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Last month, Qatar Airways Privilege Club ran a status match offer targeted at top tier members of Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Australia. The opportunity came and went… was adjusted once or twice and, if I recall correctly, was extended for a few days past its original deadline of 20 May, 2020.
Because I have top tier “Elite Plus” status with Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles, I decided to take a few screenshots and apply. It’s worth reminding you that Miles & Smiles still offers a status challenge as well – click here for details. So if you want to be prepared for the next status match opportunity from Privilege Club or another Oneworld airline, you might want to plan ahead by matching any current elite status to Miles & Smiles…
Normally I advise against blindly chasing every status match opportunity – click here to be reminded why – and it’s entirely possible that my next Oneworld flight won’t occur until 2021… but it just so happens that I am FURIOUS with British Airways and have been looking for ways to disengage from the IAG / Avios ecosystem.
Anyhow, I was pleased to see this email hit my inbox this morning.
Not only did Privilege Club honour their status match promise, but they matched me to their very top tier of Platinum, equivalent to Oneworld Emerald (i.e. BA Gold). My new Platinum status will be valid for exactly a year, until 10 June 2021.
QPoints
As Joe mentioned in his original article, status matched members will receive a short cut to renewal of their status.
QPoints appear to operate in a similar way to British Airways Tier Points. However, a quick glance at the QCalculator – the most important tool on the Privilege Club website – suggests that I would earn fewer QPoints for long haul Business Class flights than I would earn by crediting those same flights to BA for Tier Points.
Nonetheless 300 QPoints is far fewer than the 1,500 Tier Points that I would require for BA Gold, or the 600 Tier Points needed for BA Silver. Although I will have far less than a year to obtain those QPoints due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, I definitely plan to seek out any sweetspots that might fit my travel patterns (whenever they return to normal).
QCredits
I was also intrigued to find 60 QCredits in my newly-upgraded account. QCredits can apparently be used to upgrade paid flights from Economy Class to Business Class. 60 QCredits should be sufficient to get me an upgrade on both legs of a Europe to Doha ticket.
It would also get me a one-way upgrade from Europe to Australia via Doha…
The Bottom Line
I applied for the status match with little more in mind than an improved First Class lounge experience for whenever I travel again on a Oneworld airline. Now I find that I might also be able to book an Economy flight or two on Qatar Airways and upgrade myself for free to Business Class.
The main point of this article, however, is to provide a data point for how the Privilege Club status match actually worked. Now might not have been the best moment, but if this opportunity returns later in 2020, it would definitely make sense for you to be ready if you can…
I applied on day 1 of the offer with my SQ Krisflyer status but I still haven’t heard back from QR. It’d be nice to at least get a confirmation that they even received my application.
Something might have gone wrong for you. I indeed received an email from QR confirming my “service request” a few days after applying for the status match.
should I chase them about it or sit tight and wait ?
Yes, you might want to follow up with them…
Hi Craig, curious to know, how do / did you maintain the Turkish status? Turkish flights or other *A flights? Thx
Last cycle I managed my re-qualification with a one-way in Business Class to North America on one of those cheap TAP J fares. The rest of the miles mainly came from two Turkish returns to SE Asia. I paid for Economy in a fare bucket offering 100% miles, and then upgraded them to Business Class for free using the upgrade certificates I get as an Elite Plus member.
The tricky part with TK is qualifying in the first place, especially for Elite Plus, but once you’ve got there it’s relatively easy to keep it if you plan carefully.
Thanks!
Hang on. Seriously? They accept a screenshot as sole evidence?
Screenshots (plural) of account statement and card. What else do you expect them to want?
Something that’s not trivially falsifiable in a few clicks and less than a minute in element inspector.
In other news, I’ll send $5 to anyone sending me static anonymised HTML documents of their status pages.
Yes, there’s no doubt that anybody with the right computer skills can commit fraud.