1 Travel Hack I Used to Earn Elite Frequent Flyer Status -- and You Can Too

I love to travel and do so fairly often. I frequently attend conferences related to financial matters, love to take trips with my family, and enjoy meeting up with colleagues once or twice a year.

My closest airport is a relatively small one (Columbia, South Carolina), and is only served by three airlines. Although this gives me some degree of choice, because of its convenient routes to destinations I frequently visit, American is the airline I fly approximately 90% of the time.

As a result, I've had elite status in the airline's AAdvantage program for several years. At the time of this writing, I've achieved Platinum Pro status, which is the second-highest of four publicly available levels.

However, I don't fly nearly enough to earn Platinum Pro status. In fact, if flying were the only way to earn status, I would be at the Gold level (the lowest tier). Thankfully, American and several other airlines have other ways travelers can earn frequent flyer elite status.

Earning status with credit card points

American Airlines has perhaps the most straightforward elite status qualification system. It uses Loyalty Points to earn status, and with all spending on cobranded American Airlines credit cards, you'll earn 1 Loyalty Point per $1 of spending. This means that whether you have a high-end card like the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® or any of the other cobranded cards, you'll earn status for your spending in the same way.

To be thorough, I don't earn status through flying and credit card points exclusively. American also allows me to earn points from stays at Marriott hotels, and for using its e-commerce portal when shopping at certain retailers. However, using an American Airlines branded credit card for my everyday spending has given me a major status boost. In fact, using a combination of an American Airlines credit card with its e-shopping portal can be a great personal finance move to maximize your spending.

There are other cobranded card options

American isn't the only airline that allows you to earn elite status qualification from credit card spending. For example, Delta switched to a new loyalty system this year, and some of its cardholders can earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs):

• The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card (see rates and fees) gets a $2,500 MQD "head start" each year and earns an additional MQD for every $20 in spending. Terms apply.
• The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (see rates and fees) gets the same head start, but earns one MQD for every $10 in spending. Terms apply.

With a requirement of $5,000 MQDs to earn the lowest (Silver) elite level for 2025, this means that credit card holders can get status with $25,000 in spending alone.

United Airlines is another example, with three credit cards that allow users to earn Premier qualifying points. All three award 25 Premier qualifying points, or PQP, for every $500 in spending, up to a card-specific maximum. (Note: 5,000 PQP is needed to earn Premier Silver status.)

• With the United℠ Explorer Card, you can earn up to 1,000 PQP in a calendar year.
• With the United Quest℠ Card, you can earn up to 6,000 PQP in a calendar year.
• With the United Club℠ Infinite Card, you can earn up to 10,000 PQP in a calendar year.

Of course, these are just some examples. If you prefer flying on a different airline, it could be a good idea to check its cobranded credit cards to see if using it can earn you status qualification.

What could a higher status level get you?

As you achieve elite status and climb the airline's status tiers, there can be some very valuable perks that come along with it. In my case, I get a much higher priority on American's upgrade list and have seen the percentage of flights where I'm upgraded to first class climb significantly. I also get an earlier boarding group on flights, get to choose Main Cabin Extra (premium economy) seats for free, and earn frequent flyer miles at a higher rate than I otherwise would.

Of course, it isn't practical or necessary for everyone to earn elite airline status. But for those who travel regularly -- but not often enough to get some of the perks you want -- using one of these status-earning credit cards can be a smart choice.