Star Alliance Gold with Aegean Miles and Bonus

First of all, why Star Alliance and why Aegean?
This is pretty simple. There are total of 15 airlines flying from LUX airport and 6 of them are members of Star Alliance, namely Aegean, LOT, Lufthansa, Swiss, TAP and Turkish Airlines.

5 airlines are not a member at an alliance, namely Easyjet, Hahn Air, Ryanair, Volotea and Wizz.

The remaining 4 are ITA and KLM, which are part of SkyTeam, British Airways which is part of Oneworld, and Luxair, which is independant but where you can earn miles to Miles&More and also book award flights from this system, so let’s say “half Star Alliance”.

Star Alliance has many members like Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, United, Thai Airways, Singaporr Airlines, SAS, Air New Zealand and more, so this seems really interesting. Each airline’s programme varies, some are easier to get into, others are valid for 2 years and so on. Most programmes usually offer 3 status levels, like entry/basic, silver and gold. With Silver, one can almost only benefit from the perks of the particular airline, while Gold is valid all over the alliance.

Here in Europe, the most interesting programmes are of course Miles and More, as you can also earn miles with Luxair and Luxairtours flights, as well as SAS, Turkish Airlines and Aegean Miles and Bonus.

Currently, Miles and More flights earn miles for almost all booking classes and distances and the programme is valid for 2 years. From 2024 this will change and you will earn points based on your flight and it will only be valid for 1 year. I will explain the new system in another post.

SAS Eurobonus also seems fair as many booking classes are credited and the threshold to reach Gold is ok.

With Turkish Miles and Smiles, not all booking classes are credited, so you really have to pay attention when booking. The thresholds are also fair and you can collect over 2 years if you don’t live in Turkey, which is obvious.

Now, finally checking Aegean Miles and Bonus. The thresholds are very fair if you fly with them at least with them 2 or 4 times per year. The award miles are never expire, but some booking classes are not credited and sometimes it does not make sense, so you really have to pay attention. I will explain this later.

Aegean levels:

  • Basic
    normal member allowed to collect miles, miles never expiring
  • Silver
    You can reach silver while flying at least 2x Aegean or Olympic Air per period + collect 12000 tier miles.
    You will receive 2 upgrade vouchers, 4 lounge vouchers, status card and luggage tags. Allow Together account with family and friends and extra award miles while flying Aegean and Olympic Air.
    To maintain silver, you need to fly 2x Aegean or Olympic Air and collect 8000 tier miles.
  • Gold
    To reach Gold, you need to be first Silver, then you can collect for Gold. You need to fly 4x Aegean or Olympic Air and collect 24000 tier miles.
    You will receive 4 upgrade vouchers, Star Alliance Gold status which has a lot of benefits, like lounge access for all Star Alliance lounges while flying these airlines, except Luxair and Eurowings Dsicover. You will also receive status card, luggage tags. Free Wifi and more award miles on Aegean and Olympic Air flights.
    To maintain gold, you need to fly 4x Aegean or Olympic Air and collect 12000 tier miles

As you see, you need to qualify first to silver, then it will reset and you can collect for gold. To maintain Gold, you need only half of tier miles as for reaching it, so this is pretty easy and even you can purchase tier miles depending on your status!

Full list can be found on this link.

By the end of May 2023, Miles+Bonus has lowered the requirements so that you only need 9000 tier miles instead of 12000 tier miles to reach Silver and only 18000 tier miles instead of 24000 tier miles to reach Gold!

Ok, it’s easier to reach levels if you book Business Class. You can already reach Silver with just one weekend trip. A few weeks later, you need to take at least one more weekend trip to reach Gold and earn Tier Miles.

Here are some examples to reach silver with one trip, you need 2 Aegean flights and 9000 tier miles:

2x Aegean + 2x LH flights with 9000 tier miles, same days return
2x Aegean +3x LH flights with 9700 tier miles, same day return

Here are some examples to reach or retain gold with 2 trips, you need 4 Aegean flights and 18000 tier miles:

4x Aegean flights, 1 LH and 1 Swiss flight with 10700 tier miles 1 overnight trip
4x Aegean and 2 LH flights with 11400 tier miles 1 overnight trip

There are also some flights that go “overnight”. From Athens there are some flights around 8pm to various places such as Lisbon, Seville, Madrid, Dublin and others where you can buy two one-way business class tickets and return directly to Athens. Please check with the arrival airport if this is possible!

Some examples:

+- 4458 tier miles for business class flight to Lisbon
+- 4465 tier miles for business class flight to Dublin
inbound flight from Lisbon to Athens, also +- 4458 tier miles

This means you can theoretically combine a trip to Thessaloniki or Athens from your nearest airport and book a second trip that goes overnight to earn a lot of miles or get Gold.

Please really check all information before booking also booking classes!

Examples for European carrier:
Lufthansa Business C, D and J earn 2000 miles or 200%
Lufthansa Business Z earns 1250 miles or 150%
Lufthansa Business P earns 0 miles!!!

Lufthansa Premium Eco G and E earn 150% while N earn 100%
Lufthansa Economy no miles for L, T and K!

Swiss Business C, D and J earn 1000 miles! Or 200%
Swiss Business Z earns 750 miles or 150%
Swiss Business P earns 500 miles or 100%

Swiss Premium Eco G and E earn 150% while N earn 100%
Swiss Economy no miles for L, T and K!

Austrian Business C, D, J and Z earn 2000 miles! Or 200%
Austrian Business P earns 750 miles or 100%

Austrian Premium Eco G, E and N earn 100%
Austrian Economy no miles for L, T and K!

Of course you can earn tier miles while travalling to North America, with United and Air Canada.

All booking classes are creditable for Air Canada and United

Air Canada Business C, D, J, Z and P earn 1000 miles! Or 200%
Air Canada Premium Eco O, E and N earn 100%
Air Canada Economy 50%, 100% or 150%

United Business C, D, J, Z and P earn 100%
United Premium Eco O, A and R earn 100%
United Economy 50%, 75% or 100%
United Economy N earn 50% only award miles! no tier miles

As you see this is a bit complicated and needs to be checked while booking!
Here is the link for the airline partners of Miles and Bonus.

Sign up for Aegean Miles+Bonus and receive 1000 award miles with this link.

Are you interested in achieving a status with Aegean or do you want to stay with Miles and More or change to SAS, Turkish Airlines or other airlines?

2 Comments

    • There are some locations where an alliance has more presence then other. Guadaloupe is French territory, so of course Air France is flying there, so Sky Team.
      Therefor you can collect MR with an AMEX card eg Gold or Platinum and transfer it to Flying Blue.

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