Next month marks the 10 year anniversary of being an Elite/ Star Alliance Gold member with Turkish Airlines. Earned Elite back in 2013 and moved up to Elite Plus in 2016.

Turkish Airlines have been as wonderfully dysfunctional then as they are now. When dealing with Turkish Airlines anything that goes wrong will go wrong, including things that you couldn't even imagine going wrong. As is the norm when the airline messes up the customer is left holding the bag.

What has been keeping me loyal to the program is the relatively easy re-qualification requirement fo 40K/60K miles every two years.

This year however, I have decided that it's no longer worth pursuing Elite Plus.

Hard product is outdated with most of the fleet being comprised of the A330/B777-300ER featuring seats that were initially launched in 2009 and with no plans to refurbish the aircraft.

Fares have been high and it's hard to justify paying 2-3x the price to fly Turkish when you can fly a better carrier at a fraction of the cost.

Upgrade vouchers are an utter pain to use with limited availability and very expensive underlying economy tickets. The fact that they can't be used for a companion further limits their value.

Award chart hasn't been changed since 2014 and the rates are ridiculously low. 90K miles to travel from Europe to Asia is a great deal, though redeeming miles is difficult. Website rarely works or displays the correct availability. Call center always has a "technical issue" making it impossible to issue tickets over the phone. Sales office refuses to answer emails. Only resort is to visit the airport offices in person which has been the case almost every single time.

My Elite Plus status expires in June of 2024 and I still have another two pairs of upgrade vouchers that I won't let go to waste.