They don't directly give you status, but in addition to waiving dollar-spend-on-tickets requirements, there are cards which convert part of their redeemable-onl

They don't directly give you status, but in addition to waiving dollar-spend-on-tickets requirements, there are cards which convert part of their redeemable-only mileage earning into status-qualifying mileage earning when you hit spend thresholds. Before the American Airlines merger, you could get to low-level status on US Airways this way. Sign up for or renew a lounge membership, and you got 5,000 qualifying miles. Then hit both spend thresholds on the Barclays affiliated credit card, and 20,000 miles from that would convert to qualifying, putting you at 25k for the year, good for Silver Preferred. I believe it's still possible on Delta to reach Silver Medallion status, in the first year you have their top-end Reserve Amex, by hitting bonuses and spend thresholds that award or convert to qualifying miles.