Status and lounges

Terms on this topic

• Airline alliance: An airline alliance is a grouping of carriers that credit each other's miles, recognise each other's status and allow award bookings across the group.
• Being walked: Being walked is the consequence of hotel overbooking: the property houses the guest at a different hotel because no room is available.
• Board basis: Board basis states which meals the room rate includes, ranging from room only through half board to all-inclusive.
• Contract lounge: A contract lounge is a waiting area an airline does not run itself but buys in from a handling company or the airport.
• Early check-in: Early check-in means taking the hotel room before the standard arrival time, generally subject to availability and without entitlement.
• Elite breakfast benefit: The elite breakfast benefit is a status perk that includes breakfast for the member and usually one guest at no extra charge.
• 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.
• 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.
• Hard product and soft product: Hard product means the physical fittings of an aircraft or hotel, while soft product means the service, catering and staff experience.
• 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.
• Hotel star rating: A hotel star rating is the classification of a property in stars, describing facilities and service by the criteria of the country concerned.
• Joint venture: A joint venture is a deeper partnership between a few airlines that share revenue on defined markets and plan their schedules together.
• Late checkout: Late checkout is the elite benefit of keeping a hotel room beyond the standard departure time, in almost all cases subject to availability.
• Lifetime status: Lifetime status is a tier granted permanently once a cumulative lifetime total is reached, without needing to requalify each year.
• Lounge access: Lounge access is the right to use a catered waiting area at an airport, obtained through cabin class, status, a card, a membership or a walk-up payment.
• Lounge membership: A lounge membership is access to a network of independent lounges, usually provided as a card benefit with a capped number of visits or guests.
• Mattress run: A mattress run is a hotel booking made purely to collect nights towards a status tier, without any need for the stay itself.
• Mileage run: A mileage run is a trip booked purely to collect the qualifying miles or segments still missing for a status threshold.
• Operational upgrade: An operational upgrade is a move to a higher cabin made by the airline for its own reasons, because the booked cabin is oversold or the aircraft changed.
• Priority boarding: Priority boarding is the right to board ahead of other passengers, granted through status, fare, a card or an extra payment.
• Qualifying spend: Qualifying spend is the ticket revenue a programme requires alongside flights or miles before granting a status tier.
• Room upgrade: A room upgrade is the allocation of a higher room category than the one booked, granted as an elite benefit and usually subject to availability.
• Soft landing: A soft landing is the rule that a missed status does not disappear entirely but drops to the next lower tier instead.
• Status challenge: A status challenge is a time-limited offer to earn status by completing a reduced number of flights or nights within a short window.
• Status match: A status match is the transfer of status from another programme: a provider grants a comparable tier in order to win the customer over.
• Timeshare: A timeshare is a contractual right to use a holiday property for a defined period each year.
• Upgrade: An upgrade is the move into a higher cabin or room category than the one booked, paid for with miles, cash or granted as an elite benefit.
• Upgrade certificate: An upgrade certificate is an elite benefit that lifts an existing booking into the next cabin, provided the airline has released upgrade inventory.
• Vacation rental: A vacation rental is an apartment or house let out short-term by a private or commercial host and booked through a platform rather than a hotel desk.