Very out of date (2008). See link I posted for a more up-to-date review.
Says 2008 on mine. And it makes no mention of AA's changing to BIS miles only?
Stringe - I see July 11th, 2012:
FWIW, the very next post corrects the AA BIS Issue:
#1 welltravelled88
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 129
Lifetime status by airline -- attempted summary
Hello everyone. I tried this some years ago, will try again now. I see that there are numerous threads on lifetime top elite FF status but none too comprehensive I think.
So, I will attempt a brief summary to see if I got this right - so, please go ahead and correct me ! I will then edit this post on the basis of the info received in later posts. I will do this only for the three major alliances, as I guess this is what most of us are in for. I will also only focus, in a concise manner, on the highest attainable tier by alliance, i.e. Elite Plus for ST, Gold for *A, and Sapphire for OW (on the understanding that OW Emerald is not available for lifetime in any manner, right ?).
Sky Team (to attain ST Elite Plus status)
* AF/KL: Lifetime Platinum after 10 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level
* DL: Lifetime Platinum after 4M "Medallion Qualifying Miles", i.e. from any ST flights
* KE: Lifetime Million Miler after 1M miles on any ST flights
My assessment: If one does plan to qualify for AF/KL FB Platinum for 10 years, that's best. If not, KE is also very good.
Star Alliance (to attain *A Gold status)
* BM: Lifetime Gold after 10 consecutive years of membership at the Gold level
* CA: Lifetime Platinum after 1M kms on CA-coded flights only
* MS: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on MS flights (or all *A flights ??)
* OZ: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on Star Alliance flights
* SA: Lifetime Platinum after 6 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level
* UA: Lifetime Premier Executive after 1 million miles on UA or CM only
My assessment: If one plans to fly enough for 10 or 6 years, BM and SA are good. Otherwise, OZ is the most achievable. UA is good but only if you fly UA/CM.
Comment and question: It should be noted that many of the above however are not flagship carriers (e.g. BM, CO, OZ, UA), while some are (e.g. MS, SA, not sure about the status of CA). The way airlines are going, I would rely more on the flagship carriers, e.g. MS and SA have a higher chance of continuing to exist, than BM, OZ, or even CO and UA. What do you think ?
Question: does anyone know whether *A plans to introduce anything higher than *A Gold, since so many *A members have two or more tiers that are equivalent to *A Gold ?
One World (to attain OW Sapphire status)
* AA: Lifetime Platinum after 2M miles from any source [However, NB: as AA Platinum, you get no lounge access in AA lounges when travelling on AA domestically, while you would get access as OW Sapphire with another airline]
* QF: Lifetime Gold after 14,000 status credits
Assessment: AA is quite easy to achieve. QF is good for those down under.
Question: Am I correct that there is no way to attain lifetime OW Emerald ?
Please send corrections etc so we can update this.
#2 Ambraciot
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM
Posts: 2,074
Quote:
Originally Posted by welltravelled88 
One World (to attain OW Sapphire status)
* AA: Lifetime Platinum after 2M miles from any source [However, NB: as AA Platinum, you get no lounge access in AA lounges when travelling on AA domestically, while you would get access as OW Sapphire with another airline]
* QF: Lifetime Gold after 14,000 status credits
Assessment: AA is quite easy to achieve. QF is good for those down under.
Question: Am I correct that there is no way to attain lifetime OW Emerald ?
Please send corrections etc so we can update this.
AA currently only counts actual flight miles towards lifetime status, as a result it would take 40-200 years of barely re-qualifying each year to earn lifetime status at a particular level (miles takes 40 years, segments takes up to 200). If you rely on promos like DEQM your progress towards lifetime status will be considerably slower.
Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
