Turkish Airlines still offering a Star Alliance status match to BA Golds

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.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)