Now that I have reached QF Plat, I am looking into ways on how to fast-track for *A Gold status to have similar perks when flying with *A (especially within EU). With no status match promotions around, I researched the web I stumbled upon this summary: https://www.loungebuddy.com/blog/star-alliance-the-ultimate-guide/ which shows that the threshold varies significantly from airline to airline within the *A network. For example, Gold can be reached from as low as 40k Miles (Asiana within 2 yeas!, Turkish). On the other spectrum is 100k Miles with LH (and some members include min spendings or flying with their own metal).
Assuming you do not need to fly the airlines own metal (or tickets), are miles with other *A members earned at a same or at a different rate? What I mean with that is: For example if you fly SIN-SYD on QF in J you earn 120SC. Same route, same aircraft (QF), same seat (J) but on a AY ticket, would earn you only 60SC! (or if you fly BA same route in J also only 60SC). Clearly QF loyalty program is shaped in such way to encourage flying QF ticketed itineraries. I wonder if *A does the same:
So lets say if I was to sign up with Asiana FF scheme and fly only LH, SQ or UA, would I earn same Miles-rate flying FRA-CDG w LH as if Miles were to credited to LH's own Miles & More Program?
Do you have any experience with this?
Do you know a *A member which has a relatively low Gold threshold, credits Miles from different *A flights at same earning rate as on own metal/ticket, and does not require minimum flown segments on own metal? I am likely to never fly Aegan or Asiana as I typically stick to UA, SQ and LH.
I'll let others share their experiences and let you crunch your own numbers on this, but just to flag that if you're in a position to get Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade status (either by staying in their hotels or if you have an AMEX Platinum Charge Card as this status is included for free), you can get Star Alliance Gold for one year via Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (KrisFlyer Gold) after just three Singapore Airlines or SilkAir flights over a four-month period.
While I can’t help you exactly (I just got Star Alliance Gold after an irritatingly long time on Lufthansa). I rocked up ~50000miles on one RTW ticket which included Air India, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, TAP and Turkish metal, and I know Turkish has just introduced a RTW ticket, so depending on earn rates it might be possible to get the 40000 miles on just one big ticket.
Thanks a lot for the hints. Chris, I read the article and I won't be able to accumulate the 20 nights in Shangri-la not can apply for the Amex Platinum (nor plan to take 3 SQ flights) so unfortunately I need to look around for other options.
I did some more research and thought I share the wisdom:
Ultimately I opted for Asiana (OZ) Club for following reasons:
1. Very low 40k threshold to reach *A GOLD - accumulated not within 1 year, but within 2 years!
2. No sector required on Asiana (OZ)
3. *A will be renewed for next membership period, meaning +2 years! So in total one could benefit relatively easily for at least 2-3 years from the elite status! + ton of time to renew it again for another 2 years...
In fact Asiana is the only Airline offering 2y membership periods - all other do, same as QF, 1yr.
The down side is that the somewhat complicated and confusing *A earning table is relatively poor on Asiana (OZ). Meaning that if you fly J on any *A carrier you end up earning only 100 or 150% of mile-fare depending on the confusing booking class. UA for example offers 200% for most J flights. This means earning miles will be harder but IMO an OK tradeoff for the 2 year membership period.
I was investigating other potential "low hanging fruit" programs and decided not to go with them for following reasons:
- Aegan is ideal if you can fly 4 Aegan flights per year, then one needs only 24k miles to reach *A GOLD. If you don't fly the 4 flights you will need to earn 48k miles, which is good but not the best within *A (OZ as said only 40k, Avianca Amigo (still have a membership from Status match back in 2015) only 45k). I did not check their earning tables but I presume that it may be better than with OZ.
- Turkish: Although I read they do offer ongoing status match of OW Emerald (QF Plat) to *A Gold there is a catch: you have it only for 4 months and need to fly 1 TK international flight to extend it for a year. Then need to accumulate 15k miles within the year. I found a forum where a guy was complaining that first it said 15k miles on ANY *A carrier and then TK changed T&C to 15k solely on TK. Somewhere I read that even after 15k mile extension account was canceled after 1 year. Sounds dodgy to me + I am not planing to fly TK.
Bottom line if you are seeking *A GOLD benefits for the long run (as me, flying lots across EU with LH and in US with UA) and don't care too much about reward flights then OZ Asiana Club may be the best program to fast-track to Star-Alliance GOLD.
Great advice! With the Asiana program do you need to work your way through silver (20,000 miles) first before getting started on the 40,000 miles required for Gold? Or are you gold as soon as the balance hits 40,000 in the 2 year period? I couldn't easily find the answer to this on their website.
Just flew first intra EU LH flight with new OZ club membership number: they do have a lower earning rate. For a flight which is nearly 800miles in actual distance, these are the actual earning rates:
LH Miles and More calculator: 500 miles (as of now, when switched over to revenue based model my fare was 250€ and would be in miles x 4 = 1000 miles. Intra EU flights will be better rewarded than now, long haul J worse)
UA actual earning (flew same flight on UA number before): 600 miles
OZ actual earning (same flight number and ticket class as with UA): 392 miles
IMO the 2 year membership period is the greatest benefit and I will try to stick with OZ.
Would recomend checking this out before the end of the year. https://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/mileageplus/promotions/registrationDetails.aspx?promoCode=TB8230
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
How to fast-track Star Alliance GOLD
Johnny9
Johnny9
Member since 05 Aug 2017
Total posts 55
Now that I have reached QF Plat, I am looking into ways on how to fast-track for *A Gold status to have similar perks when flying with *A (especially within EU). With no status match promotions around, I researched the web I stumbled upon this summary: https://www.loungebuddy.com/blog/star-alliance-the-ultimate-guide/ which shows that the threshold varies significantly from airline to airline within the *A network. For example, Gold can be reached from as low as 40k Miles (Asiana within 2 yeas!, Turkish). On the other spectrum is 100k Miles with LH (and some members include min spendings or flying with their own metal).
Assuming you do not need to fly the airlines own metal (or tickets), are miles with other *A members earned at a same or at a different rate? What I mean with that is: For example if you fly SIN-SYD on QF in J you earn 120SC. Same route, same aircraft (QF), same seat (J) but on a AY ticket, would earn you only 60SC! (or if you fly BA same route in J also only 60SC). Clearly QF loyalty program is shaped in such way to encourage flying QF ticketed itineraries. I wonder if *A does the same:
So lets say if I was to sign up with Asiana FF scheme and fly only LH, SQ or UA, would I earn same Miles-rate flying FRA-CDG w LH as if Miles were to credited to LH's own Miles & More Program?
Do you have any experience with this?
Do you know a *A member which has a relatively low Gold threshold, credits Miles from different *A flights at same earning rate as on own metal/ticket, and does not require minimum flown segments on own metal? I am likely to never fly Aegan or Asiana as I typically stick to UA, SQ and LH.
Thanks in advance
Chris C.
Chris C.
Member since 24 Apr 2012
Total posts 1,116
Hi Johnny,
I'll let others share their experiences and let you crunch your own numbers on this, but just to flag that if you're in a position to get Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade status (either by staying in their hotels or if you have an AMEX Platinum Charge Card as this status is included for free), you can get Star Alliance Gold for one year via Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (KrisFlyer Gold) after just three Singapore Airlines or SilkAir flights over a four-month period.
We wrote a complete guide to this earlier in the week: How to get Star Alliance Gold status after just three flights
Dredgy
Dredgy
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Apr 2017
Total posts 182
While I can’t help you exactly (I just got Star Alliance Gold after an irritatingly long time on Lufthansa). I rocked up ~50000miles on one RTW ticket which included Air India, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, TAP and Turkish metal, and I know Turkish has just introduced a RTW ticket, so depending on earn rates it might be possible to get the 40000 miles on just one big ticket.
Johnny9
Johnny9
Member since 05 Aug 2017
Total posts 55
Thanks a lot for the hints. Chris, I read the article and I won't be able to accumulate the 20 nights in Shangri-la not can apply for the Amex Platinum (nor plan to take 3 SQ flights) so unfortunately I need to look around for other options.
milesrolls
milesrolls
Member since 25 Apr 2013
Total posts 25
Great advice! With the Asiana program do you need to work your way through silver (20,000 miles) first before getting started on the 40,000 miles required for Gold? Or are you gold as soon as the balance hits 40,000 in the 2 year period? I couldn't easily find the answer to this on their website.
Johnny9
Johnny9
Member since 05 Aug 2017
Total posts 55
I believe it is 40k total.
williamfinn
williamfinn
Member since 15 Dec 2017
Total posts 3
Would recomend checking this out before the end of the year. https://www.united.com/web/en-US/apps/mileageplus/promotions/registrationDetails.aspx?promoCode=TB8230