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Alaska Airlines is offering a status match opportunity for people who currently have elite status with Delta, United or Southwest, although the requirements will make it hard for most people to attain.
The Deal
- Match your airline status from Delta, United or Southwest to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- This limited time status match offer expires on April 15, 2021 and is only offered to members who have achieved elite status for 2020 or 2021 through actual flight miles or segments in a Delta, Southwest and United Airlines loyalty program.
- Status granted based on credit card activity, transferred points, or any other promotional offer is not eligible for a status match.
- Members who receive MVP Gold 75K status as part of this status match offer are not eligible for the 50,000 bonus miles associated with qualifying for MVP Gold 75K status.
- Please allow up to 4 weeks for verification and approval.
- You will receive a welcome email once the status match is approved, or you can also check your status in your account at alaskaair.com.
- Offer valid only for legal residents of the United States and Canada.
- In order to keep your status after December 31, 2021, you’ll need to qualify by fulfilling the criteria outlined here.
- Award travel does not count toward keeping your status.
- Offer subject to change without notice.
- All terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan program apply.
- A member who receives a status match through this offer may not request another status match for 2021 under any other offer.
Quick Thoughts
Alaska Airlines is offering to match from a variety of different status levels:
- Delta
- Silver Medallion
- Gold Medallion
- Platinum Medallion & Diamond Medallion
- United
- Premier Silver & Premier Associate
- Premier Gold
- Platinum, 1K & Global Services
- Southwest
- A-List
- A-List Preferred
- A-List Preferred & Companion Pass
The fact that they’re grouping some status levels together and have three levels for each other airline, it’s likely that they’ll match to MVP, Gold and 75K respectively.
Status with Alaska will last through the end of 2021 and isn’t predicated on you completing any other activity beyond completing the online form and providing a screenshot of your current elite status including your miles flown year-to-date or miles flown the prior year to earn elite status.
It’s that screenshot which could prove to be problematic if you want to status match with Alaska Airlines. While many people will still have status with airlines based on status extensions due to COVID, in many (or most) cases that status will have been earned based on flight activity in 2019. In order to qualify for this status match, you need to provide evidence of enough qualifying flight activity in 2020 or 2021. Update: Jeremy has made a great point in the comments that the terms refer to status earned for 2020 and 2021 rather than flights taken in 2020 and 2021. Status earned for 2020 could’ve been earned in 2019, so presumably status earned pre-COVID would be eligible for this status match.
As noted in the terms, status earned from credit card activity isn’t eligible even if that was conducted in 2020, so Greg with his Delta elite status from credit card spend is out, as is anyone who earned a Southwest Companion Pass via credit card signup bonuses and spending rather than flights.
If you did manage to earn status with United, Delta or Southwest last year or this year though, this is a great opportunity to pick up almost-instant status with Alaska.
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Data point: I applied for the match using southwest a-list status obtained through the recent free a-list promotion. I matched to MVP status though the terms seem to indicate this would not work. I have had no flights with southwest since 2019. I used a phone screenshot of my southwest account. It shows only the 10 flights towards status that southwest gifted to us earlier this year.
I wonder if this counts as your one-ever match with them
Is it a once only status match? I have Delta Diamond and don’t think I’ll fly Alaska this Year. If I do it does it mean I can’t do a match/challenge later next year etc?
The terms state the following:
That makes it seem like you could request a status match/challenge next year, but I certainly can’t guarantee that.
[…] Alaska Airlines is offering status matches (not challenges) to Delta, United, and Southwest elite frequent flyers. (HT: Frequent Miler) […]
[…] Alaska Airlines is offering status matches (not challenges) to Delta, United, and Southwest elite frequent flyers. (HT: Frequent Miler) […]
So I’m curious about doing this match for this year and need some advice. I currently live in ATL and have gold with DL. I am also getting my second vaccine shot in a couple of weeks and am expecting my travel to pick up this year, which is mainly to the west coast. We are also looking to relocate to the PNW this year at some point. Do you think this offer is worth it for me, or should I wait and do a challenge after I have moved. I have been toying with the idea of switching to AS once I get out of the south anyway. I also currently have 58k MQM’s, so I really only need to get the MQD’s up to keep my status for 2022 with DL, if need be. Thanks.
If I was in your situation, I probably would do the status match. The status is valid through the end of the year; if Alaska runs another status match promo towards the end of this year, I doubt it would provide status through the end of 2022, although I could be wrong.
The risk with waiting until you’ve moved to the PNW is that Alaska might not offer a status match in the future; I think they more commonly offer status challenges. If your flight activity in the future would likely help you complete a status challenge, not jumping on this status match opportunity is less of a risk.
Thank you. So, I was under the impression that the match would work like a challenge and I would not be able to do a challenge later, I know you don’t work there, but what are your thoughts? My fear is that I wouldn’t be able to maintain the AS status as some of my travel is difficult to book with them do to our corporate booking system and the rules they impose. But I suppose I could always keep my DL status and use that until I was able to do another challenge. I may have just answered my own question. Lol.
A status match is different to a status challenge. A status challenge sometimes involves a brief status match (perhaps status for 3 months) with you needing to complete x amount of activity in order to keep it beyond then. This status match gives you the status immediately and through December 31, 2021 without any other required activity to keep that status unless you want to maintain it into 2022.
If you do the status match now, I doubt you’d be able to do a status challenge later this year. However, if you have status through the end of this year, there wouldn’t be a need to do a status challenge later this year unless that challenge provided the opportunity to extend it into 2022 and your upcoming activity would help you do that.
Thanks!
One thought re: the AS challenge vs match. Depending on how much one is going to fly this year, and when it’s going to happen, the standard challenge (90 days to hit a certain number of miles) that you start in July might be better for some.
Definitely will be better for me, as I’ll match UA 1K to AS 75K and only need 20K miles flown in 90 days to keep 75K through the end of 2022 after I start it in July.
If, on the other hand, one is going to fly a good bit between now and the end of June the new status match might work out better to take advantage of the 50% Elite Mile bonus.
I sent in a screenshot of my 2019 Delta activity, from my January 2020 SkyMiles email statement.
I recommend looking back in your emails to see if you still have it.
What about status earned as a Million Miler? e.g., I have Lifetime Gold on United from that, and my wife has the same through the “gifted” status that United gives to every Million Miler.
I’d imagine that would fall under the ‘promotional offer’ exclusion if you didn’t have flight activity which would’ve earned you that status anyway. Having said that, if you had some flight activity, it could be worth submitting a status match request as the worst that’ll happen is that they’ll decline the request. Receiving status from this status match excludes you from doing another status match this year, but if they decline your request then you could presumably submit another status match request later this year if you qualified for a future offer.
Thanks. I’ve gone ahead and submitted the request for myself. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Cool – good luck!
Pleasant surprise, just received email that I was granted MVP Gold! I’ll try my wife next, and see what happens (would be even more helpful for her, since she just got the BoA Alaska Air credit card this year).
Am I reading this wrong? You have to have earned status through flying for the 2020 or 2021 status year so would flying in 2019 count? I have had Delta Gold status from flying in 2019 but not clear if that counts or is too old.
That’s a great point. I think I might’ve misinterpreted the terms as relating to flights taken in 2020 or 2021 rather than status earned for 2020 or 2021. I therefore think you’re right that the status you earned for 2020 based on flights in 2019 would be eligible for this status match – I’ll update the post.
In that case I need your help as the Delta website only allows you to go back 1 year. Any thoughts on how I prove that I legitimately earned status back in 2019?
In the Account Activity section, it lets you enter custom dates going back further than a year. You can then filter it to only show flight activity to remove other transactions like miles earned from your credit card(s).
Thanks Stephen had no idea that was an option. Went ahead and printed and uploaded a 12 page pdf directly from the DL website. Just checked my Mileage Plan account and I was matched to MVP Gold
Awesome – glad it worked out 🙂
Wow United “Premier Associate” or 3P status…pre-merger UA jargon amazing.
Would this work if UA silver via Bonvoy Titanium?
Unfortunately not – the terms state that they’ll only match based on flight activity.
Makes sense they’re only targeting those who have been traveling.