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You want bubbly and great food every time you fly? Peep this.
American’s Flagship Lounges are dope. They offer great food, bubbly, and are truly worth visiting. The problem? Accessing them on domestic trips is basically impossible unless you’re a Concierge Key which, rumor has it, requires spending $50k on AA. Not happening. HOWEVER, there is a great way to use the rules to your benefit. How you ask? Simply qualify for One World Sapphire status with partner airline. Sound too complex? Lemme show you how I’m going to take just one trip, and I’ll be kickin’ it in lounges for TWO YEARS.
To use the rules, we must know the rules. Here’s the Admirals Club/Flagship Lounge access policy when traveling domestically.
At first glance you may think you have access because you carry AA Platinum status or higher. But…if you follow the ** you’ll find that Emeralds and Sapphires have access, but only if you qualify with a partner airline.
Now let’s work the $%8! out of those rules. I.E.
British Airways loyalty program accumulates two different currencies: Executive Club points and Tier Points. For this post we’re focusing on Tier Points because they are what we need to qualify for elite status. Their mid-tier, Silver status will grant you One World Sapphire status = LOUNGE ACCESS every time you fly. Even if it’s just LAX to SFO – doesn’t matter, you’re in
We need 600 Tier points for British Airways Silver Status.
You also need to fly on 4 British Airways Flights.
Tier Points are based on your membership year, not calendar year. This is huge for me.
Ok, so we need 4 flights on BA, 600 tier points, and we want to qualify as soon as the membership year turns over. Enter: Europe to S.E. Asia in discount business class.
The cheap business class I’m looking at would originate in either Helsinki or Stockholm and go to Bangkok. I’ll position there from Manchester, UK routing through London ( this will pick up 4 flights in one r/t). If I choose to fly on Qatar Airways, I’ll not only have an amazing business class, but I’ll hit Silver status on just the one trip. Qatar’s discount business usually books into R which earns 560 tier points on that r/t alone. I’ll need just 40 tier points to hit Silver, which I’ll pick up routing to Helsinki.
I’ll fly 4 BA flights and earn exactly 600 tier points: MAN-LHR-HEL-DOH-BKK
I will qualify, not only for 2018/19 Silver status, but also 2019-2020. Meaning…come say hi to Miles and I until May 2020. BYAH!
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
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
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® is exceptional 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: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.