How do I get status on Star Alliance? Now that I am retired, I want to travel a lot. I've decided *A will be best for me. I've signed up most of their frequent flier programs, so how do I get *A status? If I hit, 50k miles combined, does that give me Gold status? And by which airline company? What if I get 30k miles on one airline, and 20k disbursed between 4 other airlines? That gives me 50k miles, but will that give me status?

And if I get Gold status on XYZ airline, do I get the perks when flying on ABC airline?

I've looked at the official *A website and I can't find any information on this.

When do the perks go into effect? Once you hit the mileage? Or do you have to wait a year?

Thanks.

You have to get status on one airline. For example, 50K on United gives you Premier Executive, which is also Star Alliance Gold.

The status level that equates to Star Silver and Star Gold is different on different programs. I have read, for example, that it's easier to obtain Gold through bmi.

So you need to concentrate your mileage earning on one airline to reach the threshold for that airline. You really need to strategize what other benefits that you want (e.g., upgrades) and what routes and airlines you will be flying to determine the best airline on which to pursue the status.

In answer to your other questions: Once you hit Gold, you receive the benefits on all Star Alliance airlines. It takes effect immediately, although for some benefits (e.g., access to lounges in far-flung places), you might need as a practical matter to wait until you receive your membership card with the Star Gold designation on it.

Welcome to FT, retiredandtraveling!

One big difference is lounge access. If you get your *G from UA or US, you cannot access the domestic lounges if you're on a domestic itinerary. On the other hand, if you get your *G from any other airline, you'll get lounge access all the time.

It's generally better to get status on the airline you'll fly the most because airlines give preference and perks to their own elites that they don't extend to other *G members (such as E+ on UA and some upgrade possibilities).

Most airlines require 50K to qualify for *G. However, it onmly takes 35K on AC BD is 38K. I believe TK is 40K to qualify and 30K to re-qualify.

Welcome to Flyertalk retiredandtraveling

No. You have to credit the flights to a single FFP (frequent flyer program), but the flights can be on any *A airline.

Just select the one program which is best for you and collect all miles on this one program. Usually this is the best strategy.

Also keep in mind that it is usually easier to get awards and upgrades on the airline where you have Status.
Also think about how likely it is that an airline goes bankrupt - your miles and status very likely will be gone then.

Btw: On the LH program you need 100 K Miles, you get double miles for paid Business and Triple for paid First, but only a fraction for cheap economy tickets.
Also LH only gives you 1 intercontinental upgrade every two years as a *Gold. The US programs are more generous with free upgrades, also give more miles when you have status - especially valuable for paid economy.

If you come up with your likely flying pattern (Class of service, routes etc) you will get more help.

Sorry, very sloppy writing on my part. Of course, I meant "on one airline's frequent flier program."

Hi retired and traveling and welcome to the board. Yes the perks will come into effect next year.
I have had status with many programs, all for a reason, and the conclusions i have formed are;
This was very easy when I flew weekly, when it got to monthly I found I had to work at it, and now every six weeks or so, I have to think about every hotel booking, every flight and every deal offered. Easier if I talk about Asia, I knew that "next year" I needed to do 8 flights min to BKK/sin/dps, so I needed lounge access, upgrades, best business centres with new computers and no viruses, a good business class seat and comfirmed seating regardless. I then concentrated on getting status. Best idea is to list the spots you will hit in 2009, ensure your hotel program suits you, I had to change mid stream. I am happy with *A, they cover where I need to go. Most programs are useless for Y travel, and in most programs you will need to travel at least 5/6 times per year to retain status and to have sufficient points to use the "perks". It is good fun, and I know I will miss it when I stop and do what you are doing, but there's always something new to find out, regards bkkrop

Be careful with BD.

If you're starting from scratch, to get gold you need:
3,000 for Blue Plus
then an additional 16,000 for Silver
then an additional 38,000 for gold.

that's 57,000 in total.

At least, I think that's right. I've added up on my DC account 60,876 "mem" miles since 03/02/08, but I'm still silver with a Status Miles balance of 34,854.

I'm sure there are explanations, but I am blessed with very little patience.

Thanks for all the responses.

I plan to spend the majority of the rest of my life in Europe, Asia (both mainland and southern, eg. NZ, Australia, et al.), and (10% in South America - 1 trip per annum). Not much domestic traveling, unless it is for the odd event (eg. cold and want to go to Florida, or maybe Portland to ski).

I'm still an avid skier and biker so I think M&M with Lufthansa/Swiss would be best for me. I currently live in Vermont, but am either going to move to Manhattan or Boston, both huge hubs for international destinations.

Maybe this is a stupid reason for deciding where to live, but will I have the same options out of BOS as JFK, per se? JFK is bigger, but it is showing its age, and I do prefer Boston to *live* in, and Manhattan for weekend "get aways" (I don't want to live in the City, and living in Long Island of Conneticut is amazing expensive compared to the suburbs of Boston, or even with an hour radius of Boston (you have Rhode Island, the Cape, the islands, etc).

I'm ultimately looking to never fly overseas in economy again without spending 3k+ per ticket. I'm curious as to what upgrades I should expect. With my AmEx certificates, I can't get upgrades to biz or first on Swiss or Lufthansa when I cash in 50k points.

I do like the lounge access when I fly first, so that's a plus. But I'm curious of the upgrades. How do they work?

Would you recommend I stick with M&M with Lufthansa and Swiss? In Europe, I want to go all over (including parts of Africa) so Lufthansa may be best.. Swiss is great for bringing skis and bikes aboard as I've heard.

And are there any CC's I should get that will give me miles for Lufthansa/Swiss? Right now I have AmEx and a Visa card from BofA (I get US Air points). And finally, in re to US Air - I look at my FF acct. and it has two sections for mileage; one is preferred mileage and the other is just regular. The rep told me only preferred can count towards status and the others can only be used for free trips (she said they changed to regular miles because I booked those trips years ago...). Is that like that on all airlines? I plan now on flying more than 50k a year, but at least 12 trips a year.

Thanks.

If it were me, I would pick Boston rather than Manhattan. Even though NYC probably has more choices for overseas flights, I prefer the life style in the Boston area over Manhattan. (Actually I prefer the mountains of CO over anywhere and live in Steamboat Springs in the winter but that's not on your list.) If there is a flight you want out of NYC, its a short train ride or commuter jet to get there.

If it were me, I would keep the Useless Air account and just add miles as they come from partners unless its such a small amount you don't mind letting them waste away.

I would also get an AMEX Membership rewards card so you can transfer to several different airlines or one of the Capital One cards which is probably a better deal since you can use the miles on any airline and they have the best policy on foreign currency purchases and ATM use (no fees but who knows how long that will last).

One last thought. If you plan on doing a lot of flying in Europe, the LCC's like RyanAir and EasyJet have much better deals most of the time even if they fly out of some remote airports and have really strict baggage allowances. No status though so if that's an objective, search a long time ahead and majors like BMI have some really cheap fares. Just flew from LHR to VCE for $100 on BMI and got miles on Useless Air.

Enjoy your retirement, I sure am.^

This is correct ^

I'm 12k short of Gold - and a return trip to Joburg next week leaves me 1k short

This is probably not too relevant for the OP, but anyway...

You can take a short cut straight to silver with BMI if you purchase a route pass:
http://www.flybmi.com/downloads/bmi/routepassfares.pdf

I did this a few years ago - was flying EDI-LHR regularly anyway, so paid for the 10 single fares up front, became silver straight away and still earned miles on each of these 10 flights towards my gold later that year. Also, you can use the tickets as part payment for other BMI flights, so not as restrictive as may at first appear. Won't suit everybody but worked for me.

Once you reach gold with BMI, 38k is relatively easy to achieve year on year.
Every *A programme will have it's pros & cons, but BMI is regarded as one of the more generous earners but comes with fewer upgrade perks. There is an indirect discussion of the relative merits of BMI vs other *A programmes over on the BMI forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=766552

Cheers, Graeme

-wrong thread-

Generally you can only upgrade using miles or certificates on a flight number and aircraft where the ff miles/cert are (not a codeshare) Example upgrade using UA miles/SWU on a UA flight number and on a UA aircraft. Not all economy tickets are eligible for upgrade. There are some cross airline alliance upgrades but only applies to a limited number of airlines & fare classes.

To get the most benefit of status, rewards & upgrades best to collect all you miles (including credit card) in one airline freq flyer program

With the exception of Lufthansa, where it requires 100K for international and 130K for German residents.

thats suprising for US and UA, cannot even access lounges when being *G