End of the year, time to take stock and make new plans
Les joeux sont fait, or almost, sure the SAS challenge with 1 million Eurobonus miles up for grabs is [...]

Les joeux sont fait, or almost, certain SAS challenge with 1 million Eurobonus miles up for grabs came as a bolt out of the blue, but fortunately. I was able to participate without undermining my strategy On status and loyalty.
In this article:
Here I am taking stock of my "investments" And strategies for the coming year. Because I remember, chasing status is an investment that has to pay off, otherwise it's money lost.
Milestones and changes
It was not a traumatic year, we have seen the entry of Virgin Atlantic and SAS into Skyteam, but the real changes will come during 2025 with ITA's farewell to Skyteam, the merger of Asiana and Korean, Oman's entry into oneworld, and the Riyadh Air debut.
As in past years, so too in 2024, my goals were basically 2; maintain elite status in all alliances and renew Diamond with Hilton and Titanium with Marriott. For next year, things will not change much, although I added IHG to reference chains for my sojourns around the world, but still without sacrificing the first two for which I am in the status path for life.
Speaking of frequent flyers This year there were a couple of changes, not in tiles, but organizational. The most important change is definitely to British Airways changing the expiration date of the cards., now all executive club members have the same anniversary that is the end of March each year.
My frequent flyer cards
BA's Gold card is undoubtedly the most difficult one to renew, not only do I have to make 4 flights with BA every year, but more importantly I have to accumulate well 1500 qualifying Tier points with OneWorld carriers. So much effort to then be able to take advantage of the Emerald level benefits on board all alliance carriers and gain access to First Class lounges and be treated really well when it comes to upgrades and small attentions.
In the Skyteam household, my Club2000 from Air France is a kind of pass. which I hope will be renewed next year as well, otherwise I will be downgraded to Platinum, so I will still fall on my feet. I was convinced that I would lose my ITA Airways Executive card, but then just in the past few days came the happy news of the ex officio renewal.
Things are also going well in Star Alliance, it's December and I have basically already renewed my Gold Krisflyer status until August 2026, this will lead me during the first part of 2025 to fly very little Star Alliance, but to focus on other carriers.
Accomplice to the SAS challenge. I end up with an almost "useless" Silver status in Eurobonus, but I might go to the trouble of getting Gold just to take advantage of the 10% discount that you have on award tickets when you book tickets with points, would mean being able to pull even more value out of the first prize of the challenge.
In 2024 I will say goodbye to two cards: the Silver in the Flying Club of Virgin Atlantic and to the Skywards one of Emirates. While the former is a painless loss, the latter is a disappointment, but Emirates does not participate in any alliance, to renew the level you have to fly (a lot) with EK is not exactly convenient for people living in Italy.
The thing I will miss the most is accumulating EK points every time I stay with Marriott, the benefit your world rewards in fact lapses if you lose your status e I will therefore no longer have the opportunity to do double dipping, that is, accumulate double points, on Bonvoy cards and the Skywards card, but only Bonvoy when I fly EK.
I will also miss the warm welcome on board, even when flying in basic economy at the back of the plane, but that is a painless miss.
Hotel chain issue
I have to say that this year I was very good and lucky to take advantage of the different promotions launched by both Bonvoy and Honors. The former did qualifying double nights in Q1, while Hilton with the For Business program allowed me to accumulate double nights throughout the second half of 2024.
The final tally in the Marriott household thus closes at 91 nights, but we are actually talking about less than 50 actual nights and far fewer paid cash, as I did 5 nights with points in Toronto, 2 in Sydney, 3 in Bangkok and several single stays around the world, you can tell this well from my total spending: less than 7,000 euros for all these stays.
Similar situation in Hilton where I cut 70 nights, but staying 36. Thanks to the promo with the qualifying double nights by crossing the 60-night mark I not only renew the Diamond, but I will also have the opportunity to give away Gold status to a YT channel subscriber. Here again I spent very little compared to what was needed.
At the end of the year I also put a little foot, for a fee, in IHG. The level is guaranteed, but the benefits are not comparable to those of the other two chains, or maybe it is me who has yet to study the Intercontinental program properly.
Goals 2025
The big unknown in my strategy for next year is definitely. the ITA Airways and Lufthansa issue, or rather Volare/Skyteam and Miles&More/Star Alliance.
I currently have two Elite Plus cards with Skyteam and one with Star Alliance, sure enough. if ITA really went through Star Alliance my strategy might change, Singapore Airlines does not have Lifetime status, while both ITA and Lufthansa do.
And that might push me to focus all flights on the Volare card where also thanks to the ITA Airways American Express platinum credit card I could accumulate points and keep all the benefits, while also being able to take advantage of booking award tickets with all Star Alliance carriers.
As far as Skyteam is concerned, I will remain loyal to Flying Blue., while for oneWorld I have a little bit more time since, accomplice to the change of status expiration, my card will be valid until March 2026.
As far as hotels are concerned, little will change, although this year I might really slow down with Bonvoy and Aim for a carousel ride with Hyatt and IHG, also because thanks to the parachute that Bonvoy launches every year. I would still find myself Platinum until February 2027, even without staying a single night in all of 2025.