I didn't pretend to a brazilian national so the field wasn't mandatory for me.

Hmmm, Thx. I will see what I need to toggle to make that change.

NVM--

I was upgraded to Avianca Brazil - StarAlliance Gold. I can print the PDF of the card however I'd like to receive the physical card for the lounges.
Anyone of you received the physical Avianca Gold card after the status match?

They said you need to fly with them to get the physical card.

Or propably credit flights to them! This is a smart move for them as it really makes it hard to "freeload" on their status :) crediting to them will yield status benefits as status will show on the BP :)

Well, not really...

It's trivially easy to get BP with one FF# that has a status and then swap that out to the one you actually want to credit in after you're in lounge.

In some programs yes, others are "sticker" then others :)

But realistically why should they send a hard copy if one doesnt credit to them :)

I know that is not the plan for most but it is something to keep in mind if one gets these matches :)

statusmatcher.com has some reports on people getting matched to Air New Zealand. Has anyone here succeeded with that?

In my experience you need to have a number of forward bookings with them, and can show you're of potentially high value to them (e.g. a Qantas Platinum wanting to switch to Air NZ, or a high status holder with an airline from another part of the world who is moving to New Zealand).

It's a pretty involved process, taking several emails and phone calls. If successful you might be granted Gold status (rather than Elite) but won't get the upgrade vouchers until you qualify properly.

In short: their status match is very much the exception rather than the rule.

To expedite your match request with NZ, here is what you should include in your initial correspondence:

• Your current elite status membership card, must be in photo form - screenshots of online card is not accepted (Current status cannot be *A, VA or any other partner)
• 12 month account statement, also indicating your current status
• E-ticket/PNR of upcoming NZ bookings
• List of routes you are likely to frequent - I would also include the class of service you would most likely fly in.

NOT including AirBerlin, is there any OneWorld carrier that would (quickly) match to United Gold?

Airberlin will now only match German/Swiss/Austrian residents. I know that Finnair will grant matches exceptionally of you are only 1000 miles short or if you have flown multiple paid long-hauls. LAN will match if you copy your account statement with movements in Latin America. AA, BA and IB do not match to start with. Go to statusmathcer.com to see reports of statusmatches.

Sounds pretty grim, then. Thanks for the report. I spent some time on statusmatcher and it looks like the only ones doing matches require past or future travel on the carrier.

I'm glad I helped you.