Selling status: Frontier Airlines offers Elite Gold status for $69 to passengers of rival airlines
August 20, 2025
Frontier Airlines has rolled out a new elite status loyalty promotion to lure more customers.
For a limited time, anyone currently enrolled in rival loyalty programmes – Southwest Rapid Rewards, JetBlue TrueBlue, Spirit Free Spirit, or Alaska Mileage Plan – can buy Frontier Elite Gold status for only $69.
Purchased Elite Gold status will remain valid through December 31, 2026, meaning new members can enjoy around 17–18 months of benefits.
Frontier Elite Gold perks
The main perks offered to Frontier Elite Gold members include:
- Free carry‑on bag
- Zone 1 priority boarding
- Priority customer care
- Free preferred seat selection
- Complimentary upgrades to Premium Seating at check-in, and UpFront Plus seating four hours pre‑departure
- Earn 14× miles per $1 on eligible Frontier spending. (This accelerates the path to higher tiers like Elite Platinum or Diamond, which now benefit from unlimited companion travel.)
Naturally, there are some restrictions to qualify for Frontier’s Elite Gold status deal. Conditions include:
- The buyer must be a Frontier Miles member, though they can simply enrol to qualify.
- Buyer must hold a qualifying membership with one of the four named airlines, dated before August 19, 2025.
- The offer is only valid through September 9, 2025.
- The elite status takes 24–48 hours to take effect, and the fee is not refundable after the airline grants the status.
- Frontier Miles Elite Status benefits cannot replace pre-paid ancillary selections on an existing booking. A new status benefit can only be applied when the customer has not already paid for ancillary items such as seat selection or bags. Ancillary selections are not refundable.
- Members who qualified for the Southwest Rapid Rewards status match earlier this year are not eligible for this promotion.
Frontier offered a Southwest Rapid Rewards status match for $40 earlier in April. This current promotional offer is an evolution of that pay-for-status idea targeting the airline’s main competitors.
“This is one of the most valuable offers we’ve ever extended to frequent flyers,” said Jeff Werkheiser, senior director of brand and customer engagement at Frontier Airlines. “We’re inviting members of many different airline loyalty programs to experience The New Frontier – where they can travel affordably without sacrificing comfort or premium perks.”
Frontier’s Elite Gold status promotion through Loyalty Status Co
Loyalty Status Co enables Frontier’s elite status sale. The travel technology company helps loyalty programs acquire customers and increase ancillary revenue through elite status offers. The company owns and operates the statusmatch.com platform.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Frontier Airlines to bring such a compelling opportunity to members of other programs,” said Mark Ross-Smith, CEO, Loyalty Status Co. “Earning nearly 18 months of Gold status for just $69 is an unbeatable way for travellers to elevate their journeys.”
How other airlines have ‘sold’ elite status
While not unprecedented, Frontier’s approach is unusually bold in making elite status cheap, fast and easy to buy. Other airlines offer status matches and have offered elite status without relying solely on miles or points.
1. Buy-Up offers from American Airlines
- American Airlines AAdvantage offered elite status extensions using miles or cash, extending status through March 31, 2026, for eligible members.
2. United Airlines Concierge Key: spending for an invitation
- United Airlines’ ultra-exclusive Concierge Key status reportedly requires up to $50,000 in travel spending to be invited. While it’s not a direct pay-for-status scheme, and the actual requirements for the airline’s invitation to join are a closely guarded secret, it is among the most expensive available elite perks currently flying.
3. American Airlines’ legacy lifetime AAirpass programme
- American Airlines launched AAirpass in the 1980s. It sold lifetime unlimited first class travel passes for as much as $250,000. The fee later increased to over $1 million in the early 1990s. It was an actual elite-for-cash scenario, intended to help the airline raise capital during hard times. American nixed it after it proved highly problematic.
4. Other airline status matching initiatives
- Virgin Atlantic targeted BA flyers earlier this year with status-match opportunities and even gave away one million miles to a few participants to sweeten the deal.
- Status matching is standard in the industry, allowing travellers to migrate their status from one program to another.
What is unique is that Frontier’s approach makes elite status affordable, immediate, and easy to understand. Selling status is an attractive proposition within the ULCC model, where ancillary fees can quickly outstrip flight costs.
First class is coming to Frontier
In its elite status offer, Frontier also teases the debut of its First Class seating later this year.
Experience affordable luxury and unmatched loyalty benefits in 2025! ✈️
— Frontier Airlines (@FlyFrontier) December 3, 2024
⭐ First Class Seating: Luxurious, spacious seats in the first two rows of the aircraft.
⭐ Free Unlimited Companion Travel*: Platinum and Diamond Elite members fly with a companion at no extra cost on any… pic.twitter.com/UPCem94D42
The new cabin seating option will reposition the airline from a strict ultra-low-cost model to a hybrid low-fare luxury model, similar to JetBlue’s. Competitors, including Southwest and Spirit, are making similar adjustments to their cabin product as the nature of low-cost airlines evolves.
