Programme guide

Losing Airline Status: Downgrade Rules by Programme

Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Miles & More, Qatar and Aegean all say in their own rules that missing your renewal moves you down one tier, not straight to the bottom. This is often called a soft landing. Qatar adds a condition: your account must have had some activity in the previous 24 months. BA works differently: its terms set your tier by what you earned in the collection year and say a tier "may be reduced at British Airways' discretion".

Estimates only — confirm with the airline. Programmes change their rules. Check your own account and the programme's own pages before you plan flights around a renewal.

Last verified: 2026-09-26 (Flying Blue 27 September, Miles & More 4 October, SAS 30 October)

We cover nine programmes here. For others, see the programme's page for tier levels and the bar to keep them, and check its own terms for dates.

Soft landing: what happens if you fall short

Programme	If you miss the bar to keep your tier	Bar to keep it, against the bar to earn it	Lifetime status
British Airways	Your tier follows the tier points or flights you earned in the collection year; BA may reduce a tier at its discretion	For Bronze, Silver and Gold, the BA pages we hold give only the bars to reach a tier (3,500, 7,500 and 20,000 tier points until 31 March 2027; 3,500, 8,000 and 21,000 from 1 April 2027)	Gold, at 550,000 lifetime tier points
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	You move down one tier and your Tier Points reset	The same bars: Silver 400, Gold 1,000 Tier Points	Gold, after 10 consecutive calendar years at Gold with at least 7,500 tier points earned over those years on Virgin Atlantic flights
Air France-KLM Flying Blue	You drop one level; Platinum steps down through Gold and Silver	The same bars to keep: Silver 100, Gold 180, Platinum 300 XP (Experience Points)	Platinum, after 10 years in a row
Lufthansa Miles & More	You get the status below the one you held, for one year	The same bars to reach or renew: Frequent Traveller 650 Points (325 Qualifying), Senator 2,000 (1,000)	Frequent Traveller at 30,000 Qualifying Points; Senator at 40,000
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	You drop one tier if your account was active in the previous 24 months; otherwise to Burgundy	Lower. Until 18 December 2026: Silver 110, Gold 225, Platinum 450 Qpoints in 12 months (earning needs 135, 270, 540). From 19 December: 135, 270, 540 (earning needs 150, 300, 600)	Not covered here
Finnair Plus	Your remaining balance sets your new tier, and a new tracking period starts	The same bars: Silver 15,000, Gold 45,000, Platinum 80,000 tier points; you can exchange Avios to make up a shortfall	Gold at 2,000,000 lifetime tier points; Platinum at 3,300,000
Iberia Club	Your tier is updated on 31 March; the new tier applies from 1 April	Not covered here	Not covered here
Aegean Miles+Bonus	You drop one tier: Platinum to Gold, Gold to Silver, Silver to Blue	Lower on the route that mixes tier miles with Aegean flights, under both the current and the new rules	Not covered here
SAS EuroBonus	You move down when your 3-month grace period ends; SAS does not say by how many levels	The requirements for your level, met by your level expiration date, 15 months after your start date	Not covered here

British Airways

BA reviews each member's card status at the end of each tier point collection year, based on the tier points or eligible flights earned in that year. BA's terms say a tier "may be reduced at British Airways' discretion" depending on what you earned in the previous collection year. They do not promise that a drop stops at one tier. For the collection year to 31 March 2027 BA's bars to reach each tier are Bronze 3,500 tier points or 25 eligible flights, Silver 7,500 or 50 flights, and Gold 20,000. From 1 April 2027 BA's page says Bronze stays at 3,500, Silver needs 8,000 tier points and Gold 21,000. On the BA pages we hold, Bronze, Silver and Gold have no separate bar to keep a tier. The one lower bar to keep on those pages is for Concorde Room access: 65,000 tier points in one collection year (at least 52,000 on British Airways), then 40,000 (at least 32,000) in each year after.

Members who reach 550,000 lifetime tier points get Gold for life, renewed automatically every year.

Bronze, Silver and Gold members can apply to have their tier extended after the birth or adoption of a child. The application must be made before the child turns two, and members with complimentary status or Gold for life cannot apply.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic's membership year runs from the day after you reach Silver or Gold to the end of that month, plus 12 months. If you do not requalify in that time, you move down one tier and your Tier Points reset. Keeping a tier takes the same Tier Points as reaching it: 400 for Silver and 1,000 for Gold. Lifetime Gold needs at least 10 consecutive calendar years at Gold, with at least 7,500 tier points earned over those years on flights operated and marketed by Virgin Atlantic. Codeshare flights, bonus tier points and tier points added by hand do not count towards the 7,500, and years of complimentary Gold are excluded.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

If you do not hold the XP to keep your level at the end of your qualification period, you drop one level, and the XP threshold for the lower level is deducted from your counter. Your membership at the new level then lasts 12 months. A Platinum member steps down to Gold and then Silver before becoming Explorer, so the higher the tier, the longer you stay Elite.

When Silver and above members move up, they keep surplus XP above the threshold, up to 300 XP. When they keep their level, the new qualification period starts with any surplus XP. The XP figures are per level: when you move up, the XP that took you there is deducted, so Gold from a standing start takes 100 plus 180, or 280 XP. Stay Platinum for 10 years in a row and you are Platinum for life.

Lufthansa Miles & More

If you do not earn enough within one calendar year, you receive the status below the one you held. Miles & More's example: a Senator who cannot renew receives Frequent Traveller status for one year. Reaching and renewing Frequent Traveller both need 650 Points, at least 325 of them Qualifying Points, in a calendar year; Senator needs 2,000 and 1,000.

Lifetime status counts all the Qualifying Points you have ever earned. Frequent Traveller Lifetime needs 30,000 Qualifying Points, and Senator Lifetime needs 40,000.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Qatar asks less to keep a tier than to earn it, and its Qpoints page dates the 12-month figures. From 1 June to 18 December 2026, keeping Silver takes 110 Qpoints in the last 12 months against 135 to reach it, Gold 225 against 270, and Platinum 450 against 540. From 19 December 2026 those pairs are 135 against 150, 270 against 300, and 540 against 600. The 24-month route to keep a tier stays at 270 for Silver, 540 for Gold and 1,080 for Platinum.

Qatar's tier page prints the 19 December figures with no dates. The Qpoints page does not say whether its dates mean your renewal date, so if yours falls near 19 December, check with Qatar.

Renewal has a second condition: at least 20% of your Qpoints, or 4 sectors in 12 months, or 8 sectors in 24 months, on flights marketed and operated by Qatar Airways.

If you fall short, you drop one tier provided your account has had activity (earning or spending) in the previous 24 months. Without that activity you go back to Burgundy. These figures are as Qatar published them when we read its Qpoints page on 20 October 2026 and its tier page on 30 October 2026.

Finnair Plus

Finnair sets your tier by the tier points you collect during your tracking period. Keeping a tier takes the same tier points as reaching it: 15,000 for Silver, 45,000 for Gold and 80,000 for Platinum. If you are short at the end of the period, you can exchange Avios for tier points to make up the difference. Otherwise your remaining balance sets your new tier, the balance goes back to zero and a new tracking period begins. Lifetime Gold needs 2,000,000 lifetime tier points and Lifetime Platinum 3,300,000, and a Lifetime tier is never downgraded.

Iberia Club

Iberia updates card tiers on 31 March each year. If your tier changes, the old tier's benefits stop and the new tier's start on 1 April. The Iberia pages we hold do not say whether a drop is limited to one tier.

Aegean Miles+Bonus

If you miss the bar to keep your tier, Aegean moves you down one tier: Silver to Blue, Gold to Silver and Platinum to Gold. Aegean's retention rules change for members whose period ends on or after 5 November 2026. Under the new rules, one route is easier to keep than to reach: 9,000 tier miles including 4 Aegean or Olympic Air flights keeps Silver, against 12,000 to reach it, and 18,000 including 12 flights keeps Gold, against 24,000. The flights-only and total-tier-miles routes are the same to keep as to reach. Under the current rules the mixed route is also lower to keep: 8,000 tier miles against 12,000 for Silver, and 12,000 against 24,000 for Gold. Aegean Miles+Bonus changes from 5 November 2026 has the detail.

SAS EuroBonus

SAS gives you a 12-month qualification period from the month you join, then a 3-month grace period in which you keep your level. Your status renews at the same level if you meet the requirements by your level expiration date, which is 15 months after your start date. If you do not requalify, SAS moves you down when the grace period ends. SAS's FAQ does not say how many levels you drop. It also says Level points are valid only for each 12-month qualification period, and it does not say whether points earned in the grace period count towards renewal, so check with SAS before you rely on them.

Plan the gap

Open the tier run planner on your programme to see how far you are from your next tier. The tier you hold and your balance stay in your browser.