My Turkish Airlines Gold card has arrived, with an extra benefit attached

I posted a couple of weeks ago about my successful status match from my BA Gold card to Turkish Airlines.

As Turkish Airlines is a member of Star Alliance, I now have lounge access across ALL 27 Star Alliance member airlines until my Turkish Airline Gold card expires in July 2014.  Which is nice.

My shiny Gold card has now arrived, along with the usual baggage tags etc.  The covering letter highlighted one extra benefit which I didn’t know about.

As a Turkish Airlines Elite member, I get a 50% reduction on a paid-for business class ticket for a companion when buying one for myself.

There is no small print on this offer, so it is not clear if this deal only applies to flexible tickets or if all business class tickets qualify.  It is also not clear if the companion ticket also earns full miles, although I would assume so.

Given that Turkish runs a decent fleet of modern planes, is expanding its network and has a decent looking business class product this is an extra reason to try to get a status match from any OneWorld or SkyTeam Gold-level card you currently have.  Details of how to get a match are in the post I link to in the first paragraph.

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How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review