I like the title here! We’ve been discussing this in several topics over and over again, but this title is likely to catch the attention of many, so perhaps it is in order to try to move the discussion here.
And welcome to FT and the AY forum, Cavallier. And hi to you, too, AlgoRhythmic!
To be able to give you an answer we’d need to know your home airports. I’ll assume HEL for my brief summary below, but if that’s not the case, then much of what I say will not apply to you.
You can reach Platsku either by segments or tier points. If by segments, you’re not likely to be getting a whole lot of points, so you can forget lifetime status. If that’s what you’re after, you need to (1) fly immensely, and (2) live long. Those thresholds are not within easy reach.
For Platsku, you need 76 segments. If you’re based in HEL, you should be able to find discounted flights to ARN and OUL for some €70-80 return. That should be about €3000 for 38 returns, but of course it’s very time consuming.
If you go the points way, you’ll need 150 000 points. You don’t need to fly this much, because you can exchange award points for tier points at a ratio of 3:1. In practice, starting from zero, you’ll need to get 120 000 and can then make the exchange. If you already have points or get them from other sources, then you can fly less and exchange more, but in all cases you need to get at least 75 000 tier points by flying.
Ex-HEL, your options are basically:
(1) Fly (perhaps on same plane turnarounds) to DEL on Value tickets, €500 each, after 7 returns you will have 121 600 points. Change 90k for 30k tier points and reach Platsku for about €3500
(2) Buy J campaign tickets, sometimes available for as low as €1300 ex-HEL, mostly to Chinese secondary cities. After 4 returns you will have 139 200 points, can make a points exchange and will reach Platsku for about €5200. Not as cost-effective but more comfortable.
(3) Combine (1) and (2); one DEL/Value and three J campaign tickets would be €4400 and 120 800 points, enough to make an exchange to reach Platsku
(4) If you’re more adventurous, you could also seek out fares from India to the US, or vice versa. Fares are usually cheap and include four longhauls, so lots of points. Eg. one Value return ticket to DEL and one Business return ticket DEL-JFK would get you approx. 84 000 points and cost €3000. You would then need two DEL/Values or one J campaign ticket to reach 120 000, so the total cost would be in the €4000-€4300 range.
Note that on your way to Platsku, you’ll reach Silver and Gold, giving you a 10% and 15 % bonus, respectively.