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You can buy SkyTeam Elite and Elite Plus with a match to Kenya Airways. This is a pretty easy way to pick up free seating assignments, free checked bags, and potentially even lounge access regardless of the cabin you book. The big caveat here is that the SkyTeam network doesn’t enforce these benefits uniformly. SAS may give you these benefits when you’re traveling in Europe with your Kenya Airways loyalty number attached, but Delta may not extend the same benefits when you’re traveling domestically.
The cost and match vary depending on if you’re using a hotel, airline, or credit card to match.
What will I get with SkyTeam Elite and SkyTeam Elite Plus
This chart lays it out pretty clearly
This is a simple breakdown as well
- Skyteam Elite
- Priority
- reservation wait list (when fares permit)
- check-in
- boarding
- Extra baggage
- Priority
- Skyteam Elite Plus:
- Everything from SkyTeam Elite +
- Access to airport lounges worldwide, whatever the class of travel, for members in possession of a boarding pass, accompanied by a guest.
- Priority baggage handling on arrival, whatever the class of travel
- Extra baggage allowance
- Everything from SkyTeam Elite +
What level will my status match me to?
Generally speaking, if you have a top tier hotel status you’ll get SkyTeam Elite Plus. If you have the top 2 airline statuses you’ll most likely get SkyTeam Elite Plus as well. The list is super long – the easiest is to just find it here
How much does it cost?
The cheapest you’re going to find is matching from an airline with an address outside the US or Canada. That’s just $80. However, if you’re matching to top tier Gold/Platinum which yields SkyTeam Elite Plus you’ll pay $299 here. Depending on how much you fly SkyTeam, $80 seems like a no brainer, but $299 takes quite a bit of bags and seat selections to offset.
Match via an airlines status?
Canada, USA or anywhere in the Americas
Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam
Silver – 99 USD
Gold & Platinum – 299 USD
All other countries*
Silver – 80 USD
Gold & Platinum – 175 USD
Match via hotel status?
All countries & regions*
Silver – 99 USD
Gold – 299 USD
Platinum – Not Available
Match via credit card?
All countries & regions*
Gold & Platinum – Not Available
Overall
You can go here to read more of the FAQs, but if you don’t have any status with SkyTeam currently, and have future plans on one of their airlines and value the perks you’d receive more than the cost… it makes sense to me
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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