{"id":189126,"date":"2025-04-17T15:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T15:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/for-the-first-time-ever-im-chasing-elite-status-and-i-already-regret-it-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T15:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T15:24:11","slug":"for-the-first-time-ever-im-chasing-elite-status-and-i-already-regret-it-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=189126","title":{"rendered":"For the First Time Ever, I\u2019m Chasing Elite Status\u2026 and I Already Regret It \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

I have never cared about elite status, not even a little bit. Would an upgrade be nice? Sure, but I don\u2019t travel enough to have high enough status to think that I\u2019d ever actually get one. And I\u2019m not tall, so I really don\u2019t care much about extra legroom either. Living in Southern California, there are different airlines that are better for different routes. It has never made sense to chase elite status on just one.<\/p>\n

And it still doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But, I decided that it might be something interesting to write about. With some upcoming trips on Alaska and Hawaiian, I decided I\u2019d look into the possibility. In the end, I decided to sacrifice sanity and chase the dragon. Will I succeed? I have no idea. Will it change anything in my behavior next year once I have status? Meh, I dunno. But come along with me on this journey of madness.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

On Alaska, you need 20,000 elite qualifying miles (EQMs) in a year to get to the lowest level of elite status, MVP. Or I could do 40,000 and try for Gold on partner American instead. It is absolutely maddening that you can get similar benefits on two partner airlines \u2014 both get you oneworld Ruby status \u2014 and have the numbers be so far apart.<\/p>\n

There is a reason for this, of course. On Alaska, it\u2019s because you earn miles based on how much you actually fly. Right now, I have 10 flights booked on Alaska\/Hawaiian. Seven of those are under 500 miles, so they will earn 500 miles each. The last three are 2615, 954, and 630 miles each. That means I will earn 7,699 miles by flying\u2026 or 38.5% of the total I need. If I don\u2019t have enough flights by the end of the year, I can use the credit card. You get 1 EQM per $3 spent, so if I spend $36,903 and don\u2019t fly another mile, I get status.<\/p>\n

On American, it\u2019s totally different. You earn based on what you pay for American-marketed flights, but you get a percentage of miles flown for Alaska-marketed flights. I have a mix of both, because I burned some old AA credits to book these Alaska flights. Are we having fun yet? Here\u2019s what the lengthy calculation process told me:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Flight 1 \u2013 477 (Q class on AS \u2013 50% of flown)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 2 \u2013 176 (N class on AS \u2013 50% of flown)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 3 \u2013 479 (5x fare on AA marketed\/operated by AS)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 4 \u2013 642 (5x fare on AA marketed\/operated by AS)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 5 \u2013 967 (5x fare on AA marketed\/operated by AS)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 6 \u2013 200 (V class on AS \u2013 50% of flown)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 7 \u2013 0 (R class on HA \u2013 award ticket)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 8 \u2013 654 (K class on HA \u2013 25% of flown)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 9 \u2013 176 (N class on AS \u2013 50% of flown)<\/li>\n
  • Flight 10 \u2013 176 (N class on AS \u2013 50% of flown)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    That gets me a pitiful 3,947 miles. But American gives you one point per dollar spent on the credit card, so I\u2019d need to spend $36,053 to get to 40,000 EQMs which is shockingly close to what I\u2019d need to do on Alaska.<\/p>\n

    So what did I choose? I chose Alaska. I\u2019m flying on Alaska metal so it makes sense to be in that airline\u2019s program. More importantly, if I do fly more, then it\u2019s likely those flights will get me closer to the goal than with American. Also, I just generally like the program better, and I\u2019ll take the $99 companion pass that comes with the credit card.<\/p>\n

    The only problem here is that I have already made bad decisions in pursuit of status, and it makes no sense at all. I\u2019ve opted to go from LAX or Orange County instead of Long Beach on multiple flights. I chose Alaska when another airline might have had a better time. I have no idea why I\u2019m doing this.<\/p>\n

    On top of all this, I get absolutely no benefit during the chase itself. Sure, Alaska will do a status match if you have status on another airline. I don\u2019t. I\u2019ve only had status once when I did a challenge on American 20 years ago. I rolled that into a match on US Airways the next year which is where I got the only elite upgrade I\u2019ve ever received\u2026 on a 40 minute flight from Vegas to LA. But as far as I know, there is no \u201cchallenge\u201d opportunity at Alaska or most airlines. So I have to slog through decisions that might not make much sense in the short term in order to eventually get a future benefit.<\/p>\n

    The funny thing is\u2026 with my flying pattner, it\u2019s not really even worth it to make the right decision. For example, coming back from San Francisco on a flight coming up, I could pay $60 on Frontier at the time I want or I could pay more than double to fly Alaska on a flight 45 minutes later. If I choose Alaska, I get 500 more miles toward elite status. Big deal. I\u2019m better off just spending $1,500 on a credit card.<\/p>\n

    It is, of course, a different story if you fly far in a premium cabin. Then the miles add up. But for now, I will still try to hit elite status with Alaska this year, and then I can go back to normal again. We\u2019ll see if it happens.<\/p>\n

    Edited to fix Alaska EQM earning from 3 EQMs per $1 spent to the correct 1 EQM per $3 spent<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I have never cared about elite status, not even a little bit. Would an upgrade be nice? Sure, but I don\u2019t travel enough to have high enough status to think that I\u2019d ever actually get one. And I\u2019m not tall, so I really don\u2019t care much about extra legroom either. Living in Southern California, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":189127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12028],"tags":[14557,17845,14654,17846,15185,15924,1231],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-189126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airline","tag-chasing","tag-cranky","tag-elite","tag-flier","tag-regret","tag-status","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\nFor the First Time Ever, I\u2019m Chasing Elite Status\u2026 and I Already Regret It \u2013 Cranky Flier - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=189126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For the First Time Ever, I\u2019m Chasing Elite Status\u2026 and I Already Regret It \u2013 Cranky Flier - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have never cared about elite status, not even a little bit. 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