That's pretty much how I ran it. There's a calculator somewhere online you can plug the flight details and your new elite status into and it'll tell you the miles you earn, but for me a DUB->IST->BOS easily made enough. Also you get a free hotel and transport in IST if you have an unavoidable overnight layover (rules are hyper obscure but you go to the hotel desk in IST landside and they sort you out. I got a limo transfer but at the worst there's a minibus).