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MMMondayMemo: What is a Status Match or Status Challenge
Each Monday Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet. This week the Monkey Miles Monday Memo focuses on understanding a status match or challenge! MMMondayMemo: What is a Status Match or Status Challenge
Status Challenge:
A status challenge is where an airline or hotel will give you the opportunity to earn a certain level of status by fulfilling a specified number of qualifying nights, points, stays, miles, etc. in a fixed amount of time, and after fulfilling the requirement you earn that status. Some programs give you the status while you are challenging, others do not.
An Example:
Hyatt has offered diamond status challenges whereby you must stay 12 nights in 90 days to earn Diamond status for the rest of that qualifying year, and if after July, you’ll keep the status through the next qualifying year. It’s Ridics.
It’s clear to see how valuable this can be if you’re looking to travel with the brand that you are challenging. Last year I did two different challenges: American Airlines Platinum and Hyatt Diamond. Last year’s investment yielded incredible return this year by starting me off with a higher status than I would have otherwise. It put my travel experiences on BLAST. BYAW BYAW
What is a Status Match?
A status Match is just given to you based upon what Status you carry with a competitor. A status match relies upon the wandering eye of loyalty. It’s the sweet sweet lure of greener grass. Oh perhaps a more Decked out Biz Class cabin with doors, or a club level that offers free Booze in the United States. Mine EYE is a wandering! Oh you’re a Hyatt Diamond…come on over here to Marriott and see how we will treat you. Oh you’re AA Executive Platinum and wanna see what Delta Platinum is like – we’ll just hook you up.
A great site to see which programs offer consistent matches is statusmatcher.com
- It provides a ton of data points to educate your expectations of match or challenge when there may not be publicly known or listed offers.
What will Miles be doing next year?
I will attain AA Executive Platinum by the end of the month and I’ll do what the dudes over at No Mas Coach are doing and match to Alaska MileagePlan MVP GOLD 75. The big trick to that status match is to do it after October, that way you get the status through the following year. My ambitious goal is to qualify next year for both AA Executive Platinum and Alaska MVP GOLD 75. For Miles and I – That is level of travel is BANANAS. But I really want those SWUs and the MileagePlan points…especially the 50k bonus awarded upon re-qualification.
I’d love to use those points to fly Cathay First!
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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