Earlier this year I posted a promotion where Virgin America was giving a status match to those who had elite status with United and American Airlines. For those who fly Virgin America or looking to give it a try, this is a great way to get status easily and the requirements to maintain status were not that bad either.
Well this promotion is set to expire at the end of this month on April 30, but the good news is that are now offering the same promo again and including Southwest. Unfortunately, if you already requested the status match from the prior promotion you cannot partake in this new offer. With this new status match offer, your status will last for a few months until June 30, 2013 and you will also have an opportunity to do a status challenge to earn the desired status through the end of the year.
The best part of this newly announced promo is that Southwest has joined the efforts and if you are a companion pass holder you qualify. If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you are well aware that you do not actually need to fly much to actually earn the companion pass.
Do partake in the status much you must email Virgin America at statusmatch@virginamerica.com with your Elevate number. If you are not a current Elevate member, you can join here. You also must include one of the following:
- A copy or screenshot of your most recent mileage summary showing your name and current elite level.
- Or, a copy of your membership card that identifies your name and current elite level United Airlines, American Airlines or Southwest Airlines frequent flyer program.
Equivalent status match:
Elevate Silver Status Perks:
- Point Bonus: 25% bonus
- Main Cabin Express seat selection: Can select at time of booking
- Complimentary upgrades to Main Cabin Select: 12 hours in advance
- Priority check-in, boarding, security
- Complimentary day passes to the Virgin America airport lounge at LAX: 2 day passes
- Priority reservation line, live chat, and email: Silver dedicated line
- Take 25% off any non-refundable Main Cabin ticket: 1 tickets per year
- Complimentary checked bag weighing up to 50 lbs.:Â 1 free
- Waived Call Center Service Fee
Elevate Gold Status Perks:
- Point Bonus: 100% bonus
- Main Cabin Express seat selection: Can select at time of booking
- Complimentary upgrades to Main Cabin Select: 24 hours in advance
- Priority check-in, boarding, security
- Complimentary day passes to the Virgin America airport lounge at LAX: 3 day passes
- Priority reservation line, live chat, and email: Gold dedicated line
- Take 25% off any non-refundable Main Cabin ticket: 2 tickets per year
- Complimentary checked bag weighing up to 50 lbs.:Â 3 free
- Waived Elevate Redeposit Fee
- Waived Call Center Service Fee
Now, I’ve actually never taken an Virgin Atlantic flight, but the perks seem to be pretty decent, especially the 25% off a ticket that you get annually.
this status will last through June 30th, but Virgin is offering a status challenge to allow you to keep this status through the end of the year. You must fly a certain number of points by June 30th (described below). Also, if you have the Virgin America Visa Signature credit card, you can be accelerated even faster.
- To extend Elevate Silver status: Earn 8,000 status points; If you are a credit card member, you will only need 3,000 status points
- To extend Elevate Gold status: Earn 12,000 status points; If you are a credit card member, you will only need 5,000 status points
To maintain status, this requires only a few roundtrip flights, which is great. To learn more about the promotion take a look at this Virgin America site. Keep in mind that they state it takes 7 to 14 days to update your Elevate status.
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In the fine print: *The following restrictions will apply to Elevate Status Benefits available during the Status Match period through June 30, 2013: a) Matched members will not receive 25% off personal discount codes. b) Matched members will receive one complimentary day pass to the Virgin America airport lounge at LAX. c) Matched members may not have access to all reciprocal benefits on Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia that require the member to present their membership card.
Here is the BIG question… Who else is currently doing a status match that will match your Virgin Atlantic status? With this game, you could essentially earn VA gold with companion pass, then status match with another airline due to your gold status with VA…
This is VX gold not VA gold…
either way, question still stands
This program seems to be expanding somewhat. I received Elevate Gold Status Perks while staying at a popular North Seattle hotel.