You May Be Able to Suspend Your Airline Elite Status If You Are Unable to Use It This Year
Being an elite airline is great. Status with an airline usually offers perks such as upgrades, free checked baggage, and earlier boarding groups. This is a great bonus for flying a lot with an airline last year. But what if this year you flew with a whole group, but something like the fact that a newborn was born in your home prevents you from getting into the friendly sky next year? It turns out that some airlines will allow you to postpone this elite status.
The Points Guy recently posted a guide to suspend this status .
Not every airline offers this option, but many do. Also, you cannot postpone the elite status for any reason, you need a large enough one.
As The Points Guy explains, things like having a baby, adopting a child, or having a serious medical condition are usually fine. That is, if you just don’t expect to have time to travel in the coming year, then you are probably SUNNY.
As far as which airlines offer this option, it varies from airline to airline, and many do not officially offer policies, but will offer Elite extensions on a case-by-case basis. You can see what the policies of each major airline are in The Points Guy’s post .
In some cases, you can easily postpone this status for a year, while others may require you to meet certain “difficult” requirements in order to get this status over and over again.
And if you are planning to ask an airline to postpone your elite status, make sure you also have documentation backing why you need it. This might be a non-doctor’s certificate or your daughter’s birth certificate.