Looking for help with what Star Alliance FF program to use.

[Matt_01]

I may have a go with TK for MrsM as that may sort out the lounge dilemma I am facing for up coming travel with CA. As a *G (SQ) I can only bring in one guest and there are 3 of us travelling.

 

[HSB44]

Is there a quick reference somewhere showing which star ff alliance programs have points that expire after a certain period of time? (such as SQ), vs ones that don't (or require minimal activity to avoid expiry)

Thanks

 

[Matt_01]

If flying in J on a *A and *G status can you just use an alternate *A lounge. We are travelling SQ EWR-SIN and SQ use the Virgin Clubhouse and I noticed on the web UA have opened a new lounge at EWR which looks better than most. I am interested to know if Mrs&MissM will be able to get access to the UA lounge based on class of travel. As *G I have not thought about this in the past as I get access.

 

[Mattg]

If flying in J on a *A and *G status can you just use an alternate *A lounge. We are travelling SQ EWR-SIN and SQ use the Virgin Clubhouse and I noticed on the web UA have opened a new lounge at EWR which looks better than most. I am interested to know if Mrs&MissM will be able to get access to the UA lounge based on class of travel. As *G I have not thought about this in the past as I get access.

In general yes, you can use any *A lounge, although I'm not sure if the United Polaris lounge might have specific rules about flying J on United (a bit like the Qatar lounges in DOH).

 

[Matt_01]

although I'm not sure if the United Polaris lounge might have specific rules about flying J on United (a bit like the Qatar lounges in DOH).

I will find out in a couple of months. This 3 of us travelling with *A is starting to do my head in, I am confident in my understanding of the OW rules and even most of the QR, AA, BA quirks and it also helps that there are 2 OWE between the 3 of us. Also I did take onboard your advice posted up thread signing MrsM up to Miles & Smiles and requested a status match. She has around 9 weeks to find out if she will be sitting in the AC terminal or the lounge

 

[Mattg]

Just had a look - United does have different rules for its Polaris lounge compared to all the others. But an international J or F ticket on a Star Alliance airline is enough to get in. No guests allowed if you're on a J ticket.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/airport/united-club-and-lounges/access.html

If flying SQ in Y and holding *G, you'd only be able to use the United Club lounges or another Star Alliance lounge (e.g. Lufthansa) under the *A rules.

 

[RooFlyer]

But an international J or F ticket on a Star Alliance airline is enough to get in.

Ummmm... Mrs and Miss M01 may need to be reminded of something at lounge time (if I have things correct - apologies if not)

 

[Matt_01]

If you decide on Turkish, you might like to try for their status match/challenge.

Matt thanks for the advice on the TK status match. I signed MrsM up to Miles & Smiles and then requested a match to her QF WP followed the steps suggested in the article and received notification that she has been upgraded to elite. The process was relatively painless and took about 2 weeks but some of this was our delays in getting the information they wanted. It is unlikely that she will retain post the 4 months however the purpose of the match was to get all of us into the AC lounges.

 

[Mattg]

Matt thanks for the advice on the TK status match. I signed MrsM up to Miles & Smiles and then requested a match to her QF WP followed the steps suggested in the article and received notification that she has been upgraded to elite. The process was relatively painless and took about 2 weeks but some of this was our delays in getting the information they wanted. It is unlikely that she will retain post the 4 months however the purpose of the match was to get all of us into the AC lounges.

Great!

Did TK say what MrsM would need to do to retain her status longer than 4 months? It used to be that you just had to take one TK flight.

 

[Matt_01]

Great!

Did TK say what MrsM would need to do to retain her status longer than 4 months? It used to be that you just had to take one TK flight.

These are the terms that came in the email.

There are a few details about your upgrade to Elite that we’d like to tell you about:

• The first 4 months of your Elite membership is considered as the trial period. Within this period, you are required to realize at least one Turkish Airlines international flight in which you gain miles.
• At the end of the trial period, if your membership account includes at least one Turkish Airlines international flight in which you gained miles, your Elite membership is prolonged for 8 months more.(i.e. it remains valid for 1 year in total after the match).
• If you reach 15,000 Status Miles in the international flights you will perform with Turkish Airlines in the first year of your Elite membership, your membership is extended for 1 more year (i.e. it remains valid for 2 years in total after the match).

It also had other information about the benefits which are pretty much standard *G benefits. Some other information about the match they were happy to accept her current digital card however I had included a photo of the last physical card she had with a 21 expiry. I did run into some challenges in providing flight history as the standard out of the box QF print version did not provide all the information they required. I did try just sending a screenshot but they would not accept that. Eventually I was able to get the information they were after in a single document.

 

[Mattg]

These are the terms that came in the email.

There are a few details about your upgrade to Elite that we’d like to tell you about:

• The first 4 months of your Elite membership is considered as the trial period. Within this period, you are required to realize at least one Turkish Airlines international flight in which you gain miles.
• At the end of the trial period, if your membership account includes at least one Turkish Airlines international flight in which you gained miles, your Elite membership is prolonged for 8 months more.(i.e. it remains valid for 1 year in total after the match).
• If you reach 15,000 Status Miles in the international flights you will perform with Turkish Airlines in the first year of your Elite membership, your membership is extended for 1 more year (i.e. it remains valid for 2 years in total after the match).

It also had other information about the benefits which are pretty much standard *G benefits. Some other information about the match they were happy to accept her current digital card however I had included a photo of the last physical card she had with a 21 expiry. I did run into some challenges in providing flight history as the standard out of the box QF print version did not provide all the information they required. I did try just sending a screenshot but they would not accept that. Eventually I was able to get the information they were after in a single document.

Cool, looks like no changes to the status challenge.

I would personally be looking at ways to get the 1 TK flight in if you can. Not sure where MrsM plans to fly in the next four months, but even if she won't be going anywhere near Turkey, TK does have some fifth-freedom flights. E.g. CMB-MLE or GRU-EZE.