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Bits: site speed, Royal Jordanian offering status buy back, Champions League hospitality deals

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News in brief:

Our site speed issues should be fixed

Apologies to anyone who has been struggling with HfP running slowly in recent days. We have tracked down the problem to a rogue AI system in the US which was continually bombarding us with data requests. The situation should now be back to normal.

Royal Jordanian will let you buy back elite status

Many HfP readers matched their airline or hotel status to Royal Jordanian over the last year or so.

Why? Because Royal Jordanian is a oneworld alliance member, alongside British Airways, and so your Royal Jordanian status is valid on British Airways.

The current status match offer is here. You can only match hotel elite status to BA Bronze equivalent (Silver Jay status) whilst airline status can be matched up to BA Silver equivalent (Gold Sparrow).

If you did this match a year ago and did not requalify, Royal Jordanian is letting people buy back their status. You will have received a personalised email:

  • you can buy back Silver Jay status (= BA Bronze) for $75 for 12 months
  • you can buy back Gold Sparrow status (=BA Silver) for $350 for 12 months

I consider these deals to be great value and well worth considering. Your Silver Jay status will give you free seat selection on BA flights from seven days before departure – well worth $75.

Pay $350 to extend Gold Sparrow and you have British Airways lounge access, priority check-in, free seat selection at the time of booking etc locked in for another year.

What’s interesting is that Royal Jordanian clearly thinks it can make money selling Gold Sparrow for $350, even though I assume it is being billed whenever you access a oneworld lounge with your status.

Royal Jordanian seems to offer buy backs on a regular basis, so if you do a match to Gold Sparrow status now (see our article) there is a decent chance you will be able to extend it for a second year later on.

Extend Royal Jordanian Gold Sparrow status

Good value Champions League hospitality tickets

This has nothing to do with miles and points, but Travelzoo has – alongside its hotel deals – a niche section offering VIP football packages. See here.

A surprisingly good value selection of UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup games were added yesterday.

The packages below include food and drink or lounge access of some sort – details vary by ground and ticket type. The list was correct as of 8pm last night but games do sell out quickly.

  • Arsenal vs Olympiakos for £234 (1st October)
  • Arsenal vs Bayern Munich for £534 (26th November)
  • Arsenal vs Kairat for £200 (28th January) 
  • Chelsea vs Benfica for £157 (30th September)
  • Manchester City vs Bayer Leverkusen for £112 (25th November)
  • Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund for £120 (5th November)
  • Manchester City vs Galatasaray for £120 (28th January)
  • Tottenham Hotspur vs Copenhagen for £167 (4th November)
  • Tottenham Hotspur vs Slavia Praha for £127 (9th December)
  • Tottenham Hotspur vs Borussia Dortmund for £234 (20th January)

You can find out more on this page of the Travelzoo site.

Category

oneworld alliance partners

Comments (70)

  • Charlie T says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:35

    Any idea when I can expect the email from RJ? Was gold sparrow before being bumped down to Silver Jay, and not received any emails yet.

    Reply
    • Danny says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:04

      Maybe it wouldn’t be profitable for them based on how you used it

      Reply
      • Billy B says:
        10 Sep10 September 15:01

        I had this email straight after completing the match last night ‘Congratulations on extending your Royal Club Gold SPARROW Status.’

        Still a Silver Jay atm.

        Reply
    • RH says:
      10 Sep10 September 15:01

      I not got the email yesterday, my status expired start of Sept.

      Reply
      • Lumma says:
        10 Sep10 September 16:48

        Perhaps it’s the people who got it straight away? My status expired the 8th of August, and got the email yesterday, so maybe it’s a month later?

        Reply
  • Jake says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:41

    Out of interest in terms of lounge economics.

    If you walk into a OneWorld Lounge flying BA business but with an equivalent RJ Silver status, who gets charged – is there a level of precedent?

    For example, flying BA from Heathrow Terminal 3 in Business but using the Qantas Lounge under an RJ status, where does the cost lie?

    Reply
    • Rob says:
      10 Sep10 September 10:47

      Based on the earlier comment, for oneworld its the operating airline, so BA. I can’t validate that though.

      This would make sense because RJ wouldn’t be selling status for $350 to people who were costing it $1,000 in BA lounge entry fees.

      Reply
      • Nico says:
        10 Sep10 September 10:57

        Would be interesting to know, you would assume IAG to put massive pressure for RJ to stop selling status, as RJ gets the fee and IAG gets pays for it!
        Or maybe not even people for IAG to really care.

        Reply
      • Jake says:
        10 Sep10 September 11:03

        Thanks!! Did you say somewhere previously that 1st Class lounge access is about $100 per person per visit?!

        Isn’t that a tad high given Clubrooms will sell you a semi-equivalent service for £50?

        Reply
      • Nick says:
        10 Sep10 September 11:10

        Within oneworld it’s always operating carrier that pays. I believe other alliances are different but it’s definitely this way for OW. The underlying principle is that it’s a way to attract higher value customers from elsewhere.

        If a member airline is concerned that another carrier is too generous with status there’s a dispute mechanism that goes to the oneworld board for resolution. Matches tend not to raise concern but effectively selling status does – S7 did it but it never got big enough to be worth causing a fuss. Obviously it’s a balancing act – if the alternative is going to AF then perhaps a few buying BA but crediting to RJ is ok, but if everyone does it then it’s an issue.

        Reply
        • Richie says:
          10 Sep10 September 11:38

          Is there a distinction between which travel class the passenger with status has booked and which OW airline pays?

          Reply
        • ADS says:
          10 Sep10 September 13:05

          excellent news!

          so BA kicks out loads of people from BA Silver … but half of the refugees get status with other OneWorld carriers and continue flying BA and using their lounges … and yet BA still pay when they use the lounge!

          Reply
          • Nico says:
            10 Sep10 September 13:23

            Do you really think it is good news? If you don’t like BA, just stop flying them.
            We are trying to understand economics of the offer for BA, nothing else.
            In general, I would be curious to know how many people really stopped crediting to BAC, I would guess it is small.

          • John says:
            10 Sep10 September 19:56

            Yup.

  • John says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:50

    Is there any way of using Royal Jordanian status (using status match) and at the same time us BA Avios to redeem a BA flight?

    Reply
  • Lee says:
    10 Sep10 September 12:53

    My RJ Gold Sparrow dropped to Silver Jay 8th Aug.
    9th Sept (so after a month) had the email from Status Match to get Gold again for $350 which is very tempting. The offer expires 17 Sept so will have to decide soon. Not clear cut as we usually fly CE (reward or sometimes paid) or CW (reward only, else too dear) so only real benefit is free seat selection but even that looks worthwhile for a year.
    Also used this OW Sapphire status to select seats for next March 2026 (booked Avios through BA in CW Barbados with Companion Voucher then changed FF on Maroc, though it took 3 goes), so interested in the comments that if I do nothing that selection stands but if I poke about in MMB they might be deselected. (if that happened or there’s a plane change that trip alone would justify the $350 fee)

    Reply
    • letBAgonesBy says:
      10 Sep10 September 14:17

      I am in the same boat as you.

      You still get free seat selection 7 days in advance as Silver Jay which I think is decent enough.
      I also get (somewhat) priority boarding.
      I already have Priority Pass and Amex lounge access so the 350 USD is actually not worth it for me.

      Reply
      • wasGoldRJ says:
        10 Sep10 September 16:51

        Same here, back down to Silver Jay in Aug 25 following a status match last year. Have got a 4 sector flight booked with QR next month. Pre-selected seats using the status back in June, but following a plane change both outbound sectors have seen the seat selections get knocked out! Do I wait for the 7 day pre-departure option, or just pay the $350 to get back to Gold. There are 9 pax on the booking.

        Reply

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