Southwest Matches Rival Airline Elites for 120 Days, Register by December 30

Hold elite status with American, Delta, United, Alaska or JetBlue? Southwest will match it to A-List or A-List Preferred, depending on your tier, and registration is open through December 30, 2026. American Gold or Delta Silver matches A-List. American Platinum or Delta Gold and up matches A-List Preferred.

The match gives you 120 days of promotional status for free. To extend to a full 12 months, you still need to fly within those 120 days:

• A-List extension: 3 round trips, 6 one ways, or 11,500 tier qualifying points
• A-List Preferred extension: 6 round trips, 12 one ways, or 23,000 tier qualifying points

Compare that with the normal bar for A-List Preferred: 40 one way flights or 70,000 tier qualifying points in a calendar year. It is still not status without flying.

You can enroll once in any 12 month period, and not if you got promotional A-List status from another Southwest promotion in the last 12 months. Current A-List or A-List Preferred members can match only into a higher tier than they hold.

Get your match confirmed before you book, because the benefits only apply to travel booked after you qualify. Processing can take up to 12 business days.

One more thing if your 120 days run past January 1, 2027: Southwest renames A-List to Silver and A-List Preferred to Gold that day. If you finish the extension in a later calendar year, you get the status and benefits available then, which may be less favorable.