Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I thought it would be cool to share the hotel and airline elite statuses I earned (and matched to) in 2024 along with the number of flights I flew and the number of nights I stayed in hotels. Fun fact: I might be the only travel blogger without Hyatt Globalist Elite Status (I actually don’t have any Hyatt status). Read on to learn more interesting facts about my 2024 travel recap.
2024 Flights & Airline Elite Statuses
- Alaska Airlines is the only airline status that I earned (and care about). I took 14 flights and earned 13,658 elite miles. I also earned 8,000 elite miles from spending $20,000 on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card. I am looking forward to earning Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status in 2025 with several Companion Fare flights and awards booked with Alaska Airlines miles.
- SFO is my nearest international airport, but I only flew United Airlines 3x last year.
- Before the end of 2024, I status matched to Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold (allows better seat assignments on Hawaiian Airlines) and Southwest Airlines A List, but I don’t have any Southwest Airlines flights planned in 2025 since all my favorite routes were moved from SFO to OAK.
| Loyalty Program | Status | Status from Credit Card | Notes | Flights |
| Alaska Airlines | MVP | – | 13,658 Elite Miles from flying + 8,000 Elite Miles from credit card spend | 14 |
| Delta Airlines | – | – | 3 trips: SFO-ATL-DAB, DAB-ATL-SFO, and MIA-JFK | 5 |
| United Airlines | – | – | 3 trips: SFO-SNA, SNA-SFO, and SFO-DEN | 3 |
| Air France / KLM | – | – | 1 Business Class Award: ARN-AMS-LAX | 2 |
| Avelo Airlines | – | – | 2 trips: STS-BOI and BOI-STS | 2 |
| Finnair | – | – | 2 trips: DUB-HEL and HEL-ARN | 2 |
| Aer Lingus | – | – | 1 Business Class Award: DEN-DUB | 1 |
| JetBlue | – | – | 1 trip: SFO-FLL | 1 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | Pualani Gold | – | Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) | 0 |
| Southwest Airlines | A List | – | Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) | 0 |
| Total Flights: | 30 |
2024 Nights & Hotel Elite Statuses
- I am very lucky to have a friend that works at Hilton who added me to their Friends & Family plan. This provides discounts of 25%-50% off the standard rate. I had an AMEX Hilton Surpass Credit Card in 2024 (recently upgraded to Hilton Aspire) and was able to use the $50 quarterly Hilton credit every quarter.
- IHG Free Night Certificates and IHG Points came in very handy for our 2 stays in New York City during Laura’s Spring Break and Thanksgiving Break.
- Choice Points came in very handy at 2 excellent Ascend Hotel Collection properties in Helsinki and Stockholm.
- We stayed at the Paris Las Vegas and I paid for the stay with Caesars Rewards Points that were transferred from Wyndham Rewards Points.
- Laura and I used our 4 combined Marriott Free Night Certificates for pretty good value in Seattle and Sacramento.
- Between Laura and myself, we stayed at Hyatt hotels only 5 nights. She has Hyatt Discoverist and I have no Hyatt status. I closed my Chase Hyatt Credit Card a few years ago before the forced conversion to the new Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card and I haven’t fallen below Chase 5/24 since then.
- Maybe 2025 is the year I use my Preferred Hotel Titanium status, Radisson Hotels VIP status, or Sonesta Platinum status. We will see…
| Loyalty Program | Status | Status from Credit Card | Notes | Nights |
| Hilton | Diamond | AMEX Hilton Aspire | 8 nights in Orange County + Monterey (Hilton Friends & Family Rate) | 8 |
| IHG Hotels | Platinum | Chase IHG Premier + Chase IHG Premier Business | 8 nights in New York City (several IHG Free Night Certificates + IHG Points) | 8 |
| Choice Hotels | – | 2 nights in Helsinki + 3 nights in Stockholm at Ascend Hotels (Choice Points) | 5 | |
| Wyndham Rewards | Diamond | Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business | 3 nights at Paris Las Vegas (transferred 60K points to Caesars Rewards) | 3 |
| Marriott Bonvoy | Gold | AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business + JPM Ritz Carlton | 2 nights in Seattle + Sacramento (Marriott 35K and 85K Free Night Certificates) | 2 |
| Hyatt | – | 1 night in Sacramento (Hyatt Points) | 1 | |
| Preferred Hotels | Titanium | Used promo code to get elite status (June 2024) | 0 | |
| Radisson Hotels | VIP | Used access code to get elite status (August 2024) | 0 | |
| Sonesta | Platinum | Status matched from Wyndham Diamond Elite Status (July 2024) | 0 | |
| Hyatt – Laura | Discoverist | Chase World of Hyatt | 4 nights in Dublin (Hyatt Free Night Certificate + Hyatt Points) | 4 |
| Marriott Bonvoy – Laura | Gold | JPM Ritz Carlton | 2 nights in Seattle + Sacramento (Marriott 35K and 85K Free Night Certificates) | 2 |
| IHG Hotels – Laura | Platinum | Chase IHG Premier | Haven’t used IHG Free Night Certificate (expires July 2025) | 0 |
| Total Nights: | 33 |
In addition to hotel stays, I visited my parents a few times, my grandpa a few times, stayed at a timeshare property, and spent 7-8 nights on Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise ships. If you have any questions about my airline or hotel elite status, flights, or nights, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!