Some frequent flyers take additional flights to make sure they maintain their frequent flyer status. . . . . . these are often referred to as ‘Status Runs’.
What’s the Point?
There are several benefits of a high status, particularly gold or above.
These include:
- Free lounge access, for you, and a 2nd traveller.
- Additional points from flights (up to 75%).
- Better access to reward seats, especially for business class.
- Better chance of free upgrades.
- Several other ‘nice to have’ benefits such as priority boarding
When I used to travel 2-3 times a month as a gold frequent flyer I would estimate those benefits were worth $1,000 – $2,000 a year to me.
Types of Status Runs
Additional Trips: Taking a trip with the main purpose of collecting additional status points.
Extending Trips: This involves planning your flights to get additional points. For example rather than flying Melbourne to Cairns direct If you choose to fly via Sydney and Brisbane you could get up to 50% more points.
Is it Worth It
It really depends on how much the benefits are worth to you.
When you fly often you aren’t keen to fly if you don’t need to. . . . but if I was just a couple of flights away from gold status it might be worth a ‘Status Run’.
