Originally Posted by Getafix
First Class LAX AA CHI AA NYC BA LON BA DOH QR JNB return will get you from Gold to Blue.
No. Unless those AA flights are BA marketed, you will not hit your 4 qualification flights.
There are two BA-flown segments in there, so the four-segment count is achieved on the return. And as already noted, it should be Blue to Gold.
Since one can get points for recent flights on joining the EC, the sequence of flights should give nothing to gold in one go!