Using
Aegean miles, from 48,000 Starpoints.
I could have used 25,000 United miles or 17,000 Lufthansa miles, but I really wanted to use 21,000
Aegean miles since their routing rules and uses for me are a bit more restrictive.
Unlike many carriers that offer better value on their partner awards than on their own, the best use of
Aegean miles is on domestic awards within Greece, which start as low as 5,000 miles round trip.
One particular benefit to using
Aegean miles is that they include North Africa and Israel in their European region.
With
Aegean miles, you can fly round - trip to the Caribbean for 25,000 miles in economy class.
Not exact matches
Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides; the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the
Aegean Sea to the west, and the coastline measures a staggering 5,000
miles!
The fault, similar in scale to California's San Andreas Fault, stretches for about 745
miles across northern Turkey and into the
Aegean Sea.
As a Star Alliance partner, it's possible to earn
miles with United on this
Aegean flight, or to work your way toward status in
Aegean's own program, one of the easiest in which to gain Star Alliance status quickly.
From there, Liza and Pepe were able to book an
Aegean flight from Athens to Thessaloniki for ~ 9,900
miles per person one - way in economy.
You need to fly at least 48,000
miles (or 24,000
miles with four of those flights being on
Aegean or Olympic Air) to qualify for Gold Elite (Star Alliance) status.
In my example above, I will earn 20,426
miles if credited to
Aegean.
To keep it, you have to fly 24,000
miles (or 12,000 with four of those flights on
Aegean or Olympic Air).
United
miles can truly get you all over the world thanks to regional partners such as
Aegean Airlines, Croatian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Air New Zealand.
With its white villages atop lava rock cliffs and blue - domed churches overlooking a sunken caldera, this postcard - perfect
Aegean island feels a thousand
miles from modern civilization.
Aegean requires 72,000
miles on Star Alliance partners to earn
Miles + Bonus Gold, which grants Star Alliance Gold, so it's not a super easy path to status.
Not only could she easily requalify and earn a bunch of redeemable
miles, but she could also transfer SPG Starpoints to
Aegean to give her account a boost.
Aegean allows you to earn Gold status by flying 16,000
miles in any 365 - day period after earning Blue status.
For the same route on
Aegean, you'll pay a minimum of 56,000
miles.
The biggest risk as Gary pointed out is that
Aegean could change the terms at any point so that his status is harder to maintain (that is, they might require him to earn 20K
miles every year).
In all fare categories on flights operated by
Aegean, domestic flights are priced at a fixed rate regardless of destination, while international flights are priced according to distance traveled, beginning at 56,000
miles in the Go Light category.
But if you're saving up for a once - in - a-lifetime vacation, its worth funneling
miles from other Star Alliance flights to
Aegean.
Miles + Bonus is not an ideal program to store
miles in for the long term, and
Aegean doesn't have an associated credit card or transfer partner where you can plant
miles for when you need them.
Last year, I earned
Aegean Airlines Gold status after flying only 19,000
miles on Star Alliance partners.
To requalify you'd need 24K
miles with fewer than four flights on
Aegean, OR 12K
miles plus four flights with
Aegean.
While only one connection permitted,
Aegean has some great values like 90,000
miles roundtrip for US - Europe business class (and North Africa is included in Europe).
Spend your
miles for flights on
Aegean and Olympic Air, or reach hundreds of worldwide destinations, with our Star Alliance partners.
This is less the case now with Oneworld, though keep in mind that some Star (and non-star) partners are still bookable with US Airways
miles (
Aegean, Air China, Avianca, Jet Airways, Shenzhen Airlines, South African Airways, TAP Portugal, and Turkish; Air New Zealand can be booked until June 29; Avianca can be booked until May 31st, Eva Air until May 14, and Singapore until July 31).
As published earlier this year, the same 48,000
miles I would have to fly on United to requalify for
Aegean Miles and Bonus Gold would get me most of the way to United Premier Gold Status.
As long as
Aegean isn't blocking LH F, this seems like an excellent option, nearly 50 % lower than using UA
miles!
The new program started Nov. 24 and now, the path to Star Alliance Gold through
Miles + Bonus includes not only more elite qualifying
miles at 24,000 compared to 20,000, but at least four of those have to be on
Aegean or Olympic flights — that, or you'll need 48,000
miles to achieve the status.
If you don't want to wait to earn your 20,000
miles for Gold status with
Aegean, Turkish Airlines will give you an outright match to Elite (Star Gold) status.