Let's not look at it from the point of view of those who can no longer re-qualify as easily as it used to be. I'm thinking of the A3/OA flights requirement, which is the major reason for not being able to achieve and keep status. Why, therefore, make a Gold membership gift to people who will, most probably never fly with A3/OA and will use the Gold status to simply cause expenses (especially usage of lounges overseas). I really doubt that the company execs are so naive: they cut off those people simply because they wanted to cut off so many people!

The bottom line is that most, if not all programs (I'm aware of) gradually make it more and more difficult to achieve and maintain the highest status level. TK is one exception, but at the rate this airline expanded over the last 5-10 years, it made sense to attract as many people as possible. The question (obviously OT) is: will TK be able to survive this massive expansion now that tourism in Turkey is negatively affected by both war, terrorism and internal political problems?