Turkish Airlines has been offering a status match challenge for quite some time now. The carrier and its frequent flyer program Miles&Smiles are Star Alliance members, and therefore you can obtain Star Alliance Gold by reaching Miles&Smiles Elite. To take part in the challenge, you will need to hold at least SkyTeam Elite Plus, Oneworld Emerald or Star Alliance Gold status with another airline.
Over the last couple of years, Turkish Airlines has tightened the requirements for its status match. While they used to give away their Elite tier without any additional conditions that had to be met, it now has become a challenge that you have to complete. Currently, this is how it works:
- If you’re accepted to the challenge, you will be granted a Miles&Smiles status for 4 months. Within this time, you will have to fly Turkish Airways at least once internationally, e.g., from Spain to Istanbul.
- The validity of your status will be extended to one year. Within that year, you will need to earn 15,000 miles on your frequent flyer account. You have to collect these miles exclusively on Turkish Airlines flights! Even though the welcome mail that the carrier sends out doesn’t mention this.
- After completing that challenge, your Miles&Smiles status will be valid for 2 years.
These are the official requirements:
Welcome to Miles&Smiles Turkish Airlines’ advantageous Frequent Flyer Programme. Elite card trial period will be valid for 4 months. As of start date of elite membership within 4 months trial period one international Turkish Airlines flight should be realised for extending your card validity date to 1 year, if 15.000 status miles accumulate at the end of the first year elite membership will extend 1 year more and the total validity date will be 2 years.
Once you’ve met all the criteria, you will need 25,000 miles within one year or 37,500 miles within 2 years to keep your Miles&Smiles Elite tier from expiring. The extension of your status will be another 2 years.
How to do the Miles&Smiles Status Match
Time needed: 10 minutes
Follow our step-by-step instructions, and you shouldn’t run into any major problems. If we’ve missed something or if your experience differs from ours, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks!
- Become a Miles&Smiles member
First of all, you should set up an account with Miles&Smiles. The process pretty much explains itself. If you’re having trouble entering your address because your city is not available, just make sure to enter the correct postal code.
- Prepare all documents
To request a match, you will need a picture of your current frequent flyer card as well as a screenshot of your account, showing your current status. Turkish Airways doesn’t seem to care about the number of miles that you earned to obtain your current status. Still, it can’t hurt if there’s been at least some activity over the past two or three months.
Turkish Airlines will also request some form of ID (a passport in most cases) It’s up to you if you want to send it right away or wait for the airline to ask for it – which they most likely will. In some cases, it has been necessary to verify the member’s identity at a Turkish Airlines ticketing desk at the airport. - Request the match
Your request for the status match has to be transmitted via the customer contact form. Choose New Feedback:
- Attach your documents
You can now type of few lines and attach the picture of your frequent flyer card as well as the screenshot of your account. It would be better to convert both files into one PDF. And keep the file size below 1 MB. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble uploading it.
At the end of the process, log in to your account with your Miles&Smiles number and send the request. - Wait for the response
Now all there is left to do is wait. It shouldn’t take longer than 2 weeks to receive a response from the airline. If it does, simply resend your application.
Even though you have attached your frequent flyer card and the screenshot of your account, Turkish Airlines could ask you to send them again. Just use the files you converted to a PDF and attach them to your reply. It should work on the second attempt.
There’s no way to tell how long it might take for your card to arrive. But don’t get nervous if it takes three weeks or longer.
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Misleading Email
Some people will receive a welcome mail stating that they’ve been matched to Classic Plus. Now, before you get all upset, log in and check your account. In most cases, your new status is Elite.
Confirmed Matches
- Aegean Miles+Bonus Gold → Elite
- British Airways Executive Club Gold → Elite
- Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club Diamond → Elite
- United 1 K Mileage Plus → Elite
- Emirates Skywards Gold → Elite
- FlyingBlue Gold → Elite
- FlyingBlue Platinum → Elite
- Delta SkyMiles Gold Medallion → Elite
- Finnair Plus Gold → Elite
- Garuda Indonesia Platinum → Elite
- ITA Volare Elite Plus → Elite
- Iberia Plus Oro (Gold) → declined
- Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum → Elite
- Qatar Privilege Club Platinum → Elite
- Lufthansa Miles&More Senator → Elite
If you’ve been successful with your request for a status match, we’d love to hear from you in the comment section!
Advantages of Miles&Smiles Elite
As a holder of Miles&Smiles Elite status, you will also obtain Star Alliance Gold, including all its benefits:
- Extra luggage allowance (20kg or one additional bag)
- Priority check-in
- Access to the frequent flyer lounge (you can bring one guest)
- Priority boarding
- Priority luggage handling
- Higher priority on the standby list
Also, you will receive 25% more award and tier miles on Turkish Airlines business class flights!
Comments (40)
Hi, I currently have American Advantage Executive Platinum (OW Emerald), and I have just been matched successfully and got a four-month TK Gold membership. Thanks for your advice.
Attempted to status match SAS Eurobonus yesterday (I’m Diamond and lifetime Gold) but got rejected.
Will try BA Silver today!
Attempted to match A3 Gold to TK Elite. Wrote the nicest letter to the feedback link, attached all the necessary supporting materials neatly packaged into a PDF. But within 12 hrs, received the following: “However, the airline whose frequent flyer program you are a member of is not one of our partner airlines. As such, we are unable to fulfill your request to match your membership status to Elite.” :”(
Matching within the same alliance is often rejected
I just received a message that my SAS Eurobonus gold was matched to TK Elite. First attempt was not accepted (I prepared the document screenshots from the Eurobonus App in a too chaotic way and then TK just rejected without reason) then I started a second application yesterday with an apology, a full PDF print from my desktop sas login account and a statement that I really want to switch to TK because SAS is leaving star alliance. Happy that it worked in second attempt:-) thank you
Just got matched from Aegean (A3) Gold to Turkish Airlines Elite / Gold. Process worked precisely as described on this site and went very fast. For me it took only 10 hours until I got the status matched and the email, including the known challenge details.
Does anyone know if it is possible to fly an “operated by anadolujet” TK flight to extend the 4 trial month to one year period? Thanks
Just got approved SAS Eurobonus status Gold match to Elite. The only requirement was at least 2 months validity on my EB.
Skyteam elite plus (Flyingblue Gold) – they responded to me the following day, however, they require that your membership has at least 4 months left until expiration, which I don’t have anymore…
Bogus match, Oneworld Gold, Turkish Airlines replied within two days: However, the airline whose frequent flyer program you are a member of is not one of our partner airlines
I do not know where you get this information from. A status match is impossible at this moment.
There is no possibility anymore to do status match Lufthansa Senator -> Turkish Elite? How to get easier a gold card in different airlines by the status match?
I don´t understand one thing about the renewal for another 2 years. I got my status match on 8 March 2023. I will have 15000 TK miles collected by 8 March 2024. My Elite status will extend for another year till 8 March 2025. Where does the 25000 miles or 37500 miles count? Is it enough to earn 25000 status miles in period 8 March 2024 – 8 March 2025? Or is this considered second year and I need 37500 status miles? Thank you for your answer.
Where is the link to apply the Turkish airline gold card challenge?
Hallo, benötige im August noch den einen Flug, der nach Status-Match die 4 Monate um 8 Monate verlängert.
Da aktuell alle TK-Flüge sehr teuer:
Zählt dafür auch ein TK-Flug im Rahmen einer Pauschalreise?
Danke für eure Hilfe!!
Viele Grüße, Cedric
Hallo Cedric, wenn du deine Vielfliegernummer beim Check-in angibst, sollten auch Flüge als Teil einer Pauschalreise zählen. Am besten informierst du dich vorher nochmal über die Buchungsklasse.
Is it still possible to match using Asiana Diamond？
Hi Felix!
According to comments on statusmatcher.com, Turkish Airlines no longer matches Star Alliance partners. But the best way to find out is to try it yourself. https://statusmatcher.com/company/turkish-airlines
Successful get the Gold level with Emerald status of Iberia
I have executive plat with American , Emerald on Oneworld.. would that work ?
It should
How long this offer “Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Status Match Challenge” is valid. I’m going fly with Turkish Airlines en of the January, returning begin of February. That’s why it’s nice to know…
There’s no official end to this promotion, but it’s been going on for years, so we don’t expect it to end anytime soon. But there’s no guarantee.
What do you think, how it goes, if I book the international flight by Turkish now. I fly begin of second of March. I make an application begin of November then I fly within that four months…but, then I have already booked flight before I make an application?
That should work, but if you’re going to fly in March, then maybe do the match in January/February instead of in November, just in case.
Hello – after getting matched and flying TK once, is it possible to maintain the TK status without flying TK at all, and collecting miles with other star alliance flights only? How many non-TK star alliance miles i would need to collect to maintain my Elit status, if that’s possible at all?
Hi,
there is no requirement of having to fly with TK (once you did that one international flight after the match). In theory, you could earn all of your miles on Star Alliance partner airlines. However, be aware that TK doesn’t give any miles on certain booking classes, such as Lufthansa’s cheapest “K” economy class or “P” business class.
Hi!
Sorry, but your reply is just partly correct. I attended the Status match too and the policy is very strict:
“If you reach 15,000 Status Miles in the international flights you will perform with Turkish Airlines in the first year of your Elite membership, your membership is extended for 1 more year (i.e. it remains valid for 2 years in total after the match).”
So you need to fly more than 1 international flight – the 15k miles have to be flown with TK, afterwards you can maintain the status with every single airline part of *A
BR
By the way if i get matched to turkish gold elite for 4 months and in the 4 months i manage to get 25k miles on any other star alliance carrier can my miles be extended to two years
Tried to get LH HON matched, but it was denied.
“Referring to your request, we are unable to meet your demand positively.
Thank you for your understanding”
Got Elite status matched using Asiana Diamond last month. Pretty easy following these great instructions.
Am using their business class promo fare out of Malpensa.
Avianca LifeMiles Diamond (highest * Elite status in LifeMiles) status match was rejected yesterday. Avianca is currently undergoing a “Chapter 11″ reorganization process, which, in principle, will not affect the frequent flyer program, and any Star Alliance partner will be required to recognize it in full, at least for the next 20 months. If anyone has experience of refusing to offer all LifeMiles Gold / Diamond benefits: thank you for sharing here. (Long before the COVID-19 hysteria I had encountered a similar attempt, when I registered at the Lufthansa Senator Lounge in Frankfurt, the employee insisted that “Avianca Brasil” had gone bankrupt, so my elite level was no longer valid, it took me about half an hour to clear with the very intelligent receptionist that ‘Avianca Brasil’ (ex Ocean Air) never had anything to do with the ‘LifeMiles’ frequent flyer program, had its own frequent flyer program (‘Amigo’), not as part of * A.) On the Turkish Airlines website the status match is no longer available, it’s virtually up to the airline decide which frequent flyer program and which elite level it’s willing to match. I’ve also seen accepted and rejected United 1K Mileage Plus matches on Flyertalk forums: they’re completely unpredictable. A similarly exciting issue is the expiration of the qualification period for existing TK (Miles & Smiles) status miles. I would recommend to the “Travel-Dealz” administrators a separate publication on this topic (possibly on the same serious issue for expiring status miles in other frequent flyer programs), but at least to raise a discussion topic in the forum. Turkish Airlines has not been flying for more than two months, and I have serious doubts as to whether they will be operating international destinations again by mid-June at all. (I sadly note the pathetic airline announcement shared on the internet – not yet officially published on the Turkish Airlines website – in the Turkish press, that reduces the hitherto “legendary” Sultan business class catering to sandwiches and water, who knows how long. ) A decision to extend the validity of existing Elite (* A Gold) statuses by six months has already been published, but appears that status miles have not yet reached Elite status, will be subject to a 12-month ‘downgrade’ (award miles after the 12-month qualification period). It’s a rather indecent policy to extend the validity of Elite (* A Gold) statuses by half a year, as it’s virtually unlikely that a person whose qualifying period expires between March and June, will be able to retain his status miles accrued within one year until the recovery of international aviation. According to the “legendarily always confusing” TK customer service: “such is life” (they literally told me that), everyone has to bear certain consequences of the economic damage caused by COVID-19: they’re unwilling to extend the 12-month qualification period for status miles, until Turkish Airlines fly their international flights again. They make the extremely cheeky offer for everyone: “up to 10,000 miles buy status miles”. On the one hand, the price of these miles ($ 70 / 1,000 miles) is everything but not fair, for the price of buying 20,000 miles it was previously possible to buy a flight ticket to international destinations (e.g. AMS-IST-PTY return) that allowed more miles to be collected for 20,000; and not even a European I. award return ticket can be bought at Turkish Airlines for 20,000 miles. On the other hand, even at this exorbitant price, no more than 10,000 status miles are allowed to buy, which is hardly helpful to anyone who is halfway to collecting status miles towards Elite status (a total of 40,000 miles must be collected within 12 months). Who has opinion, position or other experience in this regard?
Hi Patrick,
I currently have Asiana club diamond (star gold) status. I was wondering if there was an original status validity requirement, i.e., can I request to match during the last month of my Asiana membership?
Thanks!
Hi John!
There is no validity requirement we are aware of. You can just go ahead and try. It would be very nice if you let us know if it worked or not, so we can add that information to this article. Good luck for your last minute match!
Hi,
does anybody know, is this still on?
Thanks!
Hi there! Yes, the status match challenge should still be on. At least we haven’t heard anything to the contrary?
I have been matched to TK Elite from flying blue gold and after completing the challenge collecting 22K status miles including 16K on TK international flights within one year, I was downgraded to silver. I submitted two complaints so far and for three weeks, no response. They just ignored me.
I think this offer is a scam, don’t know why they do it, but my advice is not to take it. Luckily, I didn’t lose my flying blue status for this.
Hi Mostafa! Thanks for commenting on our article. According to your description, you should have been granted Miles & Smiles Elite status, if you really earned 16k miles on TK flights. Did you contact the customer service already?
Hi. I have been successfully matched and have my Gold membership for four months. Thanks for your advice.
I fly my first TK sector on Tuesday which will kick me over to the one year membership. Do the miles from that flight get included in the total I need toward 15,000? Or do those miles start on the next flight?
Regards and Thanks
Hi there, glad to hear that you’ve been matched and that we’ve been able to help! As soon as your account shows your new status, you can start to earn the tier miles that you’ll need for the one-year extension. Therefor your flight on Tuesday should count towards the 15,000 miles.