Virgin Atlantic has been offering status match opportunities since many years ago, with the terms evolving over the time. As British Airways is tightening their status qualification rules, Virgin has decided to add an extra carrot on a stick.
The general status match terms are:
- Open to elite members from 11 airline programs
- You can’t have participated in the last five years
- For Silver, you need to have a VS booking in any class
- For Gold, you need to have a VS booking in premium or upper class
- Once approved, the status will be valid for 12 months
In addition, UK residents who apply by February 14th are entered into a prize draw where five winners will get one million Virgin points each. Note that the status match itself doesn’t have any residency requirement.
The 11 programs are: British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, Iberia, American Airlines, United, Air Canada, Hawaiian, Emirates, South African Airways and Air India. Matching criteria are not generous – for example BA Silver and Lufthansa Senator only gets you Virgin Silver, although their benefits are pretty much on a par with Virgin Gold already.
One interesting exception is Air Canada, as their lowly 25K is enough for Virgin Silver already, and 25K is free as long as you have Marriott Titanium status,. Virgin Silver (Skyteam Elite) gets you priority check-in / boarding / seat selection plus extra baggage allowance when flying Skyteam airlines.
The catch is you must take a Virgin flight (can be cash or reward booking), and given their limited network it could be costly. According to the small print, your status will be downgraded if you cancel the booking – on the contrary a friend and I managed to keep our status years ago but do not count on it.
Once approved, your status upgrade will be performed 72 hours before the scheduled departure of your qualifying booking.
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