Status match indeed was very smooth - sent the docs today in the morning, online status shows Gold by the evening. ^ I explicitly entered NO FFP number during booking and check-in, one short flight with no status recognition is not too bad
EDIT - flight ended up posting to both my new MA and AY account ^
I had them match my LH SEN card, didn't want to try my luck with AY Gold (OW, as is MA)
And to renew status, you only need 30 legs on any OW airline!