Elite status planning for 2025

Good morning from the historic former Chinese capital city of Xi’an!

I’m still exhausted after flying ten times in one week… but before I get some rest, I’ve got some travel tips for ya:

• 📆 Planning for elite status in 2025

• ✈️ Buy LifeMiles with a 180% bonus

• 💳 Current Transfer Bonuses

📆 Planning for elite status in 2025

Earlier this year, I told you about how I have top-tier elite status with close to sixty airlines.

While most of that was thanks to a couple of great status matches, the root of it was my Aeroplan 75k status that I earned last year and used to match to other programs.

Sadly, that status, along with my matched statuses, is coming to an end soon. 😭

As I look ahead to 2025 (which is, believe it or not, very close), I’ve been thinking about which status I want to pursue… if any.

Here’s a breakdown of my thoughts on each airline alliance and the status perks I’ve enjoyed:

Star Alliance

This is the biggest alliance and the one that I’ve enjoyed perks with for years, thanks to my Air Canada status.

Whether flying on Air Canada itself and getting business-class upgrades or accessing lounges in places like Singapore and Frankfurt, I’ve gotten a ton of value from this one status.

But since Aeroplan points are my go-to currency and because Aeroplan has so many good partners, I find that this is often the alliance where I’m most frequently booking straight into business-class seats…

Therefore, the status is meaningless on many of my Star Alliance flights (since business class gets you all of the same perks anyway).

So, in the end, I can retain a lot of the value by simply earning Aeroplan points and using them for premium flights.

SkyTeam

Thanks to the ITA status match from earlier this year, I’ve enjoyed SkyTeam Elite Plus status for the last few months.

And while I can’t use it on the current SAS million-mile challenge (more about that in last week’s newsletter), I have used it to enjoy perks on my 10+ Garuda Indonesia flights this year.

Honestly, though, I’m not a huge fan of SkyTeam… 😬

I’ve flown most airlines in most alliances, and SkyTeam airlines have always disappointed me the most.

Even in the last week of flying eight SkyTeam airlines, EVERY flight has been late, the planes and seats have been underwhelming, and other than Garuda, they’re not really convenient for me to fly.

But also… my ITA status is valid through 2026 anyway… so no need. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Oneworld

And now we get to the good part… Oneworld.

This year, I’ve flown with Cathay Pacific eight times, Japan Airlines twice, and Qatar Airways seven times.

And I gotta say, having Oneworld Emerald status (through the British Airways status match) was AMAZING.

I feel like Oneworld has some of the best ultra-premium airlines with urea-premium products, like Qatar Airways Qsuites, which I was lucky enough to fly back in March.

But more importantly, I found that the perks I got while flying in economy were FANTASTIC.

Hell, just two days ago, I got to access the Cathay FIRST-CLASS lounge while flying economy through Hong Kong. 👇

The lounge has an a la carte restaurant (all free, with fancy champagne), showers, a full spa (also free, of course), and is huge.

Being able to access it while in economy makes the experience so much better, and the same goes for the top-notch Qatar lounges in Doha.

Furthermore, both Qatar and Cathay gave me special service on board the planes, even in economy.

Flight attendants would regularly check on me, give me extra food, block seats in my row to give me more space, leave an amenity kit on my seat before boarding, and more.

Knowing that I can get good treatment and good lounge access with British Airways, American, and more really makes me want to go for Oneworld status in 2025…

But I’ll tell you how I plan on doing that in a future newsletter. 😉

For the rest of you, you can decide which alliance you like the most and aim for status with airlines like Delta (SkyTeam), United (Star Alliance), or American Airlines (Oneworld).

✈️ Buy LifeMiles with a 180% bonus

If there’s one thing you should know by now from reading Daily Drop, it’s that buying miles can often be a better deal than you might think.

That’s often the case with programs like Hyatt, IHG, and now… Avianca LifeMiles.

Right now, you can buy LifeMiles with up to a ridiculous 180% bonus. The offer is targeted, and I was personally offered a 160% bonus… which is still great.

Here’s why this could be a good deal:

Although LifeMiles tragically devalued its program last month, it still offers some of the best sweet spots in the biz.

One of those sweet spots is flying from the U.S. to the U.K. and Ireland for just 45,000 miles in business class on United. 👇

Normally, buying those 45,000 LifeMiles would cost $1,485 without any sale.

Now, if you spend $1,716, you’ll get 135,200 miles, enough to book this business-class flight THREE times.

In this case, you’re effectively buying three business-class flights from the U.S. to Europe for about $572 each.

This is an EXCELLENT deal, considering United usually sells these flights for around $2,000. 👇

So here’s the bottom line:

Avianca is selling their miles with up to a 180% bonus until November 19th, which isn’t long…

If you fly on Star Alliance airlines like United often and want an effective discount on expensive cash flights, this is a unique and easy way to do so.

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That’s all for today, my friends! I hope you enjoyed this week’s editions of Daily Drop, and I look forward to writing to you again on Monday.

Take care, and have a great weekend ❤️

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