Turkish Airlines still offering a Star Alliance status match to British Airways Gold members

Turkish Airlines was very aggressive early last year in offering status matches to elite members of other airlines.  I even took advantage of this myself, matching my British Airways Gold card.

Turkish Airlines is a member of Star Alliance.  This means that, if you get a status match with them, you will receive a Gold card valid on ALL 19 Star Alliance airlines – Lufthansa, Air Canada, United, Swiss, Thai, Egyptair, Adria, SAS, LOT etc etc.

Even better, Turkish Airlines gives you Gold status for two years rather than the usual one year.

You don’t even need to match a British Airways Gold card.  They were also matching any elite card from a Skyteam member.  Even odder, they were matching a Gold card from another Star Alliance airline!  Getting a status match to Thai was a lot easier than trying to renew your existing Star Alliance Gold from another airline.

To be honest, I thought that Thai had stopped doing matches.  However, this email received by a Head for Points reader two weeks ago (who, ironically, was denied a match to his BA Silver card) shows that they are still doing it.

Dear XXXXXX

We have received your e-mail message dated 10.12.2013

Please be informed that only Star Alliance Gold , Skyteam Elite Plus and Oneworld Emerald members have an opportunity for Status Match.

Therefore we are sorry that  we are unable to meet your demand positively.

Kind Regards,

TURKISH AIRLINES INC.
CUSTOMER RELATIONS MANAGEMENT

Full details of how to go about getting your existing Gold card matched to Turkish Gold can be found in this Loyalty Lobby post.

Note that you cannot match your Cathay Pacific Gold card.  This is because Cathay Gold is NOT treated as OneWorld Emerald – you need a Cathay Platinum card for this.  This is why Cathay Gold gets you the same benefits as BA Silver and not BA Gold.

PS. If you are reading this but are not a regular Head for Points visitor, please consider signing up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters. They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and deals to improve how you travel. To sign up, visit this page of the site or click any of the ‘Subscribe’ links on this page. Thank you.

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (January 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