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The fastest way to Star Alliance Gold

Figures checked October 4, 2026

Where you credit a flight matters as much as what you fly. On the same Lufthansa business-class seat from New York to Frankfurt, reaching Star Alliance Gold takes 4 round trips with Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles or United MileagePlus, and 16 with Air Canada Aeroplan.

We ran three popular Star Alliance round trips, from New York, London and Sydney, through our status calculator and counted how many it takes to reach Gold in each program that covers the airline. Every number below links to the calculation, so you can check it or change the trip.

What we found

• The program can change the count fourfold. Business class from New York takes 4 round trips with Miles&Smiles or MileagePlus, and 16 with Aeroplan.
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles is fastest, or joint fastest, in six of the nine comparisons. Its Elite tier needs 40,000 Status Miles, and Star Alliance flights earn them at the same rate as award miles.
• The airline's own program isn't always the best home. Lufthansa Miles & More counts a fixed number of points per flight by cabin, so economy to Senator takes 17 round trips, against 6 with Miles&Smiles. But KrisFlyer on Singapore Airlines and ANA Mileage Club on ANA are among the fastest on their own flights.
• Aeroplan is the slowest in every comparison. Flights on Star Alliance partners earn 1 Status Qualifying Credit for every 5 Aeroplan points.
• The cheapest fares can earn nothing. Singapore Airlines' cheapest economy class (K) earns no status with Miles&Smiles or Aeroplan, and only 10% of the distance with United: 54 round trips to Premier Gold.

New York to Frankfurt on Lufthansa

7,712 miles for the round trip. Round trips needed to reach Star Alliance Gold, by the program you credit the flights to:

London to Singapore on Singapore Airlines

13,531 miles for the round trip. Round trips needed to reach Star Alliance Gold, by the program you credit the flights to:

Sydney to Tokyo Haneda on ANA

9,674 miles for the round trip. Round trips needed to reach Star Alliance Gold, by the program you credit the flights to:

Before you switch programs

• United: every Premier tier also needs at least four paid flights operated by United or United Express, so partner flights alone won't get you there. Partner flights also count toward Premier Qualifying Flights, which can lower the PQP needed.
• ANA: at least half of your Premium Points must come from flights operated by ANA.
• Qualifying periods differ. United, Aeroplan, Miles & More and ANA count the calendar year. KrisFlyer and Miles&Smiles count any 12 months in a row.
• Gold doesn't mean the same perks everywhere. Lounge access, upgrades and bonus miles on your own program's flights vary, and so does what it takes to keep the tier.

How we worked it out

Each figure is the number of round trips, rounded up, needed to reach the program's Star Alliance Gold tier from scratch, using the status calculator on October 4, 2026. That uses each program's published earning chart for the airline you fly and the booking class on the ticket, applied to the great-circle distance. The calculator links to its sources, and our guides explain each program's rules.

Booking classes are the airline's own letters, so the same letter can mean a different fare on another airline. We picked a full business fare, a standard economy fare and a cheap economy fare for each airline. Not included: status bonuses, credit cards, promotions and status matches.