You already chase status in the air. Now your voice here earns it too. The OMAAT Member Lounge rewards the readers who help make this community what it is. The storytellers, the question-answerers, and the commenters who help the community travel smarter are rewarded with real status and a few surprises along the way.

Stats are refreshed daily. Weekly stats reset on Monday.

Weekly Stats

Monthly Stats

Yearly Stats

How You Earn Points

Points reward genuine contribution, not volume. Sharing your travel experiences and helping other readers are the fastest ways to climb. Everyday participation counts too, just at a steadier pace.

Activity	Points	Limit
First reader story accepted (per year)	2,500	1 per year
Each additional story accepted	1,000	1 per month
Answering a question in Ask the Community	75	None
Posting in the Daily Thread	25	1 per day
Writing a comment	50	5 per day
Receiving a heart on your comment	20	5 per day

Why these numbers? A single accepted story is worth a month of casual commenting because a great reader story is the hardest, most valuable thing you can contribute. Answering questions comes next: helping a fellow traveler beats adding one more take. And hearts reward writing things people actually find useful.

Commenting Guidelines

This is a good time to remind everyone of our commenting guidelines. To vastly simplify things, be respectful when engaging with the community. Offensive comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders may see status benefits revoked. It’s obviously fine to challenge people’s stances on a take on rewards, destinations, brands, etc., but do not engage in ad hominem attacks.

Status Tiers & Benefits

As your points grow during the year, you climb the ladder. At each tier, a further layer of advertising disappears from your experience.

Tier	Points Required	Benefit
New Member	0	Welcome to the community! Start contributing to earn status
Member	500	Comments publish instantly with no moderation queue
Gold	2,500	Removes advertisement pop-ups and video
Platinum	5,000	Above + removes in-article ads
Diamond	10,000	Above + removes ads at the top and bottom of the page

How the status year works

This was built to feel familiar: earn from January through December, and the status you reach takes effect March 1 and runs for a full year. Nobody drops on New Year’s Eve, and through January and February you keep your current status while already earning toward the next one. Your current status benefits will reset March 1, 2027.

August Competition

For August, standout contributors from the community will earn a bonus. The bonus isn’t Lounge points. It’s spendable currency.

Monthly Pick	Prize
Most-read reader story	$500 gift card
Hottest take in a comment (most exclamation marks)	$100 gift card
Most liked comment (most hearts)	$100 gift card

Winners are chosen from the leaderboards, and the competition resets for the next month.

Promos & What’s Next

Watch this space: we’ll run quarterly promotions with bonus points on select activities, and we have a few more surprises in store for our most engaged members as the program grows.

The Fine Print

• Daily and monthly limits above are per member.
• Points and status have no cash value and can’t be transferred.
• OMAAT staff and moderators aren’t eligible to earn points or tiers.
• Keep it respectful: comments removed by moderation can cost points, and gaming the system (we can see more than you’d think) can cost status.
• Program details, point values, and benefits may be adjusted as the program evolves.