Which airline loyalty programme has the lowest elite status threshold?

The lowest published entry threshold in any major airline loyalty programme is Egret Miles Egret Silver (20 points), then Enrich Elite Silver (35 Elite Points), then Flying Blue Silver (100 XP). Those numbers are not directly comparable — a Qpoint is not a Status Credit, and each programme sets its own earning rate — and 4 of them use small-denomination currencies whose whole ladder is measured in hundreds rather than tens of thousands: Egret Miles Egret Silver (20 points), Enrich Elite Silver (35 Elite Points), Flying Blue Silver (100 XP), Privilege Club Silver (150 Qpoints). So the ranked list below measures the same thing in flights instead. Measured in economy returns on LHR–NYC (JFK or EWR) from London Heathrow, the cheapest entry tiers to reach are ShebaMiles Blue (1 return), then Eastern Miles Silver (2 returns), then EuroBonus Silver (2 returns). That is the credits one economy return earns toward the tier, computed through the same engine as the calculators, rounded up to whole returns. LHR–NYC (JFK or EWR) became a two-airport pair on 18 September 2026 because the Star Alliance carriers flying London Heathrow to New York serve Newark rather than JFK, so a JFK-only pair left every Star programme unrankable on a technicality of airport code. Each row names the airport its own figure was computed on, and the distance used is that airport's. Thresholds checked 31 August 2026.

Not usually. The entry tier of most programmes sits below the rung that confers alliance lounge access — Oneworld Sapphire, SkyTeam Elite Plus or Star Alliance Gold — so the cheapest status is rarely the useful one. The last column of the table below says, for each programme, whether its entry rung is also its lounge rung. Compare the lounge rungs themselves on lounge access by programme. How every figure here is derived is set out in the methodology. For the vocabulary, see what tier points are and what a status run is; to plan one, use the tier run planner, and for the cheaper route for many readers, status matches and challenges.