The double set of separate tickets may have been an issue. The policy is explicit interlining just to a second ticket. There have been report that if trying things outside of the policy Gold/Plat/1K (in various different reports) might received non-policy interlining. But don't remember a prior three ticket query.
Originally Posted by
alany611
...through I've never seen status getting mentioned except for cases where they went way above and beyond the policy. ...
Which a three separate ticket case might be considered outside the policy which refers to just a second ticket.
See the thread's wiki for the older statement
If the traveler holds a second ticket on another airline beyond the destination of the first ticket,
today it states
You’re connecting to an itinerary booked on a separate ticket that doesn't include a Star Alliance™ partner airline
"a separate" ticket, multiple separate tickets are not mentioned either way.
I would suspect a 3-ticket combo is moderately rare