Your credit card may not grant preferred status, but it might get you into airport lounges for free, which can be just as useful. The Delta American Express Reserve card, to take one example, includes 15 visits a year to Delta’s Sky Club. Other cards may offer credits for in-flight purchases (like the AAdvantage Aviator Red Mastercard and JetBlue’s branded cards) or in-flight Wi-Fi, but there are lots of airline card options in addition to those.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige cards aren’t even branded to an airline, but they still come with a Priority Pass membership, which provides free access to hundreds of independent airport lounges around the world (like the one at London’s Heathrow, pictured). You can’t just show up at a lounge and wave your credit card for access—you simply follow the instructions in your card benefits ahead of time and sign up for a free lounge membership.
The caveat here is that many of these cards have annual fees of a few hundred dollars, and if you don’t travel much or pay off your balance monthly, the credit card will cost you in other ways. However, if you do travel a lot, the math may work in your favor, and it’s still a much cheaper path to elite perks than purchasing thousands of dollars in flights or hotel stays.