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Ends Today! Spirit Airlines Status Match – Get 12 months of Status without flying

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Spirit Airlines Status Match – Get 12 months of Status without flying

4/23/23 – This deal ends today at 11:59pm PST

4/18/23 Quick update…I matched Hyatt Explorist and within roughly 10 days I was matched to Spirit Gold.

Spirit Airlines is offering 12 months of mid and top tier status for a fee.

  • $49 for Silver
  • $99 for Gold

The catch? You need to have status with another airline or hotel program in order to qualify, and if you do, you can match to either Spirit Silver or Spirit Gold and keep that status for 12 months. If you’re unfamiliar with Spirit Airlines, or have never flown them, they are a low cost carrier that charges you for basically everything outside the ticket, but has some nasty low fares. They also offer a unique product called “The Big Seat” which offers 18.5″ of width and 6 extra inches of legroom. You have to pay more for the Big Seat, but the total price can often be cheaper than economy on other carriers.

Status Match here

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What do I get with Spirit Airlines Status?

Interestingly enough, Gold status comes with a pet fee waiver…something I’ve never seen with other airlines. If you fly Spirit just one time with a pet, that could offset the $99 Gold Status Match fee since the pet fee is $125 each way

  • Silver Status
    • Shortcut Boarding and Security
    • Redemption Fee Waiver
    • Free Exit Row Seating
    • Excess baggage weight waiver
    • Same Day Standby
  • Gold Status
    • Silver +
    • Free checked bag
    • Free Carry On
    • Pet Fee Waiver
    • Zone 1 boarding
    • Free drink and snack

a yellow and white card with text and wings a close-up of a signHere’s a look at all the Spirit Elite benefits

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How do I match to Spirit Airlines Status?

You need to go here and fill our the information as well as uploading proof of your current status. IHG Platinum, Marriott Gold, and Hyatt Explorist all match to Gold. Funny that midtier elite status from a hotel ( that you can get from a credit card ) gets you a better match than some airlines status.

Status Match here

  • You’ll need an Spirit Loyalty Account
  • 16 hotels
    • These are all from the Americas so if you have British Airways status you’re out of luck.
  • 16 airlines

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Will I do this? I did do it

Yes. I haven’t flown Spirit Airlines in over a decade, so to spend $99 and match to Gold seems like a fun experiment that would likely get offset by a waived pet fee if I bring along our dog. I don’t ordinarily fly lowcost carriers aside from Southwest, but I’m willing to give them a go again, especially if its done with elite status.

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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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
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    • (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.
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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. 

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.

7 Comments

  • […] I do it? I’m heavily considering it. I status matched to Spirit Airlines earlier in the year, no brainer and easily recouped the price, and I think I will match again to Frontier.  I’m […]

  • R April 23, 2023

    Once you get matched if your flight is upcoming call the number for spirit gold and they will add the free bags and let you pick it seat! It was very easy to add to an existing ticket I booked previously when I didn’t have the gold status.

  • Karen in Florida April 19, 2023

    Will the fee be covered by Amex airline incidental, if Spirit is selected?

    • Miles April 19, 2023

      No, it’s processed through statusmatch not spirit so unfortunately it won’t

  • Wes April 7, 2023

    This is a great deal. Most of the downsides of this “a la carte” airline are subsided with gold status.
    No cost for any bags (including overweight bags which is 40 lbs+), seat selection or flight changes.

    You can essentially fly first class with the big front seat for the small cost to fly (usually under $49) and the cost of the seat (normally $99 or less.)

    I purchase the big front seat almost every time and it really is a great way to fly. Sure, you get no cocktail or dinner service, but I’d rather pay $150 for that than $500+ on any other airline.

  • turgutbey April 6, 2023

    I have an upcoming spirit flight. Reading the Q&A it sounds like if I for the status match, I wouldn’t get the benefits of status on the flight I’ve already purchased. Is that right?

    When can I start using my Free Spirit® elite status?
    Once approved and upgraded, the new tier will be effective immediately, providing the member access to the tier benefits for new flights booked after the status is granted.

    • Joseph April 7, 2023

      I am on the same boat. Would like to see how this actually works after matching.

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