| Update: That was quick. Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer is no longer matching to Gold status (oneworld Sapphire), but rather only to Silver status (oneworld Ruby). That’s not nearly as valuable, so be aware if you’re considering a match. Suffice it to say that interest in this offer was higher than expected. |
Royal Air Maroc’s Safar Flyer program is offering an awesome status match opportunity at the moment. For 49 Euro you can potentially score oneworld Sapphire status, which could get you perks when flying with oneworld (including American Flagship Lounge access on domestic itineraries). Let’s go over the details.
In this post:
Basics of Royal Air Maroc’s status match promo
The website statusmatch.com is partnering with Royal Air Maroc’s Safar Flyer program to offer a status match promotion. Royal Air Maroc is one of the newest oneworld member airlines, so this could be valuable even if you don’t typically fly with Royal Air Maroc. A few basics to be aware of, to start:
- Requesting a status match costs 49 Euro
- Royal Air Maroc is matching to Safar Flyer Silver (oneworld Ruby) or Safar Flyer Gold (oneworld Sapphire)
- The status match request should take just a minute to complete, though it can take up to five business days for the request to be approved
- The promotion is valid for matches through May 31, 2022, or until the limits on the status match have been exhausted (so I’d apply ASAP)
- Matched status is valid through March 31, 2023
Why is this status match opportunity useful?
Obviously this promotion could be useful if you’re someone who has a lot of travel on Royal Air Maroc coming up. Beyond that, though, the main reason to consider this promotion is because of the value of oneworld Sapphire status. This status offers perks like priority boarding, priority check-in, and extra baggage allowance, on all oneworld airlines.
For many people the most exciting aspect of this status match opportunity is that you could access American Admirals Clubs or American Flagship Lounges whenever traveling on a oneworld airline, even if you’re traveling domestically.
American AAdvantage and Alaska Mileage Plan elite members only get lounge access on select international itineraries, while oneworld Sapphire members with foreign airlines get lounge access even on entirely domestic itineraries. Getting access to American’s premium lounges even when traveling domestically is awesome.
I’ve had some questions about whether you need to actually credit your flights to Royal Air Maroc’s program in order to access lounges:
- Personally I’ve had no issue accessing American Airlines lounges while crediting to AAdvantage and then showing my elite status credentials with a partner airline; sometimes it’s a bit of a process for agents to enter it into the system, but it has always worked out
- Some report that Alaska Lounges will only admit you based on the status that shows on your boarding pass, in which case it could be an issue to credit a flight to Alaska Mileage Plan or American AAdvantage, while trying to use your Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer status for access; in theory you could always just change your frequent flyer number after accessing the lounge, but that wouldn’t work if you’ve been upgraded or assigned a premium seat based on your status
Which airline status is Royal Air Maroc matching?
According to the FAQs, Royal Air Maroc is matching the following status:
- Aegean Airlines – Miles+Bonus
- Air Canada – Aeroplan
- Air Europa – SUMA
- Air France – Flying Blue
- Czech Airlines – OK Plus
- Delta Air Lines – SkyMiles
- Egyptair – Plus
- El Al – Matmid
- Emirates – Skywards
- Ethiopian Airlines – ShebaMiles
- Etihad – Guest
- Gulf Air – Falconflyer
- JetBlue – TrueBlue Rewards
- KLM – Flying Blue
- Kenya Airways – Flying Blue
- LATAM – LATAM Pass
- Lufthansa – Miles & More
- Middle East Airlines – Cedar Miles
- Oman Air – Sinbad
- Saudia – Alfursan
- Scandinavian Airlines – EuroBonus
- South African Airways – SAA Voyager
- TAP Air Portugal – Miles&Go
- Tunisar – Fidelys
- Turkish Airlines – Miles&Smiles
- United Airlines – MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic – Flying Club
- WestJet – Westjet Rewards
As you can see, this includes many non-oneworld airlines, in particular airlines in North America and Europe. However, when you go through the status match application, ITA Airways is also listed in the drop-down menu, and appears to be eligible.
ITA Airways has been offering a status match opportunity, so I decided to match with that.
Step-by-step to Royal Air Maroc status match
I just applied for a status match, so let me share my experience. First of all, if you’re not yet a Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer member, you can sign-up here. Once you’ve done that, just go to the status match homepage, and enter your name, email address, and Safar Flyer number.
On the next page, you’ll want to select the airline you’ll be matching from, which status you have with that airline, and you’ll have to share your membership number. As mentioned above, ITA Airways was listed as an airline here, even though it wasn’t on the FAQ page.
On the next page you’ll have to upload a copy of your membership card. In my case I submitted a screenshot of my ITA Airways status card, which was emailed to me when I received the status.
The next page confirmed that my ITA Airways Volare Executive status would be matched to Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer Gold. I was also asked for my phone number.
The next page asked for a credit card to pay the 49 Euro application fee.
The next page confirmed my application had been submitted, and I’d get a response within five days. You can also track your match at this page.
Then about 10 hours later I received an email indicating that my status match had been approved, and that my Safar Flyer account should reflect the new status within five business days.
That was it — it was that easy!
Bottom line
There’s a new status match promotion for Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer status, which can earn you oneworld Sapphire status. There’s an application fee of 49 Euro, but that’s not a lot at all when you consider the potential value of this promotion.
If you’re a oneworld flyer and are eligible, I’d highly recommend taking advantage of this.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this oneworld status match opportunity?
(Tip of the hat to View from the Wing)
Sorry for being new at this! I did this promo and got the gold which I means makes me one world sapphire. I never received a card from Air Maroc though so how do I show proof of status to get into lounge, or get priority seats or boarding? When I fly AA nothing is linked or shown on my ticket to indicate one world sapphire?
Yeah it explicitly no longer offers Gold anymore just match to Silver which is OW Ruby (not much benefit, no lounge)..
Hi! I was one of the lucky ones to get the status match to RAM's SAFAR GOLD. .. but this is not a happy story. Although my Iberia bookings show my RAM FF membership number, the word SAPPHIRE is nowhere to be seen on the boarding cards. Even more worrying is that I can't choose seats for free, it looks like although I am SAFAR GOLD it is not translating properly on the oneworld system,...
Hi! I was one of the lucky ones to get the status match to RAM's SAFAR GOLD. .. but this is not a happy story. Although my Iberia bookings show my RAM FF membership number, the word SAPPHIRE is nowhere to be seen on the boarding cards. Even more worrying is that I can't choose seats for free, it looks like although I am SAFAR GOLD it is not translating properly on the oneworld system, so I am not getting any of the benefits. Has anyone had this problem with RAM or any other airline? getting the status, but it not being recognised?. My Safar Gold status shows on RAM's website since April 1st, but so far no advantages with other OW airlnes. NADA. I am hoping the issue will correct itself soon. Raul.
Hi Raul,
I've had the exact same issue with Iberia. I ended up calling them and they assigned me the seats for free, as they could see my Sapphire status
I am having the same problem, particularly with British Airways, which allows OW sapphires to select seats without the ridiculous seating fee imposed by BA. I spent an hour on the phone with BA and ultimately was told that RAM is not a fully reciprocal OW member, and despite my OW sapphire status, free seat selection is not available on BA if sapphire status is through RAM. Disappointing to say the least.
Currently drinking champagne in the Flagship DFW courtesy of Air Maroc Gold. Cheers Lucky!
Did they change the frequent flyer number or are you still earning points with American or whatever the original airline was and did they agent know what to do?
Flight was on my AA account. Simply told her I’m OW Sapphire and showed her my Safar card. Entire process took 30 seconds.
Same!!! Just used lax yesterday.. No problem at all. Easy.
NYC lounge tomorrow.
Did you receive a card in the mail? All I have is the app that shows the tiny little gold card. What did you show at the lounge?
Account has officially updated to gold. Will try DFW flagship today.
Same. Both my wife and I. Tried calling to change itinerary to include the Air Maroc FF number, but reservation agent could not make change in the system. Finally was able to get another Aadvantage Elite desk agent to make the change. Hope it shows up when checking in!
My account updated to Gold this morning
Been accepted for a few days but still waiting for status to reflect in my account. Anyone else?
Still waiting for status to be reflected.
Same here for me.
Good. Glad they shut u down.
how will access to the Aadmirals club work if granted gold? must the safar # be put on / in a reservation or show the safar card electronically at the door of the club?
cannot even sign up as their system cannot validate my uk post code! total failure
got through the website gauntlet yesterday and notified that I had been approved yesterday afternoon. Zero mention of silver vs gold. hoping i was approved for gold. if not, i may file a claim with my CC as gold was what was on offer.
I took a screen shot of the promise of gold and if I get silver, will contest that I did not get the service received.
ooooh wish i had thought of that. out of curiosity when did you do yours? if it was around the same time a mine yesterday...
I did my challenge on 3/30 in the evening. I got confirmation of approval on 3/31 in the wee hours of the morning. My membership still shows as "blue" not gold though. It says it can take up to 5 days..
You should have gotten an email to be able to check your status match. It will show golv vs silver there and you can screenshot
It’s said that they dont offer gold status match anymore :/ anyone here has same issue?
Ugh- was waiting for my ITA match to finish (got it approved yesterday but status hasn’t actually updated).
Guess I’m out of luck. Maybe they will open up to Gold again.
My status just got updated to Gold. Officially one world sapphire. Thank you!
Were they offering status match to silver before?
What level status would I get from jetBlue Mosaic?
They are no longer offering gold.
oNLY SILVER LEFT IN THIS CAMPAIN, i WAS TOO LATE ...
Yup. Silver is not worth EUR50
Just tried applying for Royal AM status match via Volare Premium and tried Executive - got the following notif either way
Important Note: Gold Status Match is no longer available. If you proceed, you will be applying for Silver Safar Flyer status.
Submitted last night and did not get this notification at all and already paid the fee, waiting on the confirmation...
Same here
Mine was fully approved (Safar Flyer Gold) today :)
Domestic Flight on Alaska Economy LAX to ANC. Would I be able to access AA Flagship without RAM FF# in PNR? Thanks!
I read that AA is more lenient than Alaska?
Approval emails are coming. Got mine an hour ago. Status hasn’t been updated yet as it says up to five days.
Whoever posted the Guam workaround thank you! Worked on Chrome, no VPN.
Indeed! we are ALL Guamanians now :-) Worked for both my wife and myself (Delta Platinum/Diamond, respectively. Hope it goes through by the time my wife flies back on AA from Chicago in 10 days.
Ditto. Huzzah!
Solution to get past the errors on sign up: I registered as Guamanian and country of residence in Guam (technically the US). That at least allowed me to sign up. I then immediately went to my profile and updated it to say "American" and "United States". Submitting status request was easy and straightforward (matching from UA).
What a godawful website RAM has.
Did you use a VPN for Guam? I gave it a try without VPN using Guam, but no success.
Wish I saw this I was also fighting with the website errors and then all of a sudden it registered an account for me and had flipped the country fields to India. I was able to login to my account and change it back to the correct country.
Truly appreciate the help!
Thank you for the tip about Guam. I kept getting an error but then ended up doing what you did
Thank you for this awesomeness! I'm curious what you entered in the Post Office box field, which it says is required for CA and US (and it won't let me save without entering something).
@Carl I wrote "None"
Thanks Andrew!
Wondering the same thing, how is anyone getting through the error messages???
Same here with the error. Any updates on new registrations?
Same here with the error. Any updates on new registrations?
Edit: I used a VPN pointed to the UK
Last day of AA Exe Plat thanks to Hyatt, Just initiated status match at ITA, hopefully it gets done and can match to RAM
I matched my AA EXP to ITA. Received an email confirmation from ITA it had been accepted. But my ITA account does not reflect the new status. Any idea how long ITA takes to reflect new status? I need this to match for RAM.
Guess I'll claim the most unusual difficulty accessing the upgrade offer. I'm aboard ship and attempts to access the upgrade site are actually being blocked by our onboard internet service. While the address does not indicate Morocco, it may be on some kind of country blocking list?
I am trying to register an account with RAM but keep getting an error message. "Your request failed to complete""Unexpected error"
Anyone else seeing this?
That's all I keep getting, too.
I know it's RAM but honestly, at this point, with everyone and their mother giving away status like a free timeshare stay you must begin to wonder why anyone even cares anymore. But, oh well, you can all race to the bottom and when you get there all ask each other, "Why am I here?"
I guess you didn’t match.
I just got the successful match using my ITA status (to gold).
Quick q: Do I get the free seat benefit when I fly AA using this status and provide them with my member ID? Or is this “just” bags and lounge?
@ Malte -- Main Cabin Extra isn't available to most partner elites. You might be able to select some standard seats for free, but then again, some of those are free for everyone anyway.
So did the statuts match as i haven't previously a OW statuts but only Skyteam and Star Allinace, should i stick to cumulate from now on, on RAM or on an other OW program?
Persistence paid off. Finally got it to work (using VPN), after MANY attempts throughout the day, using various browsers as well as with and without VPN. Hope it gets processed quickly.
What VPN and which country did you use? I'm trying with that with USA and UK and no luck still!
Set to which country?
Good luck getting in a Flagship Lounge (or Admirals Club). I can see many of the AA agents not allowing someone with a domestic AA ticket (think has to be a One World airline) to get in. So you plan to just show your Safer status and think they won't question it?
Good luck suckers
@ AC -- It really shouldn't be that complicated? I've found that for the most part Admirals Club and Flagship Lounge agents are pretty familiar with the rules.
What does aeroplan 75k match to?
Thanks!
@ Nick -- I would imagine that matches to Safar Flyer Gold.
My aeroplan E35k matched to Gold which is definitely a good deal!
Lucky. Kind of obvious but this is only worth it if you are willing to accumulate your miles in the safer club. Is that even a good programme?
@ chris -- You don't actually have to credit the flights to Safar Flyer. You can still credit to AAdvantage, and then just provide your Safar Flyer credentials at the club.
Ben, I'm not sure about AA lounges, but if you want to access AS lounges, you must include a non-AS and non-AA FF number on your boarding pass (domestic flights). I was able to get access with my AS FF number on my boarding pass as a courtesy only once and got denied several times.
This has been my experience as well. I fly American once or twice per month and always go to an AA lounge and simply present my boarding pass and Qantas gold card in my Apple wallet. Most of the time I am paying with points and thus impossible to credit the flight to Qantas. I am sure RAM will work the same way.
Error messages. Probably on purpose.
I, for one am SHOCKED that hyping this on multiple blogs has made AT’s web servers fall over and go boom.
Wonder how fast they shut this down when they realize how many lounge visits from travel maximizers they’re about to subsidize and pay for…
I too am shocked! Shocked!
Krisflyer gold no good here?
@ Dwar -- Nope, doesn't seem to be. Since Royal Air Maroc doesn't fly to Southeast Asia, I guess that's fair enough (though it sure would be useful!).
What’s the point of matching same alliance? One world folks will already technically benefit from being in same alliance. Would it not be better to try and lure non one world folks?
how do they verify my card? does statusmatch.com have access to airline databases? isnt that privacy violation?
@ km -- No, they don't have access to other airline databases. But please play by the rules...
This is actually false, they do have access to tons of airlines data and can verify almost any airlines status
5 year ban if caught doing any type of unethical behavior. I've had friends caught
Is it worth bothering with having only Aeroplan 25k from the CC?
Is there any benefit to doing this if I gained OW status through the Finnair miles deal? Curious to know..
@ AOH -- If you already have oneworld Sapphire or Emerald status through another foreign carrier then there's not much benefit to doing so.
I'm in the same situation and wondered this as well.
@ Mantis -- The benefits of oneworld Ruby are very, very limited, so personally I probably wouldn't bother matching.
@Lucky what about access to non-Flagship AA lounges? Could be useful at the dreadful LAX Eagle's Nest or short layovers in non-D DFW terminals.
@ Sel, D. -- You also get full Admirals Club access, so it would help there as well.
I'm also getting the "unexpected error" message when trying to sign up for Safar Flyer. Anyone able to get it to work?
I'm getting "unexpected error" as well.
Same issue, curious as well
I'm having the same issue.
Does ruby allow you to select exit row seats on AA? Deciding if that alone is worth it.
@ Andrew Carlson -- Unfortunately it doesn't. Exit rows on most planes are considered Main Cabin Extra, and oneworld elites don't get access to that.
To clarify—Oneworld Sapphire, Emerald can select AA MC Extra seats at time of booking for $0 (but not Ruby).
The trade-off is entering your non-US FF# on the AA booking.
Did so last week on a sub-500 mile flight. AA Flagship Lounge (wow), quick check-in and boarding ahead of MC. Luggage waiting for me at carousel. All on a cheap 7.5k BA award ticket. Spent more on the Uber ride from the airport.
@ Peter -- It's specifically oneworld elite members with a joint venture partner or other close partner, including Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, or Japan Airlines. Those getting status through Royal Air Maroc wouldn't get Main Cabin Extra.
Thank you!
What browser successfully allows you to register for the frequent flyer program? I've failed with Chrome, Edge & Android phone.
Also does not work with Safari, iPhone, or via the App, despite repeated unsuccessful attempts during the past several hours. Likely an overwhelmed server.
Coincidentally enough, yesterday, I booked a ticket via AA.COM on AT: NCE-CMN-IAD
Has anyone tried IE 6?
Last time I booked with them their website experience really left something to be desired. I forget the details now, but also had a lot of issues. Eventually, it just worked.
I'd like to know as well. Doesn't work with Safari (iOS or OS X) or Chrome (OS X). How in the world are people signing up? Some folks actually got status matched within hours yesterday, and the rest of us can't even join the program.
I used Surfshark VPN pointed to London!
Does lounge access require you to have the RAM FF# in your PNR or can you simply present the card (i.e. can you earn AA miles but use your RAM status to access the lounge by presenting the physical or electronic card)? I'd imagine this results in a lot of confusion for the lounge staff
AS requires the FF# for the airline with status to be in the PNR to gain entry to their lounges. AA is less clear both as far as rules and practice. OW rules appear to only require showing a card those could easily be changed if airlines complain.
@ ST -- Steve's point is surprising to me, but in the case of American, I haven't had issues with using a different frequent flyer number for lounge access than the one I'm crediting the flight to.
When I was in the lounge the AS agent showed me the written rule from HQ. It states that a passenger has to use the FF# for the program with which they have status.
When traveling on a domestic American or Alaska flight, do you have to credit the flight to Royal Air Maroc to access the lounge or can you keep your AA/AS number on the booking and just show your Royal Air Maroc frequent flyer card?
@ Jake -- I've had luck just showing my credentials with another program, without having to credit my flight to that program. That being said, someone else comments that Alaska Airlines only lets you use the account you're crediting the flight to.
Most frustrating website to signup. Have tried 3 different browsers and 2 phones and gives me errors.
Same here, can't get the signup process to work for Royal Air Maroc. Tried different computers and phone. Hopefully it sorts itself out soon.
Try using a VPN pointed at London!
If I want to access an American Flagship Lounge on a domestic itinerary through Air Maroc Safer Gold status does my AA flight need to be linked to the Air Maroc account as opposed to my AAdvantage account? Meaning I would have to miss out on AA miles/LP & be accruing Air Maroc miles to access the lounge.
@ Alex S. -- I've always had luck just showing my credentials with another program, without having to credit my flight to that program.
Sounds great I’m doing it. How long did it take ITA to match so that you could
March to Maroc?
My ITA match took one day.
May i ask what photo of ITA status do u provide?i attached screenshot of my e-card in ITA android apps but reply now ask me to reprovide a better photo..
OK I just got the same thing I took one day but the card is not yet updated to show the status how long did that take for you?