---
title: "What is Lifetime status? | Benefit Systems"
description: "Lifetime status is a tier granted permanently once a cumulative lifetime total is reached, without needing to requalify each year."
source: "aus dem gebauten HTML abgeleitet"
---
# What is Lifetime status?

Lifetime status is a tier granted permanently once a cumulative lifetime total is reached, without needing to requalify each year.

Also called: Lifetime elite.

## How it works #

The thresholds are set in flights or nights that take decades to accumulate. What is permanent is the tier, not its contents: programmes can cut the benefits attached to lifetime status at any time, and repeatedly have. Anyone planning travel around it is working towards a promise whose value the issuer alone defines.

## Not to be confused with #

Lifetime status is not the same as a guaranteed set of benefits: membership of the tier is guaranteed, what it delivers in future is not.

## In German #

The German term is Lebenslanger Status. [German version of this term](/de/glossar/lebenslanger-status)

## Related terms #

- [Elite status](/en/glossary/elite-status): Elite status is a tier in a loyalty programme that grants extra benefits for a limited period once a qualification threshold has been met.
- [Elite qualification](/en/glossary/elite-qualification): Elite qualification is the proof that enough flights, qualifying miles or spending have accumulated within a defined period to reach a status tier.
- [Hotel elite status](/en/glossary/hotel-elite-status): Hotel elite status is a tier in a hotel programme that holds out benefits such as room upgrades, breakfast or late checkout.

## Articles that use this term #

- [How many flights do you need for airline elite status?](/en/knowledge/elite-qualification)
- [What does hotel elite status actually get you?](/en/knowledge/hotel-elite-status)
- [When airline elite status gets you nothing](/en/knowledge/when-status-gets-you-nothing)