Using Credit Card/Hotel points for miles
 

After my next *A flight I will be within about 500miles of getting 40k miles with Asiana (after being stung with 0 miles for 4 buisness class flights - that'll teach me to look at fare classes). Seems silly to get this close and not reach *A Gold. I could do another flight, but time is tight as my 2 years ends in Feb. The other option I have is to use credit cards or hotel points to convert to miles. What I wanted to check though was, will this count towards getting 40K miles (and therefore *A Gold) or is it just mileage that I can use to upgrade flights?

Also as my 2 years is up in Feb do I keep my status for 2 years or only for the next 2 months?

No, only actual mileage and Asiana credit card spend counts towards status (even the bonus miles on Asiana don't count).

If you qualify, you will have status for the two months, and then another two years on top of that.

That's frustrating. As I don't live in the US I can't get the Asiana Card. Looks like I'll need to find some suitable flights to take.

Good news on the status lasting 2 years though, a ray of positivity in what I have often found to be a frustrating experience. I guess as they give you 2 years to get the miles they have to compensate by not offering miles on all flights.

I don't know where you're based, but it's quite easy to make up 500 miles on airlines with minimum miles (ie. some cheap fares on the LH group). I'm surprised you didn't earn any mileage at all on business though, what airline was it on?

Based in the UK so a few options. But difficult to find reasonable fares that earn many miles. Even most LH business fares get 0%. It's sometimes cheaper to fly long haul and earn miles that way than within Europe. I use the ITA matrix to find the qualifying flights. Frustratingly I miscalculated the miles for my next flight hence the shortfall.

I flew with Ethiopian Airlines to CPT, but I wasn't aware of the fare class issue with Asiana when I booked.

I shall have to keep looking for any good fares.

Cheap LH fares do not give any mile on OZ.
500 miles are reserved for most expensive fares only.
Asiana FFP is poor choice for flying on LH.

I probably should've checked a bit more in-depth. I got quite a few bonus miles by accident, flying in discount economy in Swiss and I assumed that the mileage earn was similar than LH, but it turns out that's not the case.