March first is start over day for airline status and two of the three I thought would drop did, back to base member.
I originally got Gold status with Continental in late 2007 to use as a status match for BMI Star Alliance Gold. It worked and I flew all of 708 miles on CO in the time I was elite, but the lounge access I got from the match was well worth the effort.
And my Northwest status dropped from Silver to base member. I have no idea how I was Silver in 2008, unless I got a soft landing from Platinum to Gold in 2006 and Gold to Silver in 2007. It really doesn’t matter much as the last one I was interested in was Delta, which luckily remained Gold status through the next year. That was also a status match from United 1K and did indeed carry over through Feb of 2010. So no loss with the merger between DL and NW, I still have a chance for an upgrade and bonus earnings if ever on DL.
If you have a mid tier or higher status with an airline, don’t be afraid to shop it around among the competitors. Everybody is hungry for business these days. I have not heard of the lowest elite level ever being status matched into another program, but all it takes is an email and copy of your latest statement to try.
