Which Airlines Offer Lifetime Status?

Most frequent flyer programs reward customers who fly or spend a lot over the course of a year with status. Some airlines go a step further, recognising ongoing loyalty over many years with lifetime status.

Lifetime airline status is clearly a great benefit to have. Once earned, you get to keep your membership until either you or the airline expires – whichever comes first.

From the airline’s perspective, it’s a clever way to lock in customers who may otherwise consider switching to another program, or fly with other airlines once they’ve renewed their annual tier status each year, by giving them something else to aim for.

For example, many Australians chase lifetime Gold status with Qantas. Requiring 14,000 lifetime status credits – roughly equivalent to around 10-12 years of holding Qantas Platinum status – it’s realistically achievable for many frequent flyers while also offering worthwhile benefits. That’s why some AFF members refer to Qantas lifetime Gold “the holy grail”.

But this isn’t your only option! In this article, we compare the lifetime status tiers of all the major airlines…

Things to consider when comparing lifetime status programs

In the tables below, we’ll show you how you can earn lifetime status with each of the Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam airlines that offer it.

The requirements for earning lifetime status with each airline really do vary quite a lot. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to accurately compare different frequent flyer programs because they each use different metrics.

Some things to particularly keep in mind include:

• Some programs count status credits earned on partner airlines, but others require flights to be operated and/or marketed by their own airline – which makes lifetime status much harder to earn!
• Most programs count all the status credits, miles or an equivalent metric you’ve earned in your lifetime. But some require you to keep a certain status tier level for a consecutive period.
• The lifetime tiers offered by the Japanese programs (JAL and ANA) are really only designed for people who live in Japan.

To make it easier to compare, we’ve included information in the below tables about whether flights taken on partner airlines count towards lifetime status.

We’ve also calculated the number of years you would need to meet the usual requirements for earning an equivalent status level in each of these programs, before you would achieve each lifetime tier.

Oneworld airlines that offer lifetime status

Currently, eight Oneworld airlines offer lifetime status.

To make it easier to compare, we’ve listed the approximate number of years it would take you to earn each tier if you met the minimum requirements within that program to renew Oneworld Sapphire or Oneworld Emerald status each year. For example, to earn Qantas lifetime Gold status, you would need to hold Qantas Gold (Oneworld Sapphire) for up to 24 years or Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) for up to 12 years.

See our guide to alliance-wide status benefits for more details about the difference between Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald status.

Star Alliance programs with lifetime status

Several Star Alliance airlines give lifetime status, but most only count miles or qualifying points earned on the program’s own airline – and not Star Alliance partners. The exception is Asiana Club, but Asiana will soon merge with SkyTeam’s Korean Air and it’s unclear what this will mean for existing members.

Here’s the full list of Star Alliance airlines offering status for life:

SkyTeam airlines that give lifetime status

Several of the SkyTeam airlines that offer lifetime status base this on holding a certain status tier for 10 consecutive years. Here’s the full list:

Virgin Australia Forever Gold

In October 2025, Virgin Australia will launch its own lifetime status tier called “Forever Gold”.

To achieve this, Velocity Frequent Flyer members would need to have earned at least 12,000 status credits since 2013. Of those, at least 9,000 status credits would need to be from Virgin Australia marketed flights personally flown by the member (i.e. not received through family pooling).

See our guide to Forever Gold status for full details.

In general, having status with an airline that is not part of a global alliance is less useful than having status with one that is. Because Virgin Australia is not in an alliance, the Velocity status benefits just don’t extend as far on partner airlines – especially if you fly overseas a lot. Forever Gold could definitely be useful, though, for people who fly a lot on Virgin Australia domestically.

Risks of chasing lifetime status

While lifetime status is definitely something to aim for if you fly a lot, there are several risks involved in chasing it. Here are a few to consider:

• Frequent flyer programs can change their earn rates or requirements at any time
• Airlines could change the benefits of their status tiers over time
• Airlines could go bankrupt and/or could merge with other airlines, and there’s no guarantee your benefits will carry through!
• Airlines could remove their lifetime status tiers. This usually doesn’t affect members who’ve already earned it, but definitely could annoy people who had spent years being loyal to that airline and were getting close!

For example, British Airways used to offer a fairly attractive pathway to lifetime Gold, which is equivalent to Oneworld Emerald in the British Airways program. But the airline just changed the way Tier Points are earned in the program, making it much harder and more expensive to earn them. Members received just three months of notice before the changes took effect.

Although British Airways is still honouring the Tier Points that members have already earned before the recent changes, those people who are currently halfway towards lifetime Gold will now have to pay a lot more to earn the remaining amount.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.