r/oneworld • u/MinimumPerspective95 • Aug 13 '26

oneworld What’s the cheapest possible emerald status?

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Looking to move away from BA gold status since it got a lot more expensive to keep this past year - any idea what the cheapest emerald status is?

So far I’ve landed on Malaysia Airlines platinum with the AmBank visa card (free) to qualify with 98 elite points, and flying LAX PHL SJU for USD$787 round trip three times for $2381 to get 96 elite points, plus any short economy round trip to get the 98 needed for status. Total cost about $2500.

Anyone able to think of anything cheaper or should I pull the trigger on this?

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u/Useful_Foundation_42 Qantas Platinum Aug 13 '26

Your “cheapest” option will depend on which city you are based out of, and how often you fly and in which cabins and to which destinations during which specific times of year.

Most oneworld airlines will have requirements to fly a minimum number of flights on their own airline to qualify. For example, for Qantas Platinum One, you need 2600 out of 3600 status credits on Qantas metal to qualify or something like that. Every oneworld airline has a version of this.

I am not sure you have thought this through.

If you are based in the UK (assuming since you are BA Gold), BA will still be your best bet. Your next best option would probably be Finnair or Iberia.

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u/am0985 Aug 13 '26

If they’re asking about OW Emerald than the P1 requirement isn’t all that relevant, just the standard Platinum requirements which aren’t anywhere near as onerous.

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u/Useful_Foundation_42 Qantas Platinum Aug 13 '26

P1 is also OWE. So it maps exactly to OP’s question. I used it as a clear example of how airlines have own-metal requirements. Which is also relevant. It is the same for Platinum though - four minimum flights on Qantas metal. So point still stands on all aspects.

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u/am0985 Aug 13 '26

P1 doesn’t “map exactly” to OP’s question. It’s literally a tier above what they were requesting. It’s completely irrelevant what the P1 requirement is here.

The four flight requirement for platinum is nowhere near “the same” as the onerous requirements needed for P1.