Jan 4, 2017, 11:12 pm
Last edit by: Jaenks
Update January 2020:
According to statusmatcher.com TK will only issue the the status match challenge to those holders of the following status:
Oneworld Emerald
Finnair Plus Gold (Oneworld Sapphire)
Skyteam Elite Plus
Emirates Gold/Platinum
Etihad Gold
Oman Air Gold
Other Gold Card holders including *G are out of luck.
Please report your experience in this thread and note the useful information in the Wiki below.
It appears that status matches are only granted once per lifetime, so think carefully before requesting if you might not re-qualify.
4/7/2015
Adding this Step-by-Step guide with screenshots to TK Status Match
http://dcta.boardingarea.com/2015/02...-status-match/
26/7/2015 - Jerry
TK asks for Elite card scan AND Account activity within last 2 months, so it's best if you have some activities!!
Timeline can range from few hours to few days, be patient!
02/11/2015 - flolee
It looks like TK might also ask you for a scan of your Passport now. So if you are in a hurry better submit it right away in the first place with all the other documents.
Date Requested
Current Airline and Status (note list of matchable status above)
Information submitted (i.e. physical card scan, activity statement, etc)
Any replies received other than confirmation
Date Confirmation Received
03/01/2016 - zap7
Multiple reports from December 16th 2015 onwards state that TK now only grants a match to 4 months "elite trial", requiring 1 international TK flight during the 4 months following the match to extend it to one year and 15000 k TK status miles during that year to extend elite status to 2 years:
04/11/2017 - CoweyB. TK has clarified that once a status match is given any miles collected during the first year of the match do not count for renewal - despite the email suggesting that 25,000 miles collected in the first year will secure renewal. TK has said that it is necessary to collect 37,500 in the second year to maintain Elite status for a further two years once the period of the status match ends.
According to statusmatcher.com TK will only issue the the status match challenge to those holders of the following status:
Oneworld Emerald
Finnair Plus Gold (Oneworld Sapphire)
Skyteam Elite Plus
Emirates Gold/Platinum
Etihad Gold
Oman Air Gold
Other Gold Card holders including *G are out of luck.
Please report your experience in this thread and note the useful information in the Wiki below.
It appears that status matches are only granted once per lifetime, so think carefully before requesting if you might not re-qualify.
4/7/2015
Adding this Step-by-Step guide with screenshots to TK Status Match
http://dcta.boardingarea.com/2015/02...-status-match/
26/7/2015 - Jerry
TK asks for Elite card scan AND Account activity within last 2 months, so it's best if you have some activities!!
Timeline can range from few hours to few days, be patient!
02/11/2015 - flolee
It looks like TK might also ask you for a scan of your Passport now. So if you are in a hurry better submit it right away in the first place with all the other documents.
Date Requested
Current Airline and Status (note list of matchable status above)
Information submitted (i.e. physical card scan, activity statement, etc)
Any replies received other than confirmation
Date Confirmation Received
03/01/2016 - zap7
Multiple reports from December 16th 2015 onwards state that TK now only grants a match to 4 months "elite trial", requiring 1 international TK flight during the 4 months following the match to extend it to one year and 15000 k TK status miles during that year to extend elite status to 2 years:
Welcome Miles&Smiles Turkish Airlines' advantageous Frequent Flyer Programme. Elite card trial period will be valid for 4 months. As of start date of elite membership within 4 months trial period one international Turkish Airlines flight should be realised for extending your card validity date to 1 year, if 15.000 status miles accumulate at the end of the first year elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
TK status match (2017 onwards)
Oct 17, 2017, 4:25 am
#256
Join Date: May 2015
Location: ATL/MCO
Programs: Costco Executive, RaceTrac Sultan of Soda, Chick-fil-A Red
Posts: 5,660
Oct 17, 2017, 8:17 pm
#258
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AY Plat, AA ExP, NH Gold, AMEX PLAT
Posts: 312
Great to have some clarity on this as I do want TK Gold into 2018-Feb 2019
Oct 17, 2017, 9:54 pm
#259
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AY Plat, AA ExP, NH Gold, AMEX PLAT
Posts: 312
Found this one the net:
First email:
"Welcome to Miles&Smiles Turkish Airlines' advantageous Frequent Flyer Program. Elite card trial period will be valid for 4 months. As of start date of Elite membership within 4 months trial period one international Turkish Airlines flight should be realized for extending your card validity date to 1 year, if 15.000 status miles accumulate at the end of the first year Elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
The second was slightly different:
"Due to your request, your account has been checked and it has been seen that you have credited the required international flight into your account after your status match date. Please be informed that, your status match expiration date will be extended for 8 months after the end date of your trial period. We kindly would like you to check your account after that date.
If 15.000 status miles accumulated from Turkish Airlines flights at the end of the first year elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
First email:
"Welcome to Miles&Smiles Turkish Airlines' advantageous Frequent Flyer Program. Elite card trial period will be valid for 4 months. As of start date of Elite membership within 4 months trial period one international Turkish Airlines flight should be realized for extending your card validity date to 1 year, if 15.000 status miles accumulate at the end of the first year Elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
The second was slightly different:
"Due to your request, your account has been checked and it has been seen that you have credited the required international flight into your account after your status match date. Please be informed that, your status match expiration date will be extended for 8 months after the end date of your trial period. We kindly would like you to check your account after that date.
If 15.000 status miles accumulated from Turkish Airlines flights at the end of the first year elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
I did get the one TK flight in within the 4 months and it's valid until feb 2018 BUT I understood the remaining 13k (for a total of 15k) MUST be on TK metal. Is this true? Seems we have conflicting posts.
Great to have some clarity on this as I do want TK Gold into 2018-Feb 2019
Great to have some clarity on this as I do want TK Gold into 2018-Feb 2019
Oct 18, 2017, 4:30 am
#260
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BAEC Silver,, Oman Air Gold
Posts: 747
I did get the one TK flight in within the 4 months and it's valid until feb 2018 BUT I understood the remaining 13k (for a total of 15k) MUST be on TK metal. Is this true? Seems we have conflicting posts.
Great to have some clarity on this as I do want TK Gold into 2018-Feb 2019
Great to have some clarity on this as I do want TK Gold into 2018-Feb 2019
It's not unreasonable actually, they are giving you the immediate benefits of elite status in return for new business.
Oct 27, 2017, 8:46 am
#261
Join Date: Dec 2012
Programs: AY Plat, AA ExP, NH Gold, AMEX PLAT
Posts: 312
"if 15.000 status miles accumulated from Turkish Airlines flights at the end of the first year elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years."
After doing 1 flight on TK I did get my gold until Feb 2018 - for the 15k to keep until Feb 2019, do I have to fly TK before the end of this year or before my 1st year gold expiry which would be Feb 2018?
After doing 1 flight on TK I did get my gold until Feb 2018 - for the 15k to keep until Feb 2019, do I have to fly TK before the end of this year or before my 1st year gold expiry which would be Feb 2018?
Last edited by altitude75k; Oct 27, 2017 at 9:12 am Reason: grammar
Nov 5, 2017, 3:56 am
#262
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BAEC Silver,, Oman Air Gold
Posts: 747
Clarification from TK
I got some clarification from TK on how elite status is renewed after the status match challenge and in particular if any points earned during the first year count towards the 25,000 renewal target in the first year.
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
This was the reply:
"Regarding to your message, we checked your account details.
The renewal criteria of the Elite Membership is either earing 25000 miles in the first year or 37500 miles in the second year. You are in the second year of the Elite status. Based on this procedure, since December 31, 2016, you have collected 19093 miles. In order to reach the required miles for renewal, you need to collect 18407 more miles as it is mentioned in e-mail.
The first year will not be calculated in this sum for this time, because the first four months were trial. After the first flight added to your account in the four months period, your account was extended eight more months. The criteria was to collect 15000 miles within the extended eight months in order to add one more year to your Elite Membership, which you did and your account is extended one more year. Since the first year is spend on fulfilling the status match requirements until December 31, 2016, the miles collected after December 31, 2016 is calculated.
For detailed information on the rules of Miles & Smiles Program, please call our call center or visit our website.
Wishing to accompany you during your all flights,
Yours sincerely
Elite / Elite Plus Customer Representative”
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
This was the reply:
"Regarding to your message, we checked your account details.
The renewal criteria of the Elite Membership is either earing 25000 miles in the first year or 37500 miles in the second year. You are in the second year of the Elite status. Based on this procedure, since December 31, 2016, you have collected 19093 miles. In order to reach the required miles for renewal, you need to collect 18407 more miles as it is mentioned in e-mail.
The first year will not be calculated in this sum for this time, because the first four months were trial. After the first flight added to your account in the four months period, your account was extended eight more months. The criteria was to collect 15000 miles within the extended eight months in order to add one more year to your Elite Membership, which you did and your account is extended one more year. Since the first year is spend on fulfilling the status match requirements until December 31, 2016, the miles collected after December 31, 2016 is calculated.
For detailed information on the rules of Miles & Smiles Program, please call our call center or visit our website.
Wishing to accompany you during your all flights,
Yours sincerely
Elite / Elite Plus Customer Representative”
Nov 5, 2017, 4:23 am
#263
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,033
I got some clarification from TK on how elite status is renewed after the status match challenge and in particular if any points earned during the first year count towards the 25,000 renewal target in the first year.
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
- Before 28 Feb 2018, 1 flight on TK
- Before 31 Oct 2018, 15K miles on TK only, although that 1 TK flight counts
- Before 31 Oct 2019, an additional 22.5K miles on *A
Or does you calendar reset the moment you hit 15K, and you only have 12 months of Elite left? Otherwise I can't quite tell why you couldn't do 25K in that first year...
I have to consider myself rather lucky to have done my TK status match before all of these complications...
Nov 5, 2017, 11:12 am
#264
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: SFO, BRU, ADB
Programs: UA Gold, BA Silver, Marriott Titanium, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 702
I got some clarification from TK on how elite status is renewed after the status match challenge and in particular if any points earned during the first year count towards the 25,000 renewal target in the first year.
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
This was the reply:
"Regarding to your message, we checked your account details.
The renewal criteria of the Elite Membership is either earing 25000 miles in the first year or 37500 miles in the second year. You are in the second year of the Elite status. Based on this procedure, since December 31, 2016, you have collected 19093 miles. In order to reach the required miles for renewal, you need to collect 18407 more miles as it is mentioned in e-mail.
The first year will not be calculated in this sum for this time, because the first four months were trial. After the first flight added to your account in the four months period, your account was extended eight more months. The criteria was to collect 15000 miles within the extended eight months in order to add one more year to your Elite Membership, which you did and your account is extended one more year. Since the first year is spend on fulfilling the status match requirements until December 31, 2016, the miles collected after December 31, 2016 is calculated.
For detailed information on the rules of Miles & Smiles Program, please call our call center or visit our website.
Wishing to accompany you during your all flights,
Yours sincerely
Elite / Elite Plus Customer Representative”
It turns out it doesn’t, it's earning 37,500 in the second year of the challenge which will get renewal.
This was the reply:
"Regarding to your message, we checked your account details.
The renewal criteria of the Elite Membership is either earing 25000 miles in the first year or 37500 miles in the second year. You are in the second year of the Elite status. Based on this procedure, since December 31, 2016, you have collected 19093 miles. In order to reach the required miles for renewal, you need to collect 18407 more miles as it is mentioned in e-mail.
The first year will not be calculated in this sum for this time, because the first four months were trial. After the first flight added to your account in the four months period, your account was extended eight more months. The criteria was to collect 15000 miles within the extended eight months in order to add one more year to your Elite Membership, which you did and your account is extended one more year. Since the first year is spend on fulfilling the status match requirements until December 31, 2016, the miles collected after December 31, 2016 is calculated.
For detailed information on the rules of Miles & Smiles Program, please call our call center or visit our website.
Wishing to accompany you during your all flights,
Yours sincerely
Elite / Elite Plus Customer Representative”
Huh this really sucks... So I will have around 55k status miles collected at the end of my 2 years and I can't renew
I did 25k the first year and will have 30k more at the end of the second year (February 2018)...
Nov 6, 2017, 12:44 am
#265
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,033
What does your account say for "card renewal" under "card operations" on the old version of TK's website? It should be the number of miles you need.
Nov 6, 2017, 10:01 am
#266
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BAEC Silver,, Oman Air Gold
Posts: 747
When I do that it says 18,407 the same number as they advised me in the email. I have a trip to Vietnam coming up at the end of the month so I will make it with a few thousand miles to spare, thankfully.
Nov 6, 2017, 2:28 pm
#267
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,033
Still curious to find out whether you can do 25K in the first year just like any other Elite member trying to re-qualify.
Nov 6, 2017, 6:34 pm
#268
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: SFO, BRU, ADB
Programs: UA Gold, BA Silver, Marriott Titanium, IHG Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 702
My account says I need 37.5k miles IN the second year, not over two years... That's what I find weird.
And I even did more than 25k miles in the first year of the match but that didn't extend my status 2 more years.
All in all I will have:
Year 1: A little over 25k miles
Year 2: Will have a little over 30k miles (second year end is 02/2018)
55k miles total over 2 years.
I sent an email to TK, waiting for some clarification. Might switch the 20k miles I have coming in the next 2 months to UA I guess.
And I even did more than 25k miles in the first year of the match but that didn't extend my status 2 more years.
All in all I will have:
Year 1: A little over 25k miles
Year 2: Will have a little over 30k miles (second year end is 02/2018)
55k miles total over 2 years.
I sent an email to TK, waiting for some clarification. Might switch the 20k miles I have coming in the next 2 months to UA I guess.
Nov 6, 2017, 6:58 pm
#269
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Moscow
Posts: 1
Hi there! i sent a scan of my SU gold card (ST ELP), some stats (2 screenshots) and a scan of my passport. Elite status was granted within 96 hours without any questions. As usual 4 month trial in case of one international flight validity will be extended
Nov 7, 2017, 12:47 am
#270
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BAEC Silver,, Oman Air Gold
Posts: 747
This is exactly the issue. I went back to them to point out that I had over 25K in the first year so why hadn’t I requalified as Elite?
As you can see from the message from them which I posted, the first year doesn’t count for requalifying purposes so you have to get all the 37,500 points in year 2.
The initial status match challenge emails just don’t make that clear at all but there we are...