Turkish Airlines, as a member of the Star Alliance, has started to status match members of the BMI Diamond Club program on the announcement of BMI getting sold to IAG (British Airways) and hence breaking away from the Star Alliance.

However, as it is now turning out, Turkish is also status matching into other alliances. As of today the following status matching is being done:

• Silver on another carrier (BD/Another alliance) –> TK Miles and Smiles Classic Plus (*A Silver)
• Gold on another carrier (BD/Another alliance) –> TK Miles and Smiles Elite (*A Gold)
• No status match to the Miles and Smiles Elite Plus (TK’s top tier)

Status is good for 2 years from the date of status match.

Requalification: Members outside Turkey need the following for requalification:

• 25000 Status Miles in 1st year or 37500 Status Miles in 1st and 2nd year for Keeping the *A Gold, else soft landing to *A Silver (for 2 years)
• 17000 Status Miles in 1st Year or 37000 Status miles in 1st and 2nd year for keeping the *A Silver.

You can also buy upto 10,000 Status Miles in the second year if you don’t think you will fulfil the criteria.

*A Gold Benefits: Come on, all of you know this, but I will still tell you again:

• Airport Lounge Access – available worldwide for you and a friend when you travel with any Star Alliance member airline, regardless of your class of travel.
• Priority Airport Check-in – allows you to check-in at the Business and/or First Class counter.
• Priority Boarding – enjoy the freedom of boarding at your convenience along with First and Business Class passengers.
• Extra Baggage Allowance – an additional 20 kg (44 pounds) where the weight concept applies, or one additional piece of luggage where the piece concept applies.
• Priority Baggage Handling – like you, your bags get priority treatment and are among the first to be unloaded.
• Priority Reservations Waitlisting – when there aren’t any seats left on your preferred flight, gives you priority should a seat become available.
• Priority Airport Standby – gives you top priority when standing-by a flight at the airport.

Overall, it is an upcoming program with much success at the Freddies 2012 (Program of the Year – Europe) and so looks like a lot of potential ahead. Also, one of the easiest programs to retain *A Gold. The program is also decently generous in terms of earning miles by flying on *A carriers. You can have a look at the charts here.

Take note that Turkish Airlines did not use to status match as a policy at a point of time, but seems that is set to change.

Here is how to request for the status match:

• Sign up for a Turkish Airlines M&S Account here.
• Send an email to customermiles@thy.com with a scan of your other airline FFP membership card and account statement (this is a requirement to receive both). You will need to make a case for them to look at you as a good case to status match into their program (a business case for them?)
• You should hear from them in a week to ten days about their ‘decision’ on your status match query.

All the best, and ping back for questions if any!

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Just a couple of days back I was flipping through the Star Alliance magazine, and was wondering where were they going with Air India because there was no mention in the magazine of AI. However, it definitely was not a closed chapter since AI definitely needs to get into an alliance (amongst other things), to be able to get more traffic on its planes and shore up its finances.

Last year, *A left AI on the altar when the airline was grabbing all the wrong headlines for safety issues, financial issues and the systematic failure that it was going to become. There was also news that the Government of India did not appreciate that *A wanted a second partner in India in Jet Airways. Quite like a brat, I’d say. Subsequently, murmurs went around that they did also have discussions with the SkyTeam, but nothing seemed to have move forward there. Heads rolled at Air India since this debacle, as it was as much of a PR debacle as a factual one.

This morning, an Indian newspaper reported that both sides are thawing their stance and they may have a relook at AI joining *A. This move hinges on the fact that there are new people at the helm of both parties and there are some changes in the circumstances now. Mark Schwab is the new CEO for Star Alliance since the last quarter of 2011, and Rohit Nandan is the new chief executive at Air India. Since the last time things flared up in July 2011, Air India has gotten better in terms of revenues, partly because of the partial failure of Kingfisher Airlines.

As per the report, Air India and the Government of India have now climbed down from their stance of “being the only Indian carrier in *A”, to being the “First Indian carrier in *A”. While this was hush hush before, the airline has now admitted to this issue being a bone of contention earlier. And yes, looks like Jet Airways is the clear contender for second place, since Kingfisher was always likely to go with oneworld till they decided to put it ‘on hold’. There were talks of Indigo (6E) entering the fray but right now it does not seem the case.

Who will be the winner in getting the most amount of traffic from Star Alliance is an open question. However, AI will have things going for it, if it decides to induct the 787s and can use them wisely, along with a good product. In terms of network they both look competitive, however AI has spread out far in Asia and Europe as well where 9W is not going yet. Some of these routes will obviously be rehashed as a part of the network plan with *A. Not surprisingly, both AI and 9W have their European stopovers in Star Alliance hubs (Brussels for 9W and Frankfurt for AI).

Air India's International Route network

Jet Airways' International Route Network

I seriously hope the Star Alliance and B787 chapter can be used by these guys to kick in a good word of mouth on the back of a great product. Now lets see if this time around they do join, or is it just another reason to grab some drinks together again. Or maybe just another public forum to convince Indian Government to let Lufthansa bring their big birds (A380s) to India?

Related Posts:

• Air India and *A can’t seem to make up their mind
• Will AI join *A and should it join?
• AI misses its flight to the *A
• SkyTeam courting AI after being dumpted by *A
• Kingfisher all set to join oneworld in February 2012
• Kingfisher’s membership to oneworld put on hold
• Heads roll at AI

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Last year in October, I wrote about the Indian aviation regulator sending a stinker to all foreign airlines operating from India, about the baggage allowance of 1 23 kg (50 lb) checked-bag being not the standard offer for passengers travelling economy, while all Indian airlines offer 2×23 kgs (50 lb) baggage to be checked-in.

We never heard much of it back then, but seems like the arm-twisting worked with the Lufthansa group. In a change of tack, Lufthansa has announced a new allowance for passengers travelling between India and the USA, Canada (or vice versa) on Lufthansa group airlines. Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines will offer two 23 kgs (50 lb) bags as checked bag allowance for all flights ticketed on or after 17th February 2012. However, this is only good for offer if you ticket your entire trip to/from India to the USA/Canada on either of these carriers and don’t mix and match with other carriers inside the USA/Canada. If you intend to maximise on the baggage allowance, you’re advised to book internal tickets for travel in the USA/Canada/India separate of your segments on Lufthansa.

Here is the announcement on the Lufthansa webpage, and the salient points are outlined below:

• Origin: Chennai/Bangalore/Mumbai/New Delhi/Pune (not valid on feeder flights within India)
• Destination: only Lufthansa US/Canada gateways (no connecting flights within US/Canada)
• Travel must be via Europe
• Valid for flights operated and Marketed by: Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Swiss Airlines.
• Itineraries/tickets that include other carriers the free baggage allowance defaults to 1 free checked piece.

So, there you go, max out your allowance with all the shopping you’d like to do! In fact, if you ever are on the same flight as me on LH,LX or OS, feel free to have some of my baggage allowance as well!

Related Posts:

• Checked bag fee for the 2nd bag from India may be gone soon

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