Royal Jordanian, a oneworld member airline, has a lucrative status match opportunity, which could be a great way to get oneworld Sapphire benefits. While this promotion has been live for some time, there’s now an update, as Royal Jordanian has expanded this promotion, and has added a limited time, lucrative hotel status match, which could easily earn you oneworld Sapphire.
I don’t want to bury the lede, though — this has geographic restrictions, and it’s not open to those in the United States.
In this post:
Basics of Royal Jordanian’s status match promo
The website statusmatch.com is partnering with Royal Jordanian’s Royal Club program to offer a status match promotion. Royal Jordanian is a oneworld member, and this could be valuable even if you don’t typically fly with the airline. A few basics to be aware of, to start:
- For airline status matches, Royal Jordanian is matching to Silver Jay status (oneworld Ruby) at a cost of $49, or to Gold Sparrow status (oneworld Sapphire) at a cost of $149
- For hotel status matches, Royal Jordanian is matching to Silver Jay status (oneworld Ruby) at a cost of $49, or to Gold Sparrow status (oneworld Sapphire) at a cost of $199
- 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
- There’s no published end date for this promotion, though it can be pulled at any time
- Matched status is valid for a period of 12 months from when the match is approved
- This promotion is only valid for those who reside in the following countries (and you must have ID documents, like a passport or driver’s license): Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Netherlands, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and UK
Which status is Royal Jordanian matching?
Royal Jordanian is matching status from airlines and hotels, and you can find a chart with how status maps over here. Specifically, Royal Jordanian is matching the following airline status:
- Air Europa – SUMA
- Air France – Flying Blue
- EgyptAir – Plus
- El Al – Matmid
- Emirates – Skywards
- Etihad – Guest
- Gulf Air – Falcon Flyer
- Kuwait Airways – Oasis Club
- Lufthansa – Miles & More
- Middle East Airlines – Cedar Miles
- Oman Air – Sindbad
- Saudia – Alfursan
- Scandinavian Airlines – EuroBonus
- TAP Air Portugal – Miles&Go
- Turkish Airlines – Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Atlantic – Flying Club
As you can see, this includes many non-oneworld airlines, in particular airlines in Europe and the Middle East, which are markets in which Royal Jordanian competes most. On top of that, Royal Jordanian is also matching the following hotel status:
- Accor – ALL
- GHA – Discovery
- Hilton – Honors
- Hyatt – World of Hyatt
- IHG – One Rewards
- Langham Hotels – Brilliant
- Marriott – Bonvoy
- Melia – Melia Rewards
- Preferred Hotel Group – Prefer Hotel Rewards
- Radisson – Radisson Rewards
- Shangri-La – Golden Circle
- Wyndham – Wyndham Rewards
Hotel elite status ordinarily only matches to Silver Jay status (oneworld Ruby), which is of limited value. However, through January 22, 2025, there’s an offer for top tier hotel elites to get Gold Sparrow status (oneworld Sapphire).
This is available for those with Accor Platinum (or above), Hilton Honors Diamond, World of Hyatt Globalist, IHG One Rewards Diamond, and Marriott Bonvoy Platinum (and above). Being able to pick up oneworld Sapphire based on hotel status is pretty awesome.
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 Jordanian 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.
If you have oneworld Sapphire status with a non-US frequent flyer program, you could even 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.
However, admittedly this is of limited use with this offer, given that this deal isn’t available to those residing in the United States.
Bottom line
There’s a status match promotion for Royal Jordanian Royal Club status, which can earn you oneworld Sapphire perks. There’s an application fee, 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. The major catch, of course, is that there are residency requirements, so this isn’t open to those in the United States. In particular, the ability to match to oneworld Sapphire based on top tier hotel status is pretty exciting.
Do you plan on taking advantage of this oneworld status match opportunity?
Last month I used 70k Aadvantage miles to fly MIA-JFK-AMM-DXB. It was better than I expected and the transfer at AMM took less than 5 minutes...
@Lucky there’s no need for this with new Global Airlines status match promotion ;)
@ Sel, D. -- Lol, that's a whole different topic I have to write about...
I'm assuming by "England" they mean the entire UK. Or are they specifically excluding Welsh and Scottish applicants!?
The eligible countries listed in the FAQ have been updated with Switzerland (added) and UK (replacing England).
@ clifford -- Seems the terms have indeed been updated, so I added that info to the post, thanks!
Did they already pull the plug on this? I'm getting this message after just submitting my information;
"Thank you for your interest
This Status Match offer is currently not available.
We have recorded your interest in a future Status Match, and you will be alerted if we are able to extend this offer to you in the future."
I only entered my name, email, FFn° and country of residence before getting this message.
typo: bury the lede
@ Todd -- It's possible I'm missing something (it has been a long day), but what's the typo there?
Todd is just being snooty. :) "Lede" is the preferred spelling for "lead" within news organizations. Kind of like the AVgeeks who will tell you "tire" has to be spelled "tyre."
What if you hold two passports? Will an EU passport while still residing in the US work?
@ Slappy -- The terms aren't very clear as to whether it's based on residency of having a document from that country. Some terms suggest it's based on having a government document from one of those countries, so I think it should be fine, as long as you're not entering an address from a non-eligible country.
To make use of the OW status benefits wouldn’t you have to use your RJ FF number every time you fly on any OW airline and accumulate miles in the RJ program? Seems to only make sense for someone doing a one-off flight on a OW airline and doesn’t care about the miles.
@ Toby -- Not necessarily, see my reply to TrupTravels below. :-) Many oneworld airlines will let you credit to one program, and then separately provide your frequent flyer number for lounge access.
If you obtain this status, what do you have to show to get into a AA lounge when flying domestically in US on AA? Do you have to put in your RJ number into the AA reservation this not getting AA points?
@ TrupTravels -- With American, it's totally fine to have your AA number on the reservation, and then to just give your RJ number when entering the lounge. It's a different story with AS, which seems to only allow you to access the lounge based on the frequent flyer number on your boarding pass.
I did the AA-ITA-Royal Air Maroc status match "hack" a few years back. Ben's right, you just show them your digital status card/give them the number along with the airline code (RJ)
Just be careful and double check where the flight is credited, as I've had agents completely swap out the numbers on the reservation. I never checked and now I have 5k random miles in my Royal Air Maroc account
Is it correct that RJ is the only oneworld carrier that allows you to earn status (OWS/OWE) by flying segments, and no longer has a requirement to fly on RJ metal?
This would mean I could get flagship lounge access and forget about the comp upgrades (and just use miles to book F/J)....might have stumbled onto a great combo here! 30 segments for OWS...and 46 segments for OWE which would get you flagship first check-in
I have personally never tried it, so if anyone knows for certain whether this works or not, please let me know...
For AS, you could put your RJ number in the reservation and after you leave the lounge, try to have a gate agent change it back to your AS number. If you do this, leave yourself enough time to allow the gate agent to do it.
I don't even know if this is...
I have personally never tried it, so if anyone knows for certain whether this works or not, please let me know...
For AS, you could put your RJ number in the reservation and after you leave the lounge, try to have a gate agent change it back to your AS number. If you do this, leave yourself enough time to allow the gate agent to do it.
I don't even know if this is allowed (not only the agent being willing to change it, but also not going against the ToS of AS), so proceed at your own risk.
@ Ben Holz -- I'm 100% certain about the statement I made, for what it's worth. I used my BA Gold to get into AA lounges all the time, while having my AA number on the reservation. Not once was it an issue.
Yes, you could swap out frequent flyer numbers with other airlines, but obviously that would be challenging if you're taking advantage of perks like complimentary upgrades.
this for sure doesn't work with Qantas. I tried myself to enter one of their lounges in SYD having my non-status QF FF number on the boarding pass and showing my BA Gold card (OW emerald) and was rejected :(
@Ben Schlappig I know it works with AA, I once had an instance where I forgot to add my IB number on a domestic AA itinerary and upon presenting my Oro (OW Sapphire) card, the lounge attendant let me through.
I was suggesting that I am not sure if the method I listed for AS works, since I haven't flown them they joint OW.