The airline status match family has welcomed another member, and this time it’s a rather obscure one: Philippine Airlines.
- Supports status matches from a large number of airlines
- Match to Philippine Airlines Elite or Premier Elite status
- Application fee of US$199 / US$349
- Status is valid until February 2028
Elite status comes with benefits including priority check-in and boarding, additional baggage allowance and business class lounge access for the member. Premier Elite gets a higher baggage allowance, and can also bring one guest to the business class lounge access.
Of course, these benefits are only available when flying Philippine Airlines, so there doesn’t seem to be much practical value at first glance, especially considering that the application fee isn’t exactly cheap.
But here’s where things get interesting: Philippine Airlines confirmed back in June that it will be joining oneworld, with formal membership currently expected in the second half of 2027.
It’s still unclear exactly how the existing status levels will map across. Based purely on the tier hierarchy, Elite and Premier Elite would presumably correspond to Ruby and Sapphire. However, looking at the actual benefits, mapping them to Sapphire and Emerald would arguably make more sense.
One thing we can reference is Oman Air, who also joined Oneworld recently. So far they’ve only got two elite membership tiers which map to Ruby and Sapphire respectively – their program doesn’t have an Emerald tier.
The status match threshold is very low, and basically any airline other than oneworld carriers is fair game. If you want Premier Elite, there are some statuses that can be used:
- Singapore Airlines Gold
- Turkish Airlines Elite
- SAS Gold
- Air France-KLM Gold
- Lufthansa Senator
- Virgin Atlantic Gold
Even an easyJet Plus membership, which can be had for £249, can be matched to Elite status.
If that US$349 really does get you oneworld Emerald, then even if you only get to enjoy it for six months, it might be possible to get your money’s worth after a few uses. But this is very much a gamble, so I wouldn’t particularly recommend jumping on it.
One final thing to be aware of: according to the terms, there is no soft landing when the status expires — you get dropped straight back to the bottom. Kenya Airways recently provided a painful reminder of what that looks like, with matched Platinum members being downgraded all the way back to the basic Ruby status.
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