lifetime miles, you’ll be locked in the carrier Exclusive Global Service levelusually one invitation only status reserved for the highest spenders.
To sweeten the pot even more, every United lifetime elite can designate a companion living at the same address to enjoy the same status quo. This means that if you are Premier Platinum for life and are currently Premier 1K, your travel companion will also enjoy Premier 1K status. With United’s shift towards revenue-driven eliteThe possibility of having a higher status forever and not having to constantly spend thousands of dollars a year sounds pretty appealing.
I myself still don’t consider United’s Million Miller program to be enough to choose it as your primary carrier. Again, flying a million miles is a long-term commitment. I think short-term considerations are more important, such as how well United and partner airlines’ route maps accommodate your travel needs, how competitive fares are and even Even how modern and comfortable the cabins are on the routes you fly the most.
Related: How much is United Airlines elite status worth?
Lifetime hotel elite status
Hotel status is a trickier question, as 10 to 15 years can be a sufficient amount of time to achieve lifetime top status with major programs.
As an example, a Marriott Platinum Elite those who stay 60 nights a year for 10 years should have no problem getting a Lifetime Platinum lock, as this requires a total of 600 nights plus at least 10 years with Platinum status (or higher). Lifetime Platinum includes perks like free breakfast and available space upgrades, including suites.
This is even accelerated for those who own a Marriott co-branded credit card, like the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card And Marriott Bonvoy Bold . Credit Card, as they offer 15 elite credit nights per year. Ten years with any of those cards alone will get you 25% of the way to Lifetime Platinum, though be aware that Lifetime Platinum will. Are not take Choice benefits every year.
Alternatively, you can simply take Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Cardawards 25 elite qualifying nights annually and comes with automatic Platinum status.
Related: How to choose the best Marriott Bonvoy card for you
Hilton Lifetime Elite Status a bit more difficult but still doable in a faster time frame than the airlines. If you hit 60 nights a year (the minimum threshold to qualify for Diamonds per year), you’ll achieve lifetime Diamond status in less than 17 years. Of course, this status is also available to holders Hilton honors American Express Aspire cardbut complete 1,000 nights and accumulate 10 years Hilton Diamond Status is the only way to guarantee your top status for life.
Information about the Hilton Aspire Amex card has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: How to choose the best Hilton credit card for you
Bringing up the back on the ease of achieving is Hyatt’s Lifetime Globalization Status, which requires 1 million basis points ($200,000 spent). There is no way to cross this threshold; you have to spend that money to lock the top status of the program for life.
Which hospitality program should you pursue to achieve lifetime status?
This is a strong argument to stick with Marriott or Hilton year after year if you can, but as with any standard of elite status, make sure you understand the value of what you’re getting (a decade from now) and how much you’re willing to pay. Ready to spend now to make it a reality.
Marriott Bonvoy arguably have the most generous lifetime status policy of any major hotel chain, but that’s not reason enough to make you loyal to them. You must accumulate years of loyalty to Marriott and everything that entails. If that doesn’t suit your travel needs best, no lifetime status can justify sticking with a show for a decade or more.
Related: How do I achieve Hyatt Globalist status with $0 out of pocket
bottom line
So should you deliberately pursue elite status all your life? All in all, you probably shouldn’t deviate from that, as the lifetime hotel and Million Miler status programs have been carefully designed so that you can’t “pursue” them any other way than outright. loyal to that brand. Sure, you can use a Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card for some nights or even a year or two in elite status instead of staying at a Marriott hotel. However, you are still participating in the Bonvoy rewards program and generating revenue for Marriott. There is no way you will get lifetime elite status if you are not willing to dedicate your business to the same brand for a long time.
That said, if you’re loyal and happy with the value you’re getting now, lifetime status can be a great reward in the future. Just remember that a lot can change in 10 years and many people have achieved lifetime status with SPG not thrilled with what their benefits look like today. If you’ve been looking at the numbers in your future travel and think you might qualify for lifetime status, you should keep that in mind. Just remember how far into the future that will be and don’t let it influence your decisions today.
Additional reporting by Ben Smithson.
