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Here’s a little known way to make this dream come true! You can use Aegean Airlines’ frequent flyer program to get elite status on Star Alliance airlines such as United Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss, LOT Polish Airlines, and more.
And with some airlines, including United Airlines, there’s a minimum spending requirement.
But if you credit miles flown on any Star Alliance airline to the Aegean frequent flyer program, you can reach Star Alliance elite status with a lot fewer miles.
You only need:
- 4,000 miles to earn Aegean Blue (Star Alliance Silver) status, and
- 20,000 miles to earn Aegean Gold (Star Alliance Gold) status
And because you can credit your flights on any other Star Alliance airline to Aegean Airlines, you can get status without ever taking a single Aegean flight! Aegean is a Greek airline, so unless you’re traveling in Europe you may never encounter them.
Why Would You Want Star Alliance Elite Status?
Link: Star Alliance Silver and Gold Elite Status Benefits
Link: Star Alliance Member Airlines
Once you become a Star Alliance elite, you’ll get perks whenever you travel on any Star Alliance airline, including United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, and Thai.
Star Alliance Silver elite status gets you:- Priority on the waiting list if a flight is full and you want to buy a ticket
- Priority on the waiting list if a flight is full and you’re on standby at the airport
Granted these aren’t great perks!
Some folks report getting extra benefits depending on the airline you’re flying, like a free checked bag or priority check-in. But these are NOT guaranteed.
And some airports will let you get into the shorter security lines if you have Star Alliance Silver status!
You get many more benefits as a Star Alliance Gold elite:
- Priority check-in (shorter lines!)
- Entry to airport lounges when flying on any Star Alliance airline (even if you’re flying coach class)
- Early boarding with the First and Business class passengers
- Extra baggage allowance (extra weight or 1 extra piece)
- Priority baggage handling (your bags will be unloaded 1st)
- Priority on the waiting list if a flight is full and you want to buy a ticket
- Priority on the waiting list if a flight is full and you’re on standby at the airport
One of the best things about having Aegean Star Alliance Gold status is that you can access United Airlines lounges on domestic flights.
Normally, United restricts lounge access to only international flights (even if you have Gold status directly through United Airlines!).
Important! You must have your Aegean frequent flyer number on your reservation to use Star Alliance elite perks at the airport. Folks who don’t actually want to credit the miles to Aegean will check-in, get the free bag and lounge access, then change the frequent flyer number on the reservation at the gate to the airline they actually want to credit to. Note: To find out which lounges you can access, use the Star Alliance Lounge Finder and enter your flight details and frequent flyer information.Using Aegean Airlines to Earn Star Alliance Elite Status
1. Sign-Up for Aegean Airlines’ Frequent Flyer Program
Link: Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus Frequent Flyer Program
Link: Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus Sign-Up Page
You can get Star Alliance Elite Status without ever flying on Aegean Airlines. You just need to credit your flights on Star Alliance airlines to the Aegean Airlines frequent flyer program.
When you enroll in the Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus frequent flyer program, you’ll get 1,000 miles just for signing-up!
This means you only need 3,000 more miles to achieve Aegean Blue (Star Alliance Silver) status. And only 19,000 miles to get Aegean Gold (Star Alliance Gold) status.
2. Crediting Star Alliance Flights to Aegean
When you fly on a paid ticket with any Star Alliance airline, you can choose to credit the miles to Aegean Airlines (or any other Star Alliance airline, for that matter).
For example, if you book a ticket on United Airlines, you can select Aegean Miles & Bonus while you’re making the booking. You could also do this over the phone or even at the airport.
3. Earning Aegean Blue (Star Alliance Silver) Status
I earned Aegean Blue (Star Alliance Silver) status after flying 4 short-haul flights on Star Alliance airlines. Note that US Airways is no longer a member of Star Alliance, so their flights won’t count in the future.
You need to credit 4,000 miles total (1,000 mile sign-up bonus + 3,000 flown miles) to Aegean to achieve Blue status.
You’ll lose Aegean Blue status and your account if you don’t fly (or credit a flight to) Aegean for 36 months.
Once you get the status, they’ll send you a Blue (of course) card in the mail!
I don’t value Star Alliance Silver status all that highly, because you don’t get lounge access, priority check-in, or early boarding. That said, on certain airlines you might get extra perks, so there’s no harm in having the card.
The real value of Blue is it gives you a year to earn Gold!
4. Earning Aegean Gold (Star Alliance Gold) Status
Once you’ve achieved Blue status, you only need to credit another 16,000 miles to earn Aegean Gold (Star Alliance Gold) status. You must credit the miles within the 12-month period after earning Blue status.
If you don’t earn 16,000 miles in 12 months, all is not lost. You’ll start losing miles exactly 1 year after the flight was credited to your account. You don’t have to start back at zero!
My dad earned Aegean Gold status by flying three 1-way flights on Star Alliance airlines. Now he’ll be able to enter Star Alliance lounges and get free bags, priority check-in, and early boarding when he flies on any Star Alliance airline.
Once you have Aegean Gold Status, you can keep it forever, as long as you credit at least 1 flight to Aegean every 36 months. I don’t know of any other frequent flyer program that allows you to earn and keep lifetime elite status so easily!
5. Spending Aegean Miles on Award Tickets
You can use the miles you collect in your Aegean frequent flyer account to book flights on Aegean and Star Alliance airlines. You can also use Aegean miles for US Airways and Olympic Airways (neither are part of Star Alliance, but they are still Aegean partners).
Here’s a link to their award charts. They allow 1-way award tickets, but you can only stopover for 24 hours or less.
Their award chart is about average, but there’s 1 redemption that might be interesting to some folks. Aegean considers North America to be the Continental US, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean! So you can book a round trip ticket from the US to Mexico or the Caribbean for 25,000 miles in coach or 42,000 miles in Business Class.
That said, folks often complain that the Aegean award booking system is difficult to use. But it might be worth crediting miles to Aegean just to get status (and maybe a 1-way Business Class ticket from the US to the Caribbean!).
6. Another Way to Earn Aegean Miles – Hertz Car Rental
You can earn Aegean miles when you add your Aegean frequent flyer number to your Hertz car rental reservation.
You’ll get 350 miles for rentals of up to 2 days, and 700 miles for rentals of more than 3 days. You’ll earn slightly more on rentals in Greece, Cyprus, and Bulgaria. This could be a good way to increase your miles balance if you’re close to meeting Silver or Gold status.
And here’s another perk: If you already have Aegean Gold status, you’ll get a free upgrade of your vehicle category (subject to availability) when you show your card.
7. Drawbacks and Limitations
When crediting Star Alliance flights to Aegean Airlines, you will NOT necessarily get full credit for the miles flown. Aegean will credit based on the fare class of your ticket.
For example, on United Airlines, you’ll get:
- 300% credit for First Class tickets
- 200% credit for Business Class tickets
- 150% credit for full-fare Economy Class tickets
- 100% credit for discount Economy Class tickets
- 50% credit for deep-discount Economy Class tickets
- 0% credit for some very deeply discounted Economy Class tickets
For example, United Airlines earns 150% miles for full-fare economy tickets, 100% miles for discounted economy tickets, but only 50% miles for deep-discount economy tickets. And no miles at all for very deep-discount economy tickets!
So it would NOT make sense to credit a United Airlines flight to Aegean if it were a deeply discounted Economy Class ticket. You would only get 50% of the the miles flown credited, or possibly none at all!
Each Star Alliance airline gets credit for fares differently. So you should look at Aegean’s Star Alliance miles earning charts before deciding to credit a flight to Aegean. It might not be worth it if you bought a cheap ticket.
Bottom Line
You can get Star Alliance Silver or Gold status (relatively) quickly if you join Aegean Airlines’ frequent flyer program. Flights on any Star Alliance airline can be credited to Aegean.
You only need to credit 4,000 miles to earn Silver status, and another 16,000 to earn Gold. Most airlines require at least 25,000 miles to even reach Silver. So this is a very good deal!
Gold status is most valuable because it gets you lounge access, priority check-in and boarding, and other perks.
But be careful when crediting Star Alliance tickets to Aegean, because not all fare classes will credit 100% of the miles flown.
Have you taken advantage of this deal? What experiences have you had as a Star Alliance Elite through Aegean?