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If you do a quick google search for “which is the best airline to get Star Alliance Gold status,” you will invariably find one answer: Aegean Airlines. It is true that Aegean is a solid program, however, if you look around there is one that is even better, especially for couples or families. With some astute flight planning, you can hit Star Alliance Gold in just one trip! The loyalty program is EgyptAir Plus.
What About EgyptAir Plus
EgyptAir has been a full Star Alliance member since July 2008. The program, EgyptAir Plus, has 4 membership levels: Blue, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The different levels align to Star Alliance tiers as follows:
- Blue = Not Applicable
- Silver = Star Alliance Silver
- Gold = Star Alliance Gold
- Platinum = Star Alliance Gold
EgyptAir has two types of miles:
- Award miles – These are redeemable miles that you use for flight redemptions.
- Tier miles – Your elite qualification miles, which determine your level of status.
The interesting point about these miles is that they're accrued at the same rate. To move between the tiers, you need to accrue the following:
- Blue to Silver: 30,000 miles
- Silver to Gold: 30,000 miles after achieving Silver
- Gold to Platinum: 1,000,000 miles (lifetime)
EgyptAir Plus status is valid for 24 months from the date of upgrade. To maintain Gold status, you need to earn at least 30,000 flown miles within 2 years of being upgraded to Gold.
One of the quirks of the EgyptAir Plus program is that it has a family or household account system. While this is not in any way unusual with other airlines such as JetBlue and British Airways having a similar feature, it is the fact that all miles are pooled that makes it unusual. Indeed, normally with a family account, the award miles earned by the family member are added to the main accountholder’s account; while the status miles are either not credited at all, or are credited to the individual’s account, not the main household / shared account.
Tier Miles Are Credited to Main Account Holder
This is what truly makes the EgyptAir Plus program unique: they credit both the award miles and tier miles to the main account holder. No way! I hear you say. Well, check out my statement from last year showing a flight that I took with my wife from Jakarta/CGK to Sharm El Sheikh/SSH with Turkish Airlines. Looking at the statement, it is clear that I received the award miles earned by my wife, but also as the main account holder, I received the tier miles she earned as well.
This is no fluke; an earlier statement including some domestic flights shows the same double dipping for status.
This double-dipping is a great way to pick up status, especially for those who do not regularly fly for work and would find it impossible to pick up Elite status from the few flights they take every year. So, what is the most efficient way to pick up Gold?
From North America
What is the easiest way to obtain Elite status? Although there is NO requirement to fly EgyptAir, flying them can boost your miles earning since you benefit from a generous fare class bonus as well as a status bonus. The easiest way to pick up status for a couple is a vacation to Thailand, while for a family of 3 or more it is a quick trip to Egypt to visit the Pyramids, for example.
The Thailand Option
Getting to Thailand, the two most rewarding options are either direct from New York to Bangkok via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, or for maximum earning New York(JFK) to Cairo (CAI) on EgyptAir then on to Bangkok via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The mileage earned should look something like this:
| Via Cairo | C,D,Z,K Class fare | J Class fare | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JFK-CAI-IST-BKK | JFK-IST-BKK | JFK-IST-BKK | |||
| Segment | Earned R/T | Segment | Earned R/T | Segment | Earned R/T |
| JFK-CAI | 22,432 | JFK-IST | 15,048 | JFK-IST | 12,540 |
| CAI-IST | 1,906 | IST-BKK | 14,004 | IST-BKK | 11,670 |
| IST-BKK | 11,670 | 1 Pax Earning | 29,052 | 1 Pax Earning | 24,210 |
| 1 Pax Earning | 36,008 | 2 Pax Earning | 58,104 | 2 Pax Earning | 48,420 |
| 2 Pax Earning | 72,016 | 3 Pax Earning | 87,156 | 3 Pax Earning | 72,630 |
Using EgyptAir with a stop in Cairo first would give you instantaneous Gold status on the completion of your trip. Not only that but also you would have 24 months to earn the 18,000 miles to maintain your Gold status. You can also save some money since you can book a lower business class fare bucket (J). The difference in earning is directly related to fare class bonuses.
Opting for the direct route and skipping out the Cairo leg will leave a couple 1,900 miles short of Gold status, which should not be a problem especially if you don’t live in New York since you can pick those miles up flying United to New York, your international gateway on your trip.
Traveling as a family of 3 or more, you can go direct and use a lower business class fare bucket, and you will hit Gold in one trip.
A Note on Mileage Calculation
Things can be a little tricky when it comes to working out how many miles you will earn with EgyptAir on partner airlines — the only way I have done it is to call them (+1-212-938-3560) and ask, however, there are a few simple workarounds:
- For EgyptAir operated flights, you can use their own mileage calculator
- To work out the fare class bonus you will earn with partner airlines you can use EgyptAir’s partner earning page. The page will not give you exact mileage per trip, just the percentage fare class bonus for various Star Alliance members
- For partner flights, you can use gcmap to work out the mileage for each leg of your flight. It is a good indicator since for most calculations it will yield a slightly more conservative figure than EgyptAir will award.
What to do with EgyptAir Miles?
Obviously, no one wants to park thousands of miles in a mileage program that they can’t cash in. However, EgyptAir is a member of Star Alliance and its miles can be redeemed on United, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and other Alliance members; you can review the EgyptAir Plus Star Alliance redemption chart (prices are round-trip). You can also review different regions and zones.
Redeeming your miles on EgyptAir is very straightforward, in my experience, they don’t seem to have award space allocated. You call the support center and ask for the EgyptAir flight you want, the date, and the class of travel, and they give you the ticket. There doesn’t seem to be any blackout dates.
Redeeming with Star Alliance is slightly more complex since you still have to call EgyptAir up in Cairo to get your redemptions; however, their award chart for partner airlines is relatively generous. 70,000 miles will give you a one-way ticket to or from the US to Frankfurt in Lufthansa First class; while 60,000 miles is enough for a one-way ticket from Europe to Asia or the Far East in Business class, or even a round-trip in Business from the US to Hawaii. Taxes and fees for a Lufthansa first flight from New York/JFK to Frankfurt/FRA is $456.10.
Overall
Chasing Elite status when you don’t fly several times a month can be a near impossibility, so any option that allows leisure travelers to earn Elite status relatively easily is welcome. The generous habit of crediting tier miles from the whole family to the main accountholder’s account makes hitting your Gold status a breeze. Once you have it, the generous 24-month validity makes it much easier to plan your next trip to maintain status!
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Hi I want to apply on EgyptAir. Blue card
That is definitely a very interesting post and an amazing opportunity to hit the Gold status. Is it still valid at the end of 2019 or the plans have changed significantly that it doesn’t allow that any more?
Yup! Still works. I signed up for it November 2019 just in time for my December family trip. It’s a really good way to get *A Gold if you fly, or going to fly, often as a family or if you want to pool miles for redemption.
Just note that you can only add up to 5 first-degree relatives as per Egyptian law, which they classify as: spouse, mother, father, son and daughter. Do note that they don’t allow siblings to be added as family.
Wow! thanks for the update ! I am currently a gold member in Aegean but it is good to have it in mind as an alternative or a parallel program.
212-938-3560 is the number to contact for Frequent Flyer related queries and also family mileage membership
thank you!
Great advice!! I wish I had known about it years ago… Now, I’m afraid you’ve ruined by making it “so public”! Hope not! Still, not being able to transfer or buy miles on the program, and the 3-year expiration are serious drawbacks.
Just stumbled across this – really useful post, thank you!
If I become the main member and add husband and kids as extra members, I understand that it’s only me that will achieve gold status. If I then make bookings for all 4 of us to travel on other airlines, e.g TAP, Air NZ, United (or even Egyptair, if we ever find a way of using them?) will it only be me that is allowed to make use of the benefits of that status, e.g lounges, priority check-in, seating etc? Or do they include everybody on the booking on status perks as long as the Gold member is travelling too? Sorry, maybe that’s a dumb question, but other than all 4 of us finally making it to Bronze in the BAEC we’ve never had status of any kind as we’re just holiday travellers, half a dozen long haul flights a year! Thanks for any info.
Benefits vary by airline. In general for lounge access, you’re allowed one guest, but lounges may allow children in for free. Infants are allowed but children would be at the discretion of the lounge.
Full details on the program are here: http://www.staralliance.com/en/gold-status
Thanks. Although it sounds great on the face of it then, there’s probably not much benefit – we very rarely fly anywhere without the kids, and lounges usually class a 12yr old as an adult, so not much point in having gold membership if I can’t make use of it.
If you have status with another Star Alliance airline – in my case Silver with United – does it help at all with achieving Gold on Egypt any faster?
No, it does not.
According to the table, what it takes from US to Frankfurt in Lufthansa First class and from Europe to Asia or the Far East in Business class are double as what you said. They are 140,000 and 120,000, not 70,000 and 60,000.
Please correct.
KCC, sorry for the lack of clarification, but these rates are round-trip. I’ve added a comment as such, but the 60/70k rates for one-way travel are correct.
[…] quick Google search showed me that all of the details were already posted by the AwardWallet blog (hat tip to Mommy Points for hat tipping […]
Thanks for info!
I was only considering Aegean for Star Alliance. Turkish Airlines is not too bad either but this family perk is absolutly great and those tiers miles to main account make the status much easier.
I have to check if there buckets which don’t qualify for this program (many deep discount don’t count for Aegean for instance) but many thanks, I was totally unaware of this.
Timely piece! My wife and I’ve had a trip to Italy scheduled via Turkish Airlines since Sept, but hadn’t chosen a FF plan until I read your article. Now I have a mission to go for the gold! Thank you so very much!!
Fuel surcharges on bookings?
They pass them on. If you visit http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ and find your specific flight, you’ll see the YQ or YR broken out, which represents the surcharges.
Do family members have to be registered first then their details emailed to egyptair or do you just email names and pp copies and how long did process of adding them take
The only way to add members to your account if they are not already an Egypt air plus member, is to email them with the names and copies of the relevant documentation. They will then issue them their own FF number and they will be added to your account. The whole process takes a few days, they don’t give a timeframe but they got back to me within 4 days when I added my wife to my account.
Egypt air Platinum might be the most exclusive status yet since you need 1,000,000 miles on that airline to reach it.
So Plat would give me 1k level benfits?
No, it would not. The two programs are not equivalent, but there are many benefits, with Star Alliance Gold that would benefit you as a United flyer.
Great post. One question. If the main account holder gets gold, does it mean that the other account holders will get gold too? Also, is there any way to do a status match to Egypt Air? Thanks.
The others do NOT get gold. As for status matching, we’ve not tried it.
Great post. One question. If the main account holder gets gold, does it mean that the other account holders will get gold too? Also, is there any way to do a status match to Egypt Air? Thanks.
Redemption is still pretty good when compared to the rest
This looks like a hidden secret, that I would not have known about without the article.
thanks for the post
do they partner with Amex,SPG, Cit and etc ?
They do not.
What a surprise!
The airline needs customers and so the programme has very good conditions. Anyway, as with Aegean, the devaluation is something that could happen.
does it work the same for lifetime miles and status?
Yes, for the 1,000,000 threshold.
I’m all over this. Howie, how did you go about setting up the family account? I noticed when I set my account up, I got an instant 1,000 mile bonus. Could I set up an account for all of my family members to get the bonus on each account, and then combine them? Or is the process to add them as relatives completely different?
You need to send in proof of the relationship and they add the person to your main account. Long story short, they’re linked in your profile but don’t actually have a username/password to log in. Just a FF number. You can call EgyptAir at 212-581-5600 and they’ll step you through the process. You wouldn’t earn 1,000 bonus miles.
So what stops 10 unrelated people from going in together to earn lifetime gold? Or finding someone with lifetime gold and getting added?
If you review the requirements you’re limited to 5 family members and you’ll need to show proof of relationship. Not quite that easy.
Such an informative post! Without having read this article I doubt seriously if I”d have ever researched this program on my own. Thx so much!
Hi great article. Pity I flew with them last year . So if I credit any star partner would that do it as I fly SAA often ? Is their a maximum number of family members ?
Correct. Full details are here: http://www.egyptairplus.com/MS_Member_WebSite/Family.html (5 members total)
Good to know but having to call an agent in Egypt just to book a reward flight in 21st century is a no-go for many including myself, besides there are some safety and security issues regarding this airline.
You don’t need to fly EgyptAir, nor do you need to call an agent in Egypt. Call 212-581-5600 — New York number 🙂
Sounds nice. A few days ago when I was searching for ticket from DXB to LHR, I saw a flight with connection on Egypt Air but I wasn’t sure if Visa is required for Egypt for a 6hrs connection? What’s the transit visa rule?
It depends on your nationality – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Egypt#Transit_without_a_visa
Understatement of the century. 🙂
Thanks for the link – it gives a clear picture.
How do you get elite status with Egyptian Airlines without flying with them?
You fly their partners, such as United or Lufthansa and enter in your EgyptAir frequent flyer number on to the reservation.
Thanks for sharing, another FF programme to collect to.
This is amazing! Might almost tempt me away from OneWorld
wow. just wow.
This does not seem user friendly if I would have to call Cairo to redeem my miles on a Star Alliance carrier.
I can redeem my United miles online for most Star Alliance carriers. I am going to pass on Egypt Air.
You can call up their NY office – 212-581-5600. A little effort can save you a lot of miles.
Nice. Thanks for the informative details, will definitely look to try it out.
This is very surprising but good to know
Never flown on EgyptAir before. No plans to go to Egypt any time soon either but good to know this information.
How is the flying experience on Egypt Air? How does it compare to other airlines like Singapore Air?
Reading through FAQs at EgyptAir Plus I saw these 2 items:
28. What is required to redeem miles for a reward?
The necessary amount of miles must be present in a member’s account. Reservation must be made confirmed and booked in reward reservation class. No wait list is permitted.
A reward request form together with the copies of EGYPTAIR Plus membership card and ID must be handed over to the EGYPTAIR Sales Office for the issuance of the award tickets..
29. Where should I go to claim a reward ticket?
Reward tickets can be picked up from any EGYPTAIR sales office upon presentation of a valid identification card. .
Do they still require this? Or can these be booked over the phone?
you can book it all over the phone 🙂
Good to know about Egypt Air!
Could this work as a Backup on my LH-Sen?
Sure — but LH-Sen is pretty nice 🙂
Good implementation of family bonus concept
So I’m unclear… Do status miles get awarded to the flyer AND go to the main account holder? Or do they only go to the main account holder?
In other words, if 2 people take a trip and earn 10k miles each. Does main account holder get 10k from both? OR… does main account holder get 10k from both AND the other person in the pool also gets 10k?
All miles go to the main account holder.
Ah so if I want to have both me and wife as *gold, I should qualify for my own gold with another programme (TK), make wife main account holder for EgyptAir, and after qualifying myself, just give her all my miles through EgyptAir?
That would certainly do it.
That is very generous allowing household miles to count for status. I wish there was a oneworld airline that did the same.
British Airways, as mentioned in the article, does the same.
Sorry I don’t think British Airways does, and I don’t think the article suggests that it does. While household miles can be pooled the ‘status’ miles (which in British Airways case are ‘tier points’) cannot be pooled.
That is correct. Avios for redemption are pooled, but nothing towards status/elite tiers.
Very well-written and informative piece. Egypt itself is in my future plans, so it’s something I might consider now knowing this.
Agreed. This is a great post.
So let me see if I get it.
Fly 30K within 24 months (or how long?) to get Silver. Clock resets. Fly another 30K within 24 months to get Gold. Clock resets. Fly another 30K within 24 months to keep Gold? Clock doesn’t reset?
correct. 24 months for each iteration.
Very interesting approach to a lesser-known program.
I love posts like this: thank you for posting!
Pretty wild. I had no idea. This one actually might be worth doing; thanks for sharing it!
Looks like I have a new airline to star using to get a new status. LOL