(Image credit: Alexandra Svokos)
Everyone knows the best way to be treated right when you fly is to have status with an airline’s loyalty program. With that distinction alone, the clouds clear: You get access to a dedicated customer service phone line, free seat upgrades and checked bags, and sometimes even access to airport lounges and other perks.
There are many ways to attain status. First and foremost, you can get an airline-branded credit card that automatically gets you in the club. The other option is simply to fly and spend enough with an airline that you qualify for status. If you’re someone who travels regularly for work, that’s a fairly easy step to take, but for people who only fly a handful of times a year, it might be harder to reach that.
If you are someone who travels “sparingly” (compared to a business traveler, that is) and you want to attain airline status, you need to make sure you’re getting credit for as many miles as possible. And that’s where my little “trick” comes in handy.
How to get credit for every flight you take
In truth, it’s not really a trick as much as it is being informed and taking action when you fly. Basically, most airlines are part of “alliances” with each other, and those alliances allow you to share miles between them. But in order to make use of that, you have to pick your flights carefully — and make sure you get credit afterwards.
First, you’ll want to decide which major airline is the one you are targeting to get status on. This airline is usually the one that flies the most out of the airport near you, or flies to the destination you travel to the most, if you have multiple airport options. Let’s call it your “home base airline.”
Whenever you book a big trip, you should aim to book it on that home base airline. But let’s say you’re traveling a route that airline doesn’t have. That’s when you check the alliance.
Boarding at Jackson Hole Airport.
(Image credit: Alexandra Svokos)
See which alliance your home base airline is part of. Then, see which other airlines are in that alliance. Now, you can see if one of those airlines flies the route you need.
If it does, you’re in luck. When you book that flight, there is sometimes an option to add your loyalty number. If there is, type in your loyalty number from your home base airline, and you’ll earn points from this flight, even though it was a different airline.
But let’s say that option doesn’t exist or you forget to fill it in. Don’t worry, there’s still hope, and this is the little “trick” to help you out. After you take the flight, check your home base airline profile and see if you got credit for it. If you didn’t, you can request they find your “missing miles.”
File for United missing miles here; American Airlines here; for Delta, go here, and click on “Request Mileage Credit.”
You’ll need to log in to your account and then fill in the required information. Usually, that’s information like your ticket number, so try to remember to hold onto your boarding pass or confirmation somewhere.
Each airline works a little differently in terms of when credit arrives and what information they need, so follow the directions on the site. Provided your request is approved, you’ll get credit for that flight, which can help you get closer to attaining status with your home base airline.
How this worked for me
So, what does this look like in practice?
United is my home base airline as I prefer to fly out of Newark, which is a United hub. United is a member of the Star Alliance, which I like because it has a lot of regional airlines.
Typically when I take an international trip, I’ll fly out of Newark with United, and then use regional airlines on the Star Alliance to get around if I’m location-hopping. And that’s how I managed to earn Premier Silver status in 2024.
In January, I flew on a United ticket to New Zealand for my honeymoon. Air New Zealand is in the Star Alliance, so I flew with them when I traveled within New Zealand and between Australia. I was able to include my United mileage number on my Air New Zealand bookings and, after I got home, checked that I was credited on the path toward status with those flights.
The view flying out of Queenstown, New Zealand.
(Image credit: Alexandra Svokos)
In May, I had another international trip with a few destinations. I flew out to Greece on a United flight, then flew from Athens to an island on Aegean — a member of the Star Alliance. I used Aegean again to get to Dublin for a wedding, before flying on Swiss, another Star Alliance member, to get to Paris to celebrate my mother-in-law’s birthday, before flying home. (And yes, I needed a vacation from that vacation after all those flights.)
I logged every single one of those shorter flights and requested the missing miles when some of them didn’t show up in my United account. This required a lot of concentration. To request the miles, I sometimes needed minute details down to my seat number and fare class, but ultimately I did get credit for each leg.
Between those big trips and a couple other domestic ones, I rightfully earned my Silver status that year — but it would not have happened without making use of the alliance flights and my vigilance to ensure those flights were counted.
Know your airline alliances
My key message here is to be aware of airline alliances and make use of them. With that, here are the major airline alliances, as of May 2026.
I am breaking them down by region, as that can be helpful to decide which alliance is most useful to you. If you’re planning a big trip to Asia, for example, you may want to know which alliance has the most Asian airlines to accrue more points for your trip, and maybe that determines your home base target airline for the year. For me, that’s another reason why United is my home base — the Star Alliance includes Aegean and ITA Airways, and as my big trips typically involve visiting family in Italy and Greece, this works out for me.
- North American airlines: United, Air Canada
- European airlines: Aegean, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, ITA Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines
- Asian airlines: Air China, Air India, ANA, Asiana Airlines, EVA Air, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways
- Central and South American airlines: Avianca, Copa Airlines
- African airlines: EgyptAir, Ethiopian, South African Airways
- Oceania airlines: Air New Zealand
- North American airlines: Delta, Aeromexico
- European airlines: AirEuropa, Air France, KLM, SAS, TAROM, Virgin Atlantic
- Asian airlines: China Airlines, China Eastern, Garuda Indonesia, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, Xiamen Air
- Central and South American airlines: Aerolineas Argentinas
- African airlines: Kenya Airways
- Middle Eastern airlines: Middle East Airlines (MEA), Saudia
- North American airlines: Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, American
- European airlines: British Airways, Finnair, Iberia
- Asian airlines: Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines
- African airlines: Royal Air Maroc
- Oceania airlines: Fiji Airways, Qantas
- Middle Eastern airlines: Oman Air, Qatar, Royal Jordanian
Accruing air miles is a strategic game that takes a sometimes ridiculous amount of effort, but it’s all worth it for a year of free extra legroom.
