Last month, I wrote how it was raining status matches that I happened to be eligible for. With my status dropping in the British Airways Executive Club, I thought it was time to see if I might get approved somewhere else.
Sweden’s Scandinavian Airlines and Italy’s ITA Airways were both offering status matches into their programmes. Having no reason not to, I decided to give both a try and see what happened.
Status Matches Approved
I applied for both matches on 17 July and the most efficient at processing were the good people at ITA. When I checked online, it said “Status Match Accepted” on 25 July and the following day I could see it in my account.
Keeping Status
Happily, ITA had no requirements to keep the status, but I certainly will head over to Italy to give them a go. I generally like speeding through the airport and using the lounges, so why not really.
With SAS, I am going to have to fly. In order to keep my new status through to 30 September 2026, I need to fly on five flights before 31 March. This is quite straightforward, so I plan to do just that.
Overall Thoughts
It’s certainly nice to have those status matches approved. What is fun is that even a cursory look shows the SAS and ITA apps are much nicer than the British Airways app, which doesn’t even have the ability to add your card to your iPhone wallet.
Looks like I am going to be directing my spend to these other airlines for a bit. It will be nice to see what they offer and what they are like compared to British Airways and oneworld.
Have you ever switched airlines due to a status match? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by BriYYZ on Flickr via Wikimedia Commons.
“Sweden’s Scandinavian Airlines” is no longer really Sweden’s. It’s Denmark’s SAS. I refer to it as CPH Air since that is what it really has become in terms of long haul flights and is becoming in other ways too.
I applied for the ITA status match on 24 July but haven’t heard a peep since then. I just logged in to see if I had missed the email but no luck so far. I’m glad yours are running a bit smoother.
I’m sure it’ll come through just fine. I imagine they had plenty of interest in it, really.
Congrats. Looking forward to more SkyTeam/Star Alliance reviews.
Yes, that’s the plan!