There is another way . If you are in the US, consider getting their visa infinite credit card. Its a 500 dollar fee but lots of benefits. Gets you gold status for a year more plus additional Qpoint (150) that help you maintain the status for longer. The gold status kicks in as soon as you apply for the card. I did the math and as long as i make my yearly roundtrip on my US-India flight in Business (which I generally do) I will be maintaining the gold for atleast 3 more years (thanks to the 150 point boost).
Besides this you get 50k sign up avios bonus (good to cover the fee for atleast a year), flight discount coupon codes.
If you do decide to signup, consider using my referral link https://go.cardless.com/e/f8N0QNdBKNb