Marriott and Singapore Airlines launched a new reciprocal status match/challenge opportunity last week.
Those with Singapore Airlines status can match to Marriott status, but that element isn’t particularly interesting because the highest Marriott Bonvoy elite status level you can match to is Gold, although there is a subsequent status challenge element that can get you an upgrade to Marriott Platinum status.
The more interesting part of the partnership is the ability to earn status with Singapore Airlines if you have Marriott elite status already and the subsequent challenge to get you even higher status. That can in turn get you Star Alliance Gold status after taking four flights that can cost ~$450 or less.
This opportunity will be most pertinent for those who have Marriott Platinum status or higher. That’s because the initial status match gets you Krisflyer Silver status for 12 months, with the ability to upgrade to Krisflyer Gold status after taking four flights with Singapore Airlines within six months of linking your Marriott and Singapore accounts.
I’d initially thought that the cheapest way to take four flights on Singapore metal would be in Asia. After all, surely there’d be some kind of route where you could make two round trips either on the same day or consecutive days for a low cost. As it turns out, not so much. The cheapest flights I found were ~$150 each way, so a total of ~$600 for the necessary four flights.
There is a cheaper option though and it’s one that might be a little more achievable depending on your travel plans. Singapore Airlines has a fifth freedom route between Milan, Italy and Barcelona, Spain and one way flights cost $100-$125 each way, meaning you can complete the four necessary flights for ~$450. What makes this option even more appealing is the fact that you can complete the flights over the course of two consecutive days.
If this is something that interests you, you might want to book ASAP as seats seem to be getting booked up quickly; I suspect numerous people are already booking this type of routing. For example, I found what were – in effect – round trip flights on both March 18 and March 19 two days ago, but when going to take screenshots last night for this post, the flight from Barcelona to Milan on the 18th was no longer available.
Pricing is also a little more expensive now. Two days ago, the Barcelona to Milan route was pricing out at ~$98, but it’s now increased to $120.
It is still possible to find some dates that work though. For example, you could fly Milan to Barcelona on January 21 for $102, then take the flight back to Milan later that morning for $120.
That exact same routing is then available the following day on January 22.
That’s a total of $444 over the course of the two days, with only one hotel night needed in Milan between.
Something important to be aware of is that these flights aren’t bookable for a same day turn as a round trip. You’d therefore need to book them as separate one way flights. The good thing is that the risk of missing the return flight should be minimal – if not non-existent – in the event that the Milan to Barcelona leg gets delayed. The same day return flight from Barcelona to Milan will be on the same plane, so that flight isn’t going to be able to depart before your arrival.
As you can see, there’s only an hour or so scheduled between the flights each day. Both of these cities are in the Schengen zone which means that you shouldn’t have to go through passport control on arrival, even if you’re traveling on a US passport as you’ll have already cleared immigration when arriving in Milan (or wherever you’d originally flown into in Europe).
Needless to say, you’ll also need to account for the cost of getting to Milan in the first place. However, if you already had a trip planned there – or have a trip to Europe planned in general and so can easily and cheaply position to Milan – this could be worth considering if you could get good value from Star Alliance Gold status which is what you’d get courtesy of the Krisflyer Gold status after the four flights.
Why would you be interested in Star Alliance Gold status? Here are some of the key benefits:
- Airport lounge access
- Extra baggage allowance
- Priority check-in
- Priority boarding
- Priority standby
- Priority baggage handling
- Fast track security and immigration lanes
The airport lounge access could be of particular appeal for those who fly United frequently. Even if you have United elite status, you don’t get access to United Clubs via your status, whereas you would if you earn Krisflyer Gold (and thus Star Alliance Gold) as a result of this Singapore status challenge.
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Don’t most people who would be willing to do a run already holding *Gold+ anyway.
I am *S but hold a UA credit card that gives me most of this for less than $400.
I LOVE the idea of it, but not going out of my way to achieve. Now if it was lifetime status, i’d be heading to SIN or BCN tonight.
the fine print on the website says connecting flights count separately so 1 CGK-KUL (round trip) = 4 flights for ~$300
also, the fifth freedom flights are in the non-schengen gates so you’d likely have to exit and re-enter immigration at MXP but wouldn’t need anything in transit at BCN if you did a straight return
Does matching Marriott titanium to Krisflyer to get silver only makes sense? Not going to travel overseas but flying united a lot and loosing titanium status in February. Can I then match silver krisflyer status back to united silver? I will be loosing united silver since platinum status with Marriott will not give me this benefit? Thoughts?
united isn’t going to status match to their alliance partner
$444 plus cost of hotel night plus all of the time and energy wasted just to get lounge access and fast track security at some airports? lol…Hard pass for me. It would however easily work for people who already regularly fly SQ all the time.