Taking stock of the hunt for elite status at the midway point

A few days ago, we passed the end of the first half of the year. I published my hotel elite status plans for 2025 back in January and then in March I questioned whether I should go after Alaska or American Airlines elite status. As we are now at the midway point in 2025, I wanted to take stock of where I am with elite status and what I’ll be chasing for the remainder of the year.

The hunt for elite status is a game I enjoy (even if it doesn’t make sense)

Contrary to popular explanation, loyalty programs were not designed to reward your loyalty. Instead, loyalty programs exist in order to influence behavior. In short, their purpose is to influence you to make irrational decisions.

Whether it is paying more than you otherwise would for a flight or hotel or a cup of coffee or encouraging you to spend money that you wouldn’t have in the name of “saving more”, the whole idea of a loyalty program is to drive you to do things that pad the profits of the shareholders.

And it works. It works incredibly well. American Airlines makes more money selling miles to the banks, shopping portals and other partners that “reward you” than they do selling plane tickets. Loyalty programs are big business.

Chasing loyalty program elite status, at its core, often does not “make sense”. As someone who is primarily a leisure traveler, it arguably makes even less sense for me than it would for a regular business traveler.

But for many of us, figuring out how to maximize experiences or minimize the “house edge” is a hobby. Like any other hobby, it isn’t entirely rational, but rather it is enjoyable. As a point of comparison, it isn’t uncommon for people to be so fiercely loyal to a group of professional athletes as to spend money on season tickets, apparel, and special streaming services to catch every game. That doesn’t necessarily make sense, but if you have the love of the game, the game can be both irresistible and enjoyable.

My game is miles and points. In the same way that, as a kid, I could quote you how many rebounds per game the backup power forward on an obscure NBA team averaged, I can now fire off award chart sweet spots, milestone benefits, and credit card bonus categories. I just traded one hobby for another.

What I love about this hobby is the way it offers experiences that I never would have otherwise had. From lounge access to extra legroom seats to massive suites, the benefits of “loyalty” have made my travels more comfortable, in some cases less expensive, and in many cases more memorable.

I certainly do spend time thinking about what I’m getting in exchange for my loyalty, but to some extent the answer is enjoyment. As a blogger, part of my job is knowing how these programs work and evaluating their benefits, so I have a bit more reason yet to chase elite status that I don’t necessarily “need”. Before I dive into the various statuses and how I am chasing or planning to chase them, I wanted to recognize that it will not make sense for most people to chase status at all, never mind multiple statuses. You should certainly consider whether the juice is worth the squeeze before you buy the fruit.

That out of the way, on to my hotel and airline elite status progress so far this year . . .

Hotels

Hyatt: 37 nights by June 30th

When I wrote about my elite status plans for 2025, I was surprised to guestimate that I would likely have thirty-something elite nights by June. As it turns out, I was very close with my guestimate: I was at 37 elite nights in 2025 when the first half of the year ended on June 30th.

Those elite nights have come from a mixture of hotel nights (almost exclusively award stays) and credit card spend.

Just a few days into the second half of the year, my progress has continued. I am checking out this morning from two nights at a Hyatt Place and I’ll be checking into a Hyatt House tonight, which will put me at 40 nights just a few days into July. I have 5 more nights booked for a trip late this year, which would bring me to 45, but before that I expect that I will be earning elite nights as we mileage run the JetBlue 25 for 25 promotion in August. This week will have earned me the first level of the current Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, and Hyatt Studios promotion. In August, I expect to spend 5 more nights in qualifying properties to earn the full 16,000 bonus points from that promotion, which means that I should easily get to 50 elite nights this year between low-category Hyatt Place properties in August and existing travel plans late this year.

Furthermore, my wife and I three total Category 1-4 free night certificates that we can use this year and I expect that my wife’s renewal certificate would arrive in time to use it this year (keep in mind that since Hyatt free night certificates can be gifted, a certificate that she has earned can be gifted to me so that I earn the elite night credit when I use the certificate). If I use those 4 free night certificates on top of the travel I’ve already listed, I’ll be at 54 nights. I’ll look to bridge the gap (if one exists) with credit card spend since I earn 2 elite night credits for every $5K spent on my World of Hyatt credit card. I think it is more likely that I’ll naturally end up with five or six more hotel nights by the end of the year. I should easily requalify for Globalist status.

Interestingly, thanks to a mixture of credit card spend and nights where we have needed two rooms (and I have thus Guest of Honored my wife’s stay so a second room could have elite benefits), my wife sits at 19 elite nights with Hyatt this year. As things stand, she will also pick up 5 more nights late this year since we will be traveling with family and needing two rooms. That will put her at 24 elite nights. Her World of Hyatt credit card gives her an opportunity to earn an additional Category 1 to 4 free night certificate after $15K spend in a calendar year. She has about $8,000 in spending left to do on her Hyatt card for that extra annual free night certificate. That will earn her at least 2 more elite night credits (possibly 4 depending on where she was in her spending cycle for elite nights). That will bring her to 26 or 28 elite nights, plus it will add another free night certificate. Since we will be traveling for the entire month of August, we should be able to put a couple of nights in her name to get her to 30 elite nights by year end. At 30 elite nights, she will earn a Category 1-4 free night certificate plus a milestone reward to choose.

The question for us may end up being whether to chase 40 elite nights for her in order to pick up a Guest of Honor award and the chance to choose a suite upgrade award. If she hits 30 nights naturally, she would be ten nights short of that next milestone level. She could spend an additional $25K on a Hyatt card in order to earn 10 elite night credits, which will bring her to 40 total elite nights. At that milestone, she would get a Guest of Honor award and the chance to choose a suite upgrade award.

In other words, assuming our travels and normal credit card spend get her to 30 elite nights this year, she could stop there or spend an additional $25K on her card. If she spends that additional $25K, she’ll end up with 25K points (based on the card’s 1x base earning rate) plus a Guest of Honor award and a Suite Upgrade Award (thanks to 40-night milestone awards). That seems like a reasonable return on spend. In reality, she we may have enough travel that she needs less spend. I doubt that she’ll get to Globalist status, but I think she’ll end up at 40 nights with Hyatt.

Marriott: 41 nights

I started 2025 with 40 elite nights with Marriott thanks to holding a Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card (which offers both complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum status and 25 elite night credits) and a Marriott Bonvoy Business credit card (which offers 15 elite night credits). Note that elite night credits from having multiple consumer Marriott credit cards will not stack, but elite nights from a consumer card can stack with elite nights from a business credit card.

Beyond those automatic 40 nights, I have only spent 1 actual night in a Marriott hotel so far this year, putting me at 41 elite night credits.

However, I have 7 more Marriott nights booked so far this year and a 35K Free Night Certificate to use. After accounting for those 8 expected nights, I’ll get to 49 elite nights for the year. My Bonvoy Brilliant card will renew soon, so I expect to get an 85K free night certificate in a month or two. Since I’d earn a Choice Benefit at 50 elite nights, I’ll make sure to use that 85K free night certificate this year, which will bring me to 50 nights. Note that I don’t need to worry about getting to 50 in order to earn Platinum elite status since I currently have the Bonvoy Brilliant card, but I’ll be happy to get the choice benefit that comes with 50 nights.

On a related note, next year will be my 10th year with Platinum status or higher. I currently have 547 nights toward Lifetime Platinum. By the end of the year, I’ll be at 556. I’ll start next year with 40 elite nights once again thanks to holding the Bonvoy Brilliant card and Bonvoy Business card. I will then need 4 more nights this year or next year for Lifetime Platinum status. Once I get there, I will be happy to drop my Bonvoy Brilliant card and its $650 annual fee.

Other hotels

I have easy credit card elite status with Hilton, Wyndham, and IHG. I will maintain that credit card status, but I don’t worry at all about how many nights I spend with each of these chains. I have no plans to chase milestone rewards with Hilton or IHG.

Airlines

American Airlines: 28,000 LPs

I have earned a little over 28,000 American Airlines Loyalty Points this year, mostly through credit card spend. I said that I didn’t necessarily plan on chasing status with American Airlines, but it might happen nonetheless.

I surprisingly got excellent value out of our Aviator Silver companion certificates this year, so I decided to spend $20K again this year for a new certificate upon renewal. Plus, the Aviator Silver offers 5K bonus Loyalty Points with $20K spend and an additional 5K Loyalty Points at $40K spend and $50K spend. I’ll probably end up hitting the $40K threshold, which will put me at a bit over 45,000 Loyalty Points, more than enough for American Airlines Gold status.

I am a bit more interested in airline status now than I was a few months ago. That is due to my complete lack of confidence in Southwest Airlines. If Southwest announces a major change to the Companion Pass, I could see us switching gears and flying other airlines domestically, so status with American might come in handy.

The major question for me will be whether to push on for another 30,000 Loyalty Points earned via shopping portal shenanigans in order to reach Platinum status (oneworld Sapphire). I haven’t yet made up my mind, though if I use Avios for our 2025 team challenge, it might be useful to have oneworld Sapphire . . .

Alaska / Hawaiian: ?

This is weird: Both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines credit cards are now supposed to be earning 1 elite point for every $3 spent, and for many cardholders that seems to be working more or less as expected (reports are that elite credit tends to post around the 19th of the month following the month in which the spend was completed). However, neither my wife nor I have earned any elite credit for purchases on our Hawaiian Airlines credit cards despite starting purchases in April. I’m not sure what’s up with that. Both our Hawaiian accounts and our Alaska accounts show zero progress toward status despite purchase activity that should give us some progress.

I haven’t made enough purchases to earn elite status. However, as noted a few months ago, I have some long award tickets booked via Alaska Mileage Plan later this year that will almost earn me the first level of MVP elite status based on distance flown. Remember that Alaska is offering 1 elite mile per mile flown, even on award tickets and even when those award tickets are for travel on partner airlines. If the credit card spend issue gets resolved and we begin earning credit for spend, I’ll probably get to MVP status this year thanks mostly to award tickets booked on foreign partners.

JetBlue: “Member” (for now)

Well this one really came out of the, er, well, blue…..

I have no status with JetBlue yet, but I am hoping that changes soon. I’ll be taking a Monday Dunkin’ flight in a few days, so I should end up with Mosaic 1 status around the middle of July.

Then, in August, my family of four will make a run to complete most of the 25 destinations necessary to earn 25 years of Mosaic 1 status — an epic mileage run that should at least result in a few years of elite status. Hopefully, JetBlue either sticks around for the long haul or negotiates a deal to sell that includes honoring status for a long period of time.

While we have always liked JetBlue, we rarely fly them because they only serve two routes from our home airport (Albany, NY to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale). They could be useful for us for flying to the Caribbean, but we haven’t done much of that in recent years. Otherwise, since most routes run through Boston or New York JFK and JetBlue does not fly to those airports from our home airport (Albany-ALB), we just don’t end up flying them much.

That said, we have ended up with a trip or two to Florida each of the past several years. While we have been flying with Southwest due to the Companion Pass, recent rumblings indicate that the Companion Pass as we know it may be living on borrowed time. With a free checked bag, free seat selection, and the ability to select Even More seats at check-in, I could see us choosing JetBlue more often.

More importantly, I am excited about JetBlue’s partnership with United. While United doesn’t serve a large number of destinations from my home airport, they do offer several flights to their hubs at Chicago (ORD), Washington-Dulles (IAD), and Newark(EWR), meaning that I can get to much of their network in 1-stop. What’s more, United is often the cheapest option out of my home airport and I have a bunch of United TravelBank credit. With Mosaic 1 members set to enjoy a free checked bag and Economy Plus seating at check-in when traveling on United, I’ll be excited to have Mosaic 1 for as long as that partnership lasts.

Bottom line

While the hunt for elite status isn’t entirely sensical, I am pleasantly surprised at how much progress I’ve made so far this year without laser focus on any one program or status. JetBlue is by far the most surprising as they weren’t even on my radar for elite status even just a couple of weeks ago and suddenly I am in the midst of planning flights to 25 of their destinations. That’s a pretty big coup for their marketing team if you ask me. I am happy to be so far along with Hyatt and I very much look forward to dropping my Bonvoy Brilliant card sometime after I get my 2026 elite nights from the card. I am more or less exactly where I want to be. While I will surely focus on Hyatt nights during our August travels, I may want to pay particularly close attention to trying for American Airlines Platinum status before fall as that would probably be quite handy for 100K Vacay. Stay tuned . . .

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