Top Secret

Beyond their advertised premium tiers, airlines offer clandestine ultra-elite status to their most valued clients

- Jaclyn Trop

Imagine a club so secretive that even its members don’t know the requirements for entry. Many travelers aspire to reach the top-tier programs advertised by the three major U.S. carriers—American Airlines’ AAdvantage Executive Platinum, Delta’s Diamond Medallion and United Airlines’ Premier 1K—but most elite flyers know the buck doesn’t stop there. All three airlines confer an ultraexclusive status upon their biggest spenders and most influential travelers for ultimate bragging rights.

The unpublished tiers—American Airlines ConciergeKey, United Global Services and Delta 360°—are shrouded in mystery. Dubbed the “black box” by Redditors, these so-called “secret statuses” stir up a cauldron of envy among those trying to decipher the requirements on message boards. Membership is by invitation and reevaluated each year.

“Anyone can get the published stuff if you spend enough,” says Paul Eisenstein, a Detroit-based CNBC contributor with more than four million miles flown on Delta. “Delta 360° is a special club, but they don’t officially tell you the factors that trigger an invitation.

“It’s a sign of, Hey, you made it. You’re the pro traveler. You’ve arrived,” he adds. “But it’s like a very strict dad in the sense that, This week, I’m Dad’s favorite, but next week, I just don’t know.”

The airlines do not publicly disclose much, if any, information about their respective invitation-only tiers. That means, from a frequent flyer’s perspective, that the criteria for eligibility are cryptic and largely anecdotal.