Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
How to Get Elite Travel Perks Without Traveling Every Week or Overpaying
Wed, 05 Mar 2025
Learn when elite status is worth it, plus how to earn attractive airline and hotel perks even if you don’t constantly travel. Is elite status ever worth chasing? Should you stick to one airline or just try to book the best deal? Hosts Sally French and Meghan Coyle break down whether airline and hotel elite status is worth it, and how you can earn valuable perks without spending half your life on the road. But first, they break down the latest travel headlines, including Southwest flights on Expedia, Hyatt’s award category changes, and American Airlines’ new elite status earning period. Then, they cover the different ways to qualify for elite status — including credit cards and spending tips — and when it makes sense to stay loyal versus booking the best price. They explain how travelers can earn perks like free checked bags and upgrades without excessive flying, the trade-offs of airline loyalty, and why spending strategically on a co-branded credit card can help. They also discuss hotel elite status, covering which hotel programs offer the best perks, how to get automatic status through credit cards, and when elite status may not be worth it. Resources discussed in this episode: World of Hyatt Announces Category Changes for 151 Properties The Best Travel Credit Card Welcome Bonus Offers Right Now The Best Airline Elite Status for 2025 The Best Hotel Elite Status for 2025 The 5 Best Credit Cards with Hotel Status In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: airline elite status, hotel elite status, how to get airline elite status, is elite status worth it, best airline loyalty programs, how to get hotel elite status, best travel credit cards, airline loyalty programs, travel perks, hotel upgrades, how to get free hotel upgrades, best airline for frequent flyers, free checked bags, credit card travel perks, best hotel loyalty programs, airline status benefits, how to qualify for airline status, how to get airline upgrades, is hotel elite status worth it, hotel status through credit cards, airline status vs best price flights, best ways to earn loyalty points, how to get free flights, online travel agencies, and when to book direct vs OTA.
Chapter 1: Is Elite Status Worth Chasing for Occasional Travelers?
Megan, I know you have a lot of weddings to travel to this year. My question for you is, will you have elite status in time?
Yes, I actually already earned my elite status for this year and I'm already using it for wedding travel. I just got back from the first bachelorette party over the weekend in Austin and I flew American Airlines on the way there, which is the one I have elite status in, but Southwest on the way back.
Southwest? I thought I was a Southwest stan here.
Well, you know, sometimes the flights are more convenient on Southwest and I could fly to a smaller airport and take the same flight and the same Uber home as my friends. So listeners, do as I do and build a healthy relationship with your elite status, not a toxic one.
And you know what I say, I have no problem cheating on an airline with Southwest.
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Sally French. And I'm Megan Coyle. And we're the travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip. Today, we're talking about whether elite status is actually worth it.
But first, let's take a look at some of the news in travel this week.
And just a heads up, in this episode, we'll talk about a few credit card companies that are nerd wallet partners, but that doesn't influence how we discuss them. All right, let's dive into the news.
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Chapter 2: How Does Southwest's Availability on Expedia Affect Travelers?
Well, speaking of Southwest, our first news item is that Southwest flights are now available to book on Expedia. That's as of last week. This is huge because it's the first time that Southwest flights are showing up in some search results in an online travel agency, which we call an OTA. It's also showing up in some Expedia-owned OTAs like Travelocity, Hotwire, Orbitz, and Cheap Tickets.
Yeah, remember when Southwest flights didn't even show up in Google flights? Oof, I know, dark times. That was tough. But that all changed in May of last year, and I'm so glad they got the technology working for that.
So glad. Anytime you can do more comparison shopping, that just means that travelers like us can make more informed decisions and, of course, book cheaper flights.
Just remember, booking with OTAs like Expedia does sometimes add some complexity to your travel. Like if you need to change or cancel your reservation, you'll have to deal with that middleman. At least on flights, though, you will still be able to earn Southwest points if you book a Southwest flight through an OTA.
That's not the case for hotels, and it's usually better to just book directly for your hotel stays.
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Chapter 3: What Are the Implications of Hyatt's Award Category Changes?
In other hotel news, Hyatt just announced its annual award category changes. Around this time of year, Hyatt will typically adjust the award category that some of its properties fall into. So low award categories cost less points per night and high award categories cost more points per night.
Yeah, Hyatt has this great award chart that lays out the peak, off-peak, and standard points you'll need for each category. Most hotels have gotten rid of their award charts and they now use dynamic pricing. So it's really hard to estimate how many points you might need for a night. It depends on demand and all sorts of things. But Hyatt actually tells you how many points you're going to need.
This is really nice because it just makes it so much easier to plan in advance. You know how many points each hotel is going to cost. Another nice thing about Hyatt is that they actually do this courtesy of telling you when they are going to change the category of their properties. So we know which categories are changing now, but that won't kick in until later.
Of course, the bad news is that although 33 properties are getting cheaper, 118 are actually going to get more expensive when you book on points.
Womp womp. Yeah, this happens every year. Usually most hotels are moving up a category. And especially this year, lots of Japan properties are moving up a category. They're getting more expensive to book on points, probably because the interest in Japan travel is still so high. I know. I feel like everyone I know is in Japan right now. Yeah, I'm glad I went way earlier. I went a few years ago.
I'm like, whew, all right, I'm good for a few years.
Yeah, but there is some good news here. For example, I love the ability to plan in advance. One of my best friends from third grade is getting married in Napa this fall. So I was actually happy to see one of Hyatt's properties, the Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa, is going down from a category six to a category five.
I know you have tons of wedding travel yourself, and I'm excited that this will make my wedding travel a little cheaper. That property goes from 25,000 to 20,000 points per night.
The other bright spot here is that these changes aren't going into effect until March 25th. So you still have some time to lock in those lower redemption rates before it officially goes up. And you also don't have to wait to book the ones that are going down in price. You could book those now. And if the redemption rate goes down, you'll actually get a refund of the points difference.
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Chapter 4: How to Earn Airline Elite Status Without Frequent Flying?
Everyone assumes that the only way to earn elite status with airlines and hotels is by traveling all the time, being that person who flies multiple times a week or spends more time living in a hotel than their actual house.
You know, I totally thought that was the case. Before I got into travel, I would look at these requirements to earn elite status off of flying alone, and I was like, who is actually getting this unless they work in a job that forces them to fly every week? Even getting something like that measly silver status felt completely unattainable.
But as you'll learn from today's episode, that's hardly the case. You don't have to be a road warrior and stay 50 nights in hotels. And I will say for myself, I know better now. I actually have hotel elite status in three different programs. And based on the number of videos I see you posting at the gym, I know you're not actually spending that many nights away from the gym. involved.
You are correct, Megan. I definitely spend way more time in the gym than in any hotel room. Yet weirdly, I do not have any elite status in the gym.
Weird. You should. My size definitely correlates with gym elite status. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now I have two types of hotel elite statuses and I think we might have some overlap. So I'm excited to go into some of the different strategies people might not know about.
And since we are slightly cynical about this, we'll dive into the situations where elite status is actually not all it's cracked up to be.
So before we get started, we should mention that we're going to talk about some specific terms and benefits and offers available on certain credit cards, but these can change. So make sure you check a credit card's current offer before you go applying for anything.
Especially future people who are listening to this way far away from now, of course, these offers can always change. Another thing to mention is that we will be talking about a few credit cards from companies that are NerdWallet partners. I just want to let you know, the lawyers make me say this, but that does not influence how you and I, Megan, discuss them. Okay, so should we dive in?
Let's do it. Starting with elite status on airlines. Back in the old days, you would have had to fly a lot to get airline elite status, like every week a lot.
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Chapter 5: What Are the Benefits and Trade-offs of Airline Loyalty Programs?
I love those free preferred seats and even the occasional upgrade to business class.
I want to know, do you actually get upgraded? And I don't want this podcast to be all about me and my non-status. So since you do say you have American status, let's talk about it, and then we'll get into some other airlines maybe on a future episode.
Okay, so our team at NerdWallet wrote about some of the best airline elite statuses for 2025. And we can link to that in the show notes so you guys can check it out. The most important thing to know about airline elite status in general is that there is a big range. Like the lower tier elite statuses might get you like $10 worth of benefits, like those free drinks you were talking about.
And top tier statuses can be worth thousands of dollars. They could be worth over $4,000 if you have the very, very top status.
Yes, but it even seems so hard to get those low tier statuses. And then it's like, yes, I got like my one free drink that was worth $10. So Megan, tell me, how did you get elite status? Because I actually don't think you're traveling that much on American Airlines, right?
I get it partly from flying, but also partly from credit card spending.
Okay, that makes sense. And this is an important strategy that most people don't realize. Many airlines, including American, Delta, and United, let you earn elite status not just by flying, but by spending on a co-branded credit card.
Yep. So for American Airlines, you have to earn loyalty points to earn elite status, and you earn them through flying, spending with their partners, shopping through the online portal, or spending on an American Airlines credit card.
I hit gold status through a combination of sort of all of those, taking some American flights and also some flights on their partners, like their One World Alliance partner, Alaska Airlines.
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Chapter 6: How Can Credit Card Spending Help Achieve Elite Status?
Megan, the lowest of the low. Yeah, I know.
And it takes a lot. It really does to get to platinum, platinum pro, any of the fancy tiers. I will say with gold status, I am eligible for upgrades, but all those people that have the higher statuses, they get priority. Right. So they will get upgraded to business class first, along with their companions, which like feels so unfair sometimes.
Totally, totally. The upgrades go first to the people with the highest amount of status. So even if you're gold, it's not guaranteed. You're an upgrade, especially if you have all the platinums, the executive platinums in front of you.
Yeah. And I'll be honest, I get upgraded probably twice a year. Okay. One is usually some random long flight and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. This is such a lifesaver. It always comes in right when I need it. Like it's a red eye or something. And then the other upgrade I usually get once a year is like on a one hour flight to San Francisco.
So you get this big seat, but you're like, I literally, I don't need to sleep. I don't really get any good food.
They can't even pass out the champagne because they're like, the flight is too short. We can't even do in-flight service. Yeah, exactly. Basically, the TLDR is if you have a lower status, like on American, that could be something like gold.
It does technically come with free upgrades, but since Platinum and above get the priority, just keep in mind, even upgrades are quite rare, even if you have that lower status here.
And that's the case with any airline, like not just American, this happens on every single one.
Right, I think you are proving my point, Megan. This is why I don't try that hard to even chase elite status anyway, because sometimes elite status gives you nice perks, early boarding, check bag fees, if you know that's something that you do is check bags. But the real perks like that first class upgrade are doled out to the people with the highest elite status levels first.
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