Well, I did my A3 segments. so I have a little over 1,000 miles left to qualify by end of May. This is what the e-mail I got said - up to May 2026, I still follow the old requirements, after that - 12 fliughts and 18,000 miles. The miles are somewhat OK - it's doable but the number of flights is too much. I've purchased Flight Passes in the past but since I don't live in Greece, it didn't prove to be very convenient. Otherwise, that's a good option to do the required A3 flights. I got the ITA match to LH Senator, so that status is also good until February 2027, so come 2027 I'll have to decide if I continue with these new requirements or look elsewhere.

When I lived in North America, I think I started with Air Canada, then United, eventually, when I moved back to Europe, I went with A3 - it was either that or TK - with Turkiye not being in the EU, felt like more of a risk. I remember when status was renewable for flight activtity within 2-3 years. Then, it changed to the current format - with required A3 flights and upgrade certificates were introduced, which allowed you to practically fly in Business for the A3 flights to be flown. With the recent changes, that will no longer be the case - only 1/3 of flights in Business if the upgrade clears and even less for future Platinums, is a much different proposition.

I didn't fly during COVID, so I requalified under the reduced requirements in 2023 and since then, the qualification date has been May. Mixing some personal trips on A3 and business trips on LH Group airlines made A3 Gold attainable without that much extra effort. Now, that's going to change. Not sure if the intent is to reduce the number of elites but if the intent is to have the loyalty program more oriented towards Greek travellers, that's a shame. 12 segments for someone in Greece might not be much but for those outside Greece - it's pushing it a bit too much.