Best options to get Star Alliance gold status

[mikeking]

Hi Forum,

First timer, so please go easy on me.

I'm flying to Washington (US) from Brisbane in early May, returning around a week later. I've read an article on Australian Business Traveller about how to get Gold status fairly easily using Aegean - which is then transferable to Star Alliance members like Singapore Airlines etc.

What I'd like to know is, is this still possible? - it seems to be, looking at Aegean's website, which states I need 20,000 miles to get gold status.
Will flying from Brisbane to Washington give me 19,000 miles (I already have 1,000 miles for signing up with Aegean)?
Can I then use my Star Alliance (or Singapore Airlines) gold status on Virgin Australia flights, get access to Virgin domestic lounges, potential upgrades etc...

Appreciate the help,

Thanks
Mike

 

[mannej]

If you gain gold on Aegean, you gain reciprocal rights as such on the other star airlines. You don't transfer the status to the other airlines, so you wouldn't hold any status within the SQ program.
Bearing that in mind, A3 gold doesn't give you any benefits on VA, as VA aren't part of star.

 

[mikeking]

If you gain gold on Aegean, you gain reciprocal rights as such on the other star airlines. You don't transfer the status to the other airlines, so you wouldn't hold any status within the SQ program.
Bearing that in mind, A3 gold doesn't give you any benefits on VA, as VA aren't part of star.

Thanks, sounds like my best option is to forget about Aegean/Star Alliance and either fly Virgin or Air NZ, and use those points towards my Virgin Velocity program.

 

[exceladdict]

Thanks, sounds like my best option is to forget about Aegean/Star Alliance and either fly Virgin or Air NZ, and use those points towards my Virgin Velocity program.

In terms of rewards, what do you want out of the trip? i.e. will you have future upcoming travel on VA where it would be good to have gold status? Or for example, do you regularly travel on qantas and could do with lounge access? or do you just want points?

There's a wealth of options depending on what you want to do. For example, you could fly QF/AA and then try an american airlines status challenge.

 

[mikeking]

In terms of rewards, what do you want out of the trip? i.e. will you have future upcoming travel on VA where it would be good to have gold status? Or for example, do you regularly travel on qantas and could do with lounge access? or do you just want points?

There's a wealth of options depending on what you want to do. For example, you could fly QF/AA and then try an american airlines status challenge.

Thanks for the reply and I apologise for not making my intentions clearer.

I don't fly internationally very often (rarely), and have Virgin Silver status currently. My partner and I fly quite frequently around Australia (but not enough to gain us gold status), so my goal was to get access to Virgin Gold Velocity benefits, such as access to lounges, better seats etc. I avoid Jetstar and Tiger at all costs (having had bad experiences on both airlines), and only fly Qantas is there's no Virgin alternative.

If I book my flights with Virgin or Air New Zealand, Im pretty sure I'll get gold status. I specifically asked about Aegean because gold status lasts longer than one year.

Hope that helps.

 

[Caversham04]

Thanks for the reply and I apologise for not making my intentions clearer.

I don't fly internationally very often (rarely), and have Virgin Silver status currently. My partner and I fly quite frequently around Australia (but not enough to gain us gold status), so my goal was to get access to Virgin Gold Velocity benefits, such as access to lounges, better seats etc. I avoid Jetstar and Tiger at all costs (having had bad experiences on both airlines), and only fly Qantas is there's no Virgin alternative.

If I book my flights with Virgin or Air New Zealand, Im pretty sure I'll get gold status. I specifically asked about Aegean because gold status lasts longer than one year.

Hope that helps.

As long as you generally fly together, it sounds like your best bet would be to use the Family Pooling option that's available in the Virgin (Velocity) Frequent Flyer programme, if you're not doing that already? Basically, you can elect to transfer all of the Miles and Status Credits that either of you earns into one person's Velocity account, which obviously accelerates that person up the status ladder much more quickly. They then get the status benefits and can guest one person into the lounge.