How to buy an equivalent to BA bronze status for £38 using your hotel status

Bronze is better than you think...

BA Bronze status (one step up from the basic Blue) may not sound like much, but there are some really valuable benefits. The biggest is free seat selection seven days from your departure time, which is six days more than someone without status. On top of that, you can check in using the business class desks. For cash flights, you'll earn move Avios per pound you spend.

Why is earning BA Bronze so difficult?

I had - for a single year - BA Silver status. That was a fluke of buying two transatlantic business class flights in a single year. Now I'm just a lowly Blue because all of my flights use Avios and don't collect Tier Points. I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat.

What are the benefits of being Bronze?

• Choose your seats seven days before your flight time - this is hugely valuable, giving you the jump on everyone else on your flight who has Blue status.
• Use Business Class check-in desks, even if you're flying economy or premium economy - this is a useful time saver, that has some value attached to it.
• Priority Boarding via a lower group number on your ticket - the value of this depends on whether you care about boarding early. If you're flying business class, there's less reason to board first and your business class ticket will give you earlier boarding. For economy, it means you can get on and secure hand luggage space before others.

You can read more on Bronze status on the BA website.

Can you buy BA Bronze status?

Directly no. Earning BA tier points - the currency that dictates whether you're Blue, Bronze, Silver of Gold - requires taking flights that you pay for in cash. There have been some offers related to tier points recently, including one from Amex that gave you tier points based on how much you spend. There have also been offers from BA holidays related to tier points. Neither gave you enough to jump up a BA tier. There was also a significant cost attached.

There is a way to earn the OneWorld equivalent of BA Bronze for a mere £38 If you have status with a hotel chain. Many of these are relatively easy to reach. You may already have status with them based on having an Amex Platinum card, or trips.

Royal Jordanian (RJ), the national carrier of Jordan, is running a status match program. If you have status with a hotel group listed below then they will give you "Silver Jay" status.

RJ is a oneworld member, which means your Silver Jay is equivalent to oneworld Ruby. That is equivalent to BA Bronze, and it means you can access most of the perks that a Bronze flyer can.

It's a relatively simple process, with a fee of $49 (Around £38). I've been through it and have been successful.

Here's how it works

1. You need to register with Royal Jordanian to open a "Royal Club" account. It's free, and quick.
2. Then you visit the dedicated status match website and start the process with your name, along with your Royal Club account number and the email that you signed up with.
3. You'll be asked if you want to status match on a hotel or airline. Pick hotel.
4. Then you can enter the hotel chain that you hotel status on. When I ran this process I used my Hilton Gold. It then asks you to enter your status with that hotel chain, and your membership number.
5. The final step is to upload proof of your status. I took a quick screenshot within the Hilton app that showed my status and sent that. Once you've ticked the T&Cs box, you can submit.

It took two days from submission to getting Silver Jay status. That includes them asking me to resubmit my proof as the screenshot I shared did not clearly show my name.

The status match will last for twelve months.

Is it worth it?

For me yes. It took 20 minutes, and cost me £38. We have a number of BA flights coming up which means that I can choose my seats much earlier than I would have. That means there's a good chance we can get the seats we want.

Is there any other value from doing this?

Yes - being a oneworld Ruby means you can get perks on other airlines too, like AA and Qatar. What's guaranteed across the alliance is that you get:

• Access to business class check-in
• Priority on waitlists and when on standby
• Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating

You'll get different perks for different airlines. With BA you will be able to select your seat seven days out from your flight date. With AA, you can get economy seats upgraded to extra legroom seats if they're available. Each airline is slightly different, but there perks are real, and have value attached.

Which hotels can you status match to BA bronze via Royal Jordanian?