The Emirates Status Match

Really, there’s a Skywards Emirates status match challenge available? If access is granted to its business class lounges in Dubai (DXB), it might be worth it.

But how did this discovery come about, and more importantly, what’s a status match?

A few years ago, to invite frequent fliers to sign-up for its brand-new Volare program, Italy’s ITA Airways offered its own status match.

In short, a status match refers to an airline (or hotel/car rental company) providing a way for you to “match your status” that you hold with a competitor. I’m only familiar with the airline version, so to break that down further:

• I have silver status with United. I submit a screenshot/recent flight history to Delta. After a few days, I get Delta Silver. Some airlines give a few months trial period, others a year (or more). Sometimes, you’ll even get a bump up in airline status.
• Some airlines charge for a status match. LATAM (based throughout South America) is one. Royal Air Maroc is another. They don’t want to you to just coast in without ever intending to fly with them. Additionally, they might want you to fly a couple of legs on their metal.
• Lastly, we’ve got the Emirates status match category. No fee is charged, but there’s a challenge.
  Here’s the challenge that was e-mailed to me (after submitting a screenshot to their online chat function)–

Option #1: Two round-trip Emirates flights in Economy class (Flex or Flex Plus fare)

OR

Option #2: One round-trip Emirates flight in Business or First class.

As someone who seldom takes round-trip flights, I wanted to clarify something. Would this work in a hypothetical Riyadh RUH – Dubai DXB – Tokyo HND business class scenario?

Here’s the mind-numbing response:

“RUH-DXB-HND is a one-way flight. This is not considered as two flights. Therefore, if you fly this route in business, you’ll need to make another trip such as HND-DXB-RUH in business to qualify.”

Regardless of how you go for it, the rewars is 12 months of Emirates Silver.

Finally, you might be asking, why wouldn’t they match my ITA Airways Club Executive to Skywards Emirates Platinum?

This time, the customer service representative gave a reasonable response. It diminishes the experience for those who are actually flying Emirates to hit Skywards Gold/Platinum.