I have lifetime Star Alliance Gold status and I didn’t even have to fly to earn it. (And note that since I wrote that post Aegean has improved its award ticket change policies.)
- When british midland was acquired by British Airways and left the Star Alliance, Star member Aegean Airlines offered status matches to bmi elite members.
- I was a bmi Gold member, and Aegean Airlines gave me Gold status in their Miles&Bonus program.
- Once you’ve reached Aegean Gold status, it’s lifetime as long as you keep your account active — activity at least once every three years.
- Of course the rule could change in the future. I used to think I had lifetime Airtran A+ Elite status (based on a status match), but after several years they took that status away.
Nonetheless, right now status earned with Aegean is lifetime.
And while they do not generally offer status matches, it is darned easy to achieve status with Aegean Miles&Bonus. You get 1000 miles for signing up, and then if you earn just 19,000 more within 12 months of joining you’re Gold.
Even if you only fly United domestically, Star Alliance Gold status gets you priority check-in and boarding and free checked bags, plus United Club access on all of your flying (when there’s a club available).
The easiest way for US flyers to rack up those miles has been by flying US Airways and crediting the miles to Aegean. However, and while US Airways will remain a partner of Aegean, flights taken after March 30th will earn only redeemable and not qualifying miles in the Aegean Miles&Bonus program.
You can fly United (or any other Star Alliance airline) to earn Aegean status still. But the absolute cheapest United fares do not earn 100% of miles flown when crediting to Aegean. If you’re buying S, T, and L fares you’d need to fly 38,000 miles rather than 19,000 miles for lifetime status.
On the other hand, since Aegean generously bonuses premium cabin fares, business travelers whose companies buy business or first class could find themselves lifetime Star Alliance Gold with a single trip that’s long enough.
Seeing US Airways as a flying option for Aegean Gold – and thus lifetime Star Alliance Gold – go away is disappointing.
(HT: Running With Miles)
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Just as the Greek economy was devalued, expect the same even more so with their airline mileage program.
@ Gary — Other than crediting a short UA flight to A3, what’s the easiest way to achieve this — “Once you’ve reached Aegean Gold status, it’s lifetime as long as you keep your account active — activity at least once every three years”?
I ask because three weeks ago my partner took a short UA flight and added his A3 number, but nothing has posted. Rather than having to chase this down, is there some easy way to remain active, like by buying something through a shopping portal or buying 1,000 miles??
Note that the minimum miles is still 500 for UA. I earned a bulk of my A3 miles by crediting short UA segments.
@Gary. Is there an equivalent route for OneWorld? Thanks in advance.
Gary,
I’ve come around my thinking and even though I have Delta Diamond through the end of 2015, I’m ready to dump them. Considering that CX transpac J is usually more expensive, I’ll probably be flying Star (OZ or BR, maybe even CA…. probably not NH). If that is the case, is Aegean’s program the best? I also considered Aeroplan, TK or OZ…
@Gene – perhaps a hotel reservation through booking.com?
Gary,
I have a question regarding this passage: “Even if you only fly United domestically, Star Alliance Gold status gets you priority check-in and boarding and free checked bags, plus United Club access on all of your flying (when there’s a club available).”
I have Star Alliance Gold (via my United Platinum status), yet I only get lounge access when flying internationally. Am I misinformed, doing something wrong, or was that perhaps a typo? Many thanks.
@Greg – Star Alliance Gold in non-US programs gets you lounge access when flying on United in the U.S. Basically lounge access is a Star Alliance Gold benefit, period. The only carve-out or exception is that United’s and US Airways’ Star Golds do not get lounge access on domestic US itineraries. But Aegean Star Golds still do 🙂
And — in fact — the exception is only related to United and US Airways lounges. A United Star Gold gets access to Star Alliance lounges in the US operated by other airlines, e.g. if you are flying out of Washington Dulles a United Gold can access the Lufthansa Senator lounge!
Great info! Thanks!
@ Gary — So you are sure that a flight is not required to be credited every three years, just any activity?
@Gene – no, apologies, I wasn’t thinking… it *is* one flight every 36 months. Sorry for leading you down the wrong path here..
Aegean credits zero for United P (business) fares? Is this accurate in practice? If so, it’s a major downer, as most of UA’s competitive domestic first and int’l biz fares these days book in P.
How about redemptions on A3?
I’ve abandoned UA MileageMinus as my secondary program since the devaluation and AV LifeMiles works but not well — even tho I live in Central America and speak Spanish!! My biggest gripe with them is no mixed cabin redemptions.
So, how is A3? Allow mixed cabins? Have the usual restrictions on LH F? Maybe a quick primer on A3 redemptions is in order?
TIA
A3 gives a larger bonus for business class but do they offer bonus miles for Gold members? For example, UA gives 25-100% bonus for AC, LH, LX, etc if you are an elite…
and I am also curious about the redemption part on A3 because I am also seriously thinking of moving out of UA.
Thanks to your great instructions, I have achieved Gold Status using the Aegean Airlines program.