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Imagine booking a flight with points and miles — and walking away with more than just a free trip. What if your award travel also pushed you closer to getting elite status perks like free upgrades, lounge access, and more?
While earning elite status credit on travels you fund with points and miles sounds too good to be true, four airlines actually offer just that.
Let's take a look at the airlines that offer elite status credits on award travel.
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Earn Tier Points on Virgin Atlantic Award Flights
Virgin Atlantic was the first airline to allow travelers to earn elite status credit on award travel. Since 2020, Flying Club members have been able to earn Tier Points on award flights operated by Virgin Atlantic.
For each Virgin Atlantic flight you book with Virgin points, you'll earn a set number of Tier Points. The number of Tier Points you'll bank doesn't depend on how far you fly or how much you spend on Virgin's award taxes and fees — but solely on the cabin you fly in.
Here's how many Virgin Atlantic tier points you will earn on award travel:
- Economy: 25 Tier Points per flight
- Premium Economy: 50 Tier Points per flight
- Upper Class (Business Class): 100 Tier Points per flight
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Silver, the airline's entry-level status tier, is obtained after earning 400 tier points in a calendar year. You could reach Flying Club Silver status after just four one-way award flights booked in Upper Class.
And if you're wondering, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club elite status credits earned on award travel post really fast. On a recent award flight between Washington, D.C. (IAD) and London (LHR), the Tier Points I earned were deposited in my account within a few hours of touching down.
Earn Delta MQDs on Award Travel Booked With SkyMiles
Delta followed suit not long after Virgin Atlantic started handing out Tier Points for award travel. In the program's current state, Delta SkyMiles members can book award travel on Delta and its partner airlines and earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) after flying. The one exception, though, is that these rewards don't apply to Basic Economy tickets.
For those unfamiliar with Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs), this point is important: MQDs are the key to earning SkyMiles elite status. Currently, it's the only metric that matters.
Delta awards MQDs on award travel based on a simple formula. Take the number of miles you redeem, divide by 100, and that's what will be deposited into your account. For example, if you book a Delta award flight that costs 20,000 SkyMiles, you'll wind up with $200 MQDs. The same goes for partner flights booked with SkyMiles, too.
If you're considering booking award travel on Delta, remember that the airline offers a 15% discount on most Delta flights bookable with SkyMiles. In other words, you can parlay big savings on your award ticket into Delta elite status, provided you have an eligible Delta credit card. That's the best of both worlds.
- Earn 80,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Enjoy a $0 introductory Annual Fee for the first year, then $150.
- Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card Members get 15% off when using miles to book Award Travel on Delta flights through delta.com and the Fly Delta app. Discount not applicable to partner-operated flights or to taxes and fees.
- $200 Delta Flight Credit: After you spend $10,000 in purchases on your Card in a calendar year, you can receive a $200 Delta Flight Credit to use toward future travel.
- Earn 2X Miles on Delta purchases, at U.S. Supermarkets and at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S. Earn 1X Miles on all other eligible purchases.
- You can check your first bag free on Delta flights, saving up to $70 on a round-trip Delta flight per person. For a family of four that's a potential savings of up to $280 per round-trip flight.
- Receive Zone 5 Priority Boarding on Delta flights; board early, stow your carry-on bag and settle in sooner.
- $100 Delta Stays Credit: Get up to $100 back per year as a statement credit after using your Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card to book prepaid hotels or vacation rentals through Delta Stays on delta.com.
- Take up to $50 off the cost of your flight for every 5,000 miles you redeem with Pay with Miles when you book on delta.com.
- Receive a 20% savings in the form of a statement credit on eligible Delta in-flight purchases after using your Card.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- With Send & Split®, you can send money and split your Card purchases with any other Venmo or PayPal user, directly from the Amex App. Enroll today.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 2X miles per dollar spent on purchases made directly with Delta
- 2X miles per dollar spent at U.S. supermarkets
- 2X miles per dollar at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.
- 1X miles on all other eligible purchases
Earn MileagePlus Qualifying Activity on United Award Flights
Thankfully, more than just SkyTeam airlines offer elite status credits on award travel. United Airlines does too, by offering Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) and Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) on award travel. However, unlike Delta, these earnings don't apply to award flights on partners; you can only earn elite status credits on flights booked with MileagePlus miles and operated by United and United Express.
To help you with your quest for United MileagePlus elite status, United offers 1 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) per 100 miles you redeem, ignoring the taxes and fees. That means an award flight costing 10,000 United miles rewards 100 PQP. On top of that, you'll also collect one Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) per United or United Express segment you fly.
If you're booking awards for others, note that the PQP and PQF earned on award travel will go to the MileagePlus member who flies the award flight — not the member who redeemed miles.
Earn Alaska Airlines Elite-Qualifying Miles on Award Flights
The newcomer to the list of airlines that offer elite status credits on award travel is Alaska Airlines. In a string of changes to the Mileage Plan program, Alaska started awarding Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs) award travel beginning on January 1, 2025. That's a big deal if you want to earn Alaska elite status this year.
Mileage Plan members can earn 1 EQM for every mile flown on award travel — in any cabin. Better yet, you'll earn EQMs on all flights — both on Alaska Airlines and its dozens of partner airlines. That means you can earn EQMs when using Mileage Plan miles to book American Airlines flights, Qatar Qsuite, and so on. That's a sweet cherry on top of an excellent award.
To illustrate how this works, here's a short list of example itineraries containing the EQMs you can earn on an Alaska award ticket:
- Wilmington (ILM) to Washington, D.C. (DCA) on American Airlines: Fly 319 miles, get 319 Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs).
- Book this award from 4,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Amsterdam (AMS) on American Airlines: Fly 3,736 miles, get 3,736 Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs).
- Book this award from 27,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Malé, Maldives (MLE) via Doha (DOH) on Qatar Airways: Fly 8,759 miles, get 8,759 Elite-Qualifying Miles (EQMs).
- Book this award from 42,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
The further you fly on Alaska Airlines and its partners, the more EQMs you'll earn. So, you might want to really stretch the bands of Alaska's partner award chart to really maximize these earnings.
Related: 7 Top Alaska Award Chart Sweet Spots for 2025
Bottom Line
Opinions on airline elite status nowadays are a mixed bag. To some, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. These travelers may be better suited by carrying an airline credit card with a sub-$100 annual fee to get perks like free checked bags and preferred boarding.
However, to other travelers, elite status benefits like lounge access and even an occasional premium cabin upgrade make flying that much more fun.
Over the past few years, airlines have made earning elite status easier. You can even earn elite status without flying, thanks to partnerships between loyalty programs and elite status credits on credit card spending. A few airlines have even adopted the practice of offering elite status credits for award travel. This new option may make earning elite status even easier for high-earning points and miles travelers.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card (Rates & Fees)
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