Getting screwed over with Miles and Smiles. Alternatives?
 

I fly mostly between China and Europe. A little to Africa, North and South America.

I have SkyTeam Elite Gold (Aeroflot). Cheap flights, decent service. I am very happy with Aeroflot. May bring a dog from China. Aeroflot charges 75 US$ for this. Look up what other airlines charge, I guess Aeroflot must love dogs :-)

I asked Turkish Airlines for a status match which they granted (Gold Elite). I had to do one international flight with TK within 3 months, which I did. Then 15k miles within one year.
TK is a decent airline. Many destinations, prices sometimes very good. Service on the plane is good, website customer service is pretty bad.

Now it looks like I have flown 55k Status miles within one year with Star Alliance, credited at TK, but less than 15k flown with TK. They also give very few miles for their own flights (e.g. PVG<>FRA 3000 miles).
45k status miles should be enough to renew gold elite status but now they don't want to extend because I am basically an "irregular" gold elite member and did not fly enough with TK. I have another TK flight lined up (Europe<>Uganda) with a long stay in IST and now I am deeply unhappy that I booked this flight with them. It is after the gold elite expiration date.

Any suggestions? I fly quite a bit Ethiopian airlines. They are a decent and coming airline in Africa, they are building a hub and trust me, they will be a huge competition for all the Doho, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi based airlines. It is also financially feasible to fly via Addis from China to Europe. I asked them for a possible status match based on my two gold elite but I am not sure they do this.

Any other options? Ideas?

Hi,

the status match rules are not clear enough, but TK asks for 15k miles on their planes to fulfill the criteria.

you get what you pay. All airlines have those less-earning booking-classes, it's nothing special to TK.

if you have flown 55k miles wihtin one year on *A and credited all on TK, it doenst make sense, why you did not get Elite, since 55k - 15k is 40k which is the criteria for Elite.

If you have flown 45k, it makes sense (30k on total)

This is the thing I don't understand. Did customer service [edited] up? Expiration date is now end of the month, then I will know.

I have lined up a few short Stat Alliance flights in the EU. I saw luggage not included, which does not matter for me since with *G I can check in one bag for free. But if my gold elite really expires then I have to start digging on the websites to pay for the luggage.

And 55k status in 12 months (months, not calendar year) should be enough for gold elite. Just strange.


PS: Yes, 55k status within 12 months in TK.

Sorry, a posting might have gotten lost.
Yes, this is what I don't understand. This should be enough to qualify me for elite. It was within 12 months (not 1 calendar year, e.g. 1.1 to 31.12.). Maybe they customer service screwed up?
Expiration date is shown end of the month, then I will know.

I lined up some EU flights, without elite I will have to start ordering more luggage allowance. Disappointed.

I don't like Lufthansa. I think their milescrediting is abysmal. Was happy with TK (and SU). But now. Really disappointing.

Just saw I have only 53k.

45k not enough? How do you get this 40k+15k?

If you have credited 53k miles with TK within the first year then you'll be elite no matter what. Take a screenshot and go to TK's facebook page and ask them why.

You have to look at what class you are flying in. If you've flown 53k miles, were all 53k miles credited? If you are flying cheaper tickets, then it is possible that only 25% or 50% gets credited, in which case you wouldn't requalify. When flying other airlines, you have to make sure which fare class it is and look up Turkish Airline's table for how much will be credited from that fare class.

As far as I know, most airlines have these rules on how much miles will be earned. There might be some better programs, but you'll also probably need to pay more in tickets and have higher requalification requirements.

Who wouldn't love to find an alternative program where we can get awesome perks for cheap tickets and easy requalification requirements like TK :-)

As other members have asked already, considering you have flown 53k miles and credited 53k miles on M&S, maybe M&S ignores 15k miles since you didnt fly on TK this amount. And 53k - 15k is 38k which is not enough for Elite.

Ask customercare on Twitter or Facebook - they are fast!

May I ask what Twitteraccount you usually speak to? I barely get any response from TK on twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/tk_helpdesk?lang=de

I can't buy miles to qualify for gold. Websites says "not necessary".

TWO QUESTIONS:

1. If a friend sends you M&S Miles, are these considered status miles?
2. Independent from Q1, does it make sense to buy 14.000 M&S miles from a friend for 140 US$? It is 1 cent per mile. 140 US$ is transfer fee on the website.

1. No, they count as "normal" miles.
2. It makes sense, if you want to book an award ticket and are in need of some more miles since TK charges 70 US$ for 1000 miles.

be careful as if you buy a light fare with LH (i guess same for LX or OS) which does not include luggage, they won't give you one free bag due to status and you'll end up paying the bag at check in.

Not just LH, SK is the same too.