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What are LATAM Pass Qualifying Points?
Every time you make a purchase with your LATAM Airlines Mastercard or LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard, you’ll earn LATAM Pass Miles that you can redeem for a flight or other rewards, such as car rentals, hotel stays and more. But you won’t just be earning miles as you spend; your purchases accrue Qualifying Points, as well.
Unlike LATAM Pass Miles, Qualifying Points cannot be redeemed for travel. Instead, they can help you achieve LATAM Pass Elite status, which conveys valuable benefits like seat upgrades, lounge access, checked bags, expedited boarding and more. You can learn more about the benefits of LATAM Pass Elite status right here.
How to earn LATAM Pass elite status
In order to achieve LATAM Pass elite status, you’ll need to accrue a certain number of Qualifying Points in a calendar year, as outlined on LATAM Airlines‘ website. Once you reach a status tier, you’ll have access to your benefits until the expiration date listed on your LATAM Pass account.
For example, as of the date at the top of this article, LATAM Pass Gold, the base elite level, requires 15,000 Qualifying Points. 12,000 must be earned by flying on a paid ticket issued by LATAM Airlines and operated by LATAM Airlines or one of the airline’s eligible partners. The remaining 3,000 Qualifying Points can also be earned by flying, or by making purchases with your LATAM Airlines Mastercard or LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard.
How LATAM Pass Qualifying Points work
After you complete eligible travel, LATAM Airlines will issue Qualifying Points based on a multiplier, along with Qualifying Segments, as outlined on LATAM Airlines’ website here. As an alternative, you can earn varying levels of LATAM Pass Elite status after accruing a certain number of Qualifying Segments, instead of Qualifying Points.
The number of Qualifying Points or Segments you’ll need to earn varies based on your desired elite level. You can reach most tiers with a combination of Qualifying Points from flights and a smaller number of Qualifying Points from your credit card, as outlined below. Pay close attention to the Maximum Card Points column; points you earn beyond that amount won’t count toward elite status, unless you also earn enough Qualifying Points from travel to reach the next tier.
Elite Tier | Qualifying Points | Qualifying Segments | Maximum Card Points* |
Gold | 15,000 | 20 | 3,000 |
Gold Plus | 30,000 | 35 | 6,000 |
Platinum | 40,000 | 45 | 7,000/8,000** |
Black | 75,000 | 75 | 7,000/9,000** |
Black Signature | 160,000 | 120 | N/A |
Information current as of 12/31/22. Visit LATAM Airlines‘ website for the most current list. *Maximum Card Points represent the maximum number of Qualifying Points earned from credit card purchases that may be used to help reach the corresponding elite level. **LATAM Airlines Mastercard customers can earn a maximum of 7,000 Qualifying Points from card purchases each calendar year, while LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard customers can earn a maximum of 9,000 Qualifying Points from card purchases each calendar year. Tier limits also apply.
Note that credit card purchases cannot be used to qualify for Black Signature, which requires either 120 Qualifying Segments or 160,000 Qualifying Points earned on LATAM Airlines-operated flights.
Effectively, customers with the LATAM Airlines Mastercard earn 1 Qualifying Point for every 10 LATAM Pass Miles earned from purchases, up to 7,000 Qualifying Points per year, while customers with the LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard earn 2 Qualifying Points for every 10 LATAM Pass Miles earned from purchases, up to 9,000 Qualifying Points per year. You won’t earn Qualifying Points on promotional miles, such as those offered as part of a sign-up bonus or a limited-time offer.
Earn LATAM Qualifying Points with a LATAM Airlines credit card
Your credit card’s earning rate will factor in as well. The LATAM Airlines Mastercard offers 3 miles per dollar spent on LATAM Airlines flights, 2x miles on restaurant and ground transportation purchases, and 1x miles on everything else. Meanwhile, the LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard offers 4x miles on LATAM Airlines flight purchases, 3x miles on restaurant and ground transportation purchases, and 1x miles on everything else. The more miles you earn from purchases, the more Qualifying Points you’ll have at the end of each calendar year.
In the example table below, you can see how many Qualifying Points you’ll earn when spending $3,000 on LATAM Airlines purchases, $3,000 at restaurants and $3,000 on other categories in a calendar year with both the LATAM Airlines Mastercard and the LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard.
Card | $3,000 in LATAM Airlines purchases | $3,000 in restaurant purchases | $3,000 non-bonus purchases | Total Miles | Qualifying Points accrual rate | Qualifying Points |
LATAM Airlines Mastercard | 9,000 | 6,000 | 3,000 | 18,000 | 10% | 1,800 |
LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard | 12,000 | 9,000 | 3,000 | 24,000 | 20% | 4,800 |
For illustrative purposes only. Not inclusive of all offer terms and conditions.
The more you fly and use your card, the higher your LATAM Pass elite tier, as long as you earn the minimum number of Qualifying Points from LATAM Airlines-issued tickets. Just remember that promotional miles (like welcome bonuses) don’t accrue Qualifying Points, and Black Signature status requires 160,000 Qualifying Points earned from LATAM Airlines-operated flights. There’s no credit card shortcut for LATAM Airlines’ most-exclusive tier.
Click here to learn more about the LATAM Airlines Mastercard and LATAM Airlines World Elite Mastercard, including rewards, card benefits and more.
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Cardless is not the administrator of the LATAM Pass program. To check your LATAM Pass status, or to learn more about how to achieve certain status levels, please refer to https://latampass.latam.com/en_us/.
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