United Loosening Status Match Requirements for Some
Business Travel News is reporting that effective today, United Airlines is relaxing their rules related to their corporate status match. Technically, this is still a challenge, not a pure match, but there are three primary MileagePlus changes:
- Status will be maintained for 22 months instead of the previous 12 months
- Travelers who fail to meet the status requirements in the 180-day (previously 90-day) match period will be matched to whatever lower level they manage to meet
- Employees can apply for this if they have not received a match in the past 3 years (instead of five years as before)
From a match perspective, it makes sense to try for the highest status level possible. After all, they will just bump you down to a lower tier if you don’t make it. On the other hand, they won’t bump you up to a level higher than your requested match.
Unfortunately BTN did not provide a link or a phone number for additional information. There are not enough known details to define exactly who qualifies for this but it seems to be directed to United’s corporate clients, not the general population. Moreover, there is no information that I could find on this except for the StatusMatcher page and United’s standard Status Match Challenge page. Those who are employees might want to check with your corporate travel department.
