Journey to Top Elite Status on American and United Airlines UPDATE October 2012

I credited the return 2 segments from a trip to Boston visiting my sister in September and also a DFW-BOS run to United as well in October after putting over 25,000 status miles from United to my Turkish Airlines account.

	United Airlines	American Airlines
January	Premier Qualifying Miles – 7,726 Premier Qualifying Segments – 4  Redeemable Miles – 15,452	Elite Qualifying Miles – 54,942 Elite Qualifying Segments – 11 Redeemable Miles – 46,158
February	Premier Qualifying Miles – 12,924 Premier Qualifying Segments – 8  Redeemable Miles – 27,146	Elite Qualifying Miles – 20,692 Elite Qualifying Segments – 8 Redeemable Miles – 58,952
March	Premier Qualifying Miles – 21,961 Premier Qualifying Segments – 12  Redeemable Miles – 43,922	Elite Qualifying Miles – 11,712 Elite Qualifying Segments –  4 Redeemable Miles – 17,568
April	Premier Qualifying Miles – 16,382 Premier Qualifying Segments –  10 Redeemable Miles – 35,622	None
May	Premier Qualifying Miles – 7,726 Premier Qualifying Segments – 4  Redeemable Miles – 15,452	Elite Qualifying Miles – 13,028 Elite Qualifying Segments – 8 Redeemable Miles – 23,158
June	Premier Qualifying Miles – 4,000 Premier Qualifying Segments – 8  Redeemable Miles – 8,000 + 25,000 promo	None
July	None	None
August	Premier Qualifying Miles – 977 Premier Qualifying Segments – 2  Redeemable Miles – 1,954	None
September/ October	Premier Qualifying Miles – 6,291 Premier Qualifying Segments – 6 Redeemable Miles – 12,582	None
Totals to Date	Premier Qualifying Miles – 77,987 Premier Qualifying Segments – 54 Redeemable Miles – 185,130	Elite Qualifying Miles – 100,374 Elite Qualifying Segments – 31 Redeemable Miles – 145,836
Remainder Needed	Premier Qualifying Miles – 22,0136 Premier Qualifying Segments – 66	Re-Qualification Achieved Via Elite Qualifying Miles

Turkish Elite/Star Gold until June 30, 2016!

My miles from my most recent flights on United Airlines posted to my Turkish Account today.  It put me over the 25,000 require Status Miles threshold (by a mere 538 miles).

Turkish Airlines has an unique requalification system over a one or two year period. In order to re-qualify for Elite membership , Members residing in Turkey need to collect 30.000 Status Miles either within the first year or 45.000 Status Miles within 2 years of the Elite membership.

Members residing out of Turkey need to collect 25.000 Status Miles either within the first year or 37.500 Status Miles within 2 years of the Elite membership.

Since I don't live in Turkey, my requirement is less (5,000 Status Miles) than Turkey residents.  With these flights, I crossed the 25,000 Status Miles threshold (with 538 to spare!) and am good for 2 additional years beyond my original expiration dater of June 30, 2014.  So I was able to get these Status Miles after 22 flight segments on United Airlines since August 24th of this year (and enjoying United Club lounge access from my Turkish Airlines Elite/Star Gold Status) and it took me about 5.5 trips and 40 days to achieve this.

In crediting these flights to Turkish, I did lose out on about 51,000 United MileagePlus Miles and Turkish Airlines miles do expire after 3 years of earned date.  My plan is to requalify again for another two years starting after July 1, 2014 and also crediting odd miles here and there to Turkish Airlines (from hotels and such) so that I would have enough miles to redeem at least a Business Class trip somewhere.

For Business Class redemption:
North America to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 70,000 miles (plus about $290taxes/fees)
Far East to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 70,000 miles (plus about $290 taxes/fees)
South Africa to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 70,000 miles (plus about $355 taxes/fees)
Central Asia to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 50,000 miles (plus about $160 taxes/fees)
Middle East to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 40,000 miles (plus about $130 taxes/fees)
Europe/Northern Africa to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines would be 25,000 miles (plus about $55 taxes/fees)

Within the Far East on Star Alliance would be 45,000 miles Business Class / 60,000 First Class (plus taxes/fees)

United would require 120,000 miles to fly between the US and Istanbul or 100,000 miles between Asia and Istanbul roundtrip so in that regards, it would be most beneficial to redeem my Turkish miles on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul in Business Class.

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The only revenue flights I have left is a quick trip to Boston on United (coming up and the Star MegaDO 4 flights later next month. These flights will all be credited to United and I will requalify for my Premier 1K/Star Gold status on United for another year.