Aegean (Star Alliance) Just Ruined Their Elite Program for Americans (and others)

About 15 years ago, Aegean Airlines (the flag carrier of Greece) joined the Star Alliance. Their Miles+Bonus program was one that offered an incredibly easy route to Star Alliance Gold which opened up a lot of benefits for flyers around the world, including things like lounge access worldwide when flying economy, extra luggage, priority boarding, priority access, etc.

At the time, you could retain your Aegean Gold status by just crediting to your account every 3 years, essentially meaning you had unending Star Alliance Gold status. I achieved the 20,000 miles necessary for Gold by going on a business class itinerary with US Airways around the US for under $1,000 – which paid off big when I got a ton of free luggage when our moved to Greece for a time.

Aegean Just Ruined Their Elite Program – For Members Outside of Greece

A few years ago, they changed their retention program from just having 12,000 miles per year to having to also have 4 Aegean flights – or else you had to do 72,000 miles from all partners with no Aegean flights. For me, it wasn’t a real problem as I was in Greece often and a roundtrip in economy (depending on the fare class and airline) can get me close to 10,000 miles.

But, today, they changed it and essentially made it that foreigners will no longer be able to retain their elite status. They are calling this a way to introduce more benefits to their elites but they are clearly making it that they only want to reward the people that fly their airline. Nothing really wrong with that except the benefits they had already introduced to elites were mostly not beneficial unless you were in Greece anyway so it wasn’t like people living abroad were sucking up all the benefits (things like 4 free business class upgrades on Aegean).

Before we jump in, know that I absolutely love flying with Aegean as they are a wonderful airline with great staff! Just not a fan of this new program.

How to Retain Aegean Status as of November 5, 2026

 To retain your Silver tier you have a fixed 12-month period to:

• Fly 16 flights with AEGAN and/ or Olympic Air, or
• Collect 9,000 tier miles, including 4 flights with AEGEAN and/ or Olympic Air, or
• Collect a total of 36,000 tier miles

To retain your Gold tier you have a fixed 12-month period to:

• Fly at least 32 flights with AEGAN and/ or Olympic Air, or
• Collect 18,000 tier miles, including 12 flights with AEGEAN and/ or Olympic Air, or
• Collect a total of 72,000 tier miles

From Gold tier to upgrade to Platinum, you need to:

• Collect 72,000 tier miles, including 32 flights with AEGEAN and/ or Olympic Air.

To retain Platinum Tier you have a fixed 12-month period to:

• Collect 72,000 tier miles, including 32 flights with AEGEAN and/ or Olympic Air.

That’s right, they are adding a new tier, Platinum. To get it, you need to already have Gold and then fly an additional 72,000 miles (that credit – not all miles credit at 100%) AND fly 32 flights with Aegean or Olympic.

The part that stinks for all of us who are currently Gold, it goes from flying 12,000 miles and 4 flights with Aegean to 18,000 miles and 12 flights with Aegean. This is where it is definitely focused on Greek flyers because you can do it on segments with just 32 flights on Aegean and no miles earning necessary.

What Are They Giving with New Benefits?

Here is a chart of the Star Alliance benefits that each level will give. As you see, there is no difference in the Star Alliance between having Aegean Gold or Platinum

Here is their chart of the benefits and they have marked what is new:

This is for Miles+Bonus account benefits

Here are the benefits for Miles+Bonus for the flights:

Here are the benefits for Miles+Bonus at the airport:

Overview of the New Benefits

I have to say – for trying to target Greek flyers more with the elite status and benefits, they did not do a good job with these benefits. First of all, these seats were all free a few years ago and even after charging, I got a discount on all the seat selections being Gold so that it wasn’t more than $10 for seats. That means that choosing the standard seats for me was like $4 – over 32 flights, that would out this benefit at around $140 per year. Not huge. In fact, many times, I got a better seat for free if the flight was close to full and I didn’t select a seat at check-in.

I am really not happy with the lounge benefit for Platinum that allows you to bring friends and family from the same flight and reservation in to the lounge – up to 9 total passengers. First of all, they currently do not let Gold members bring in a guest. I am pretty sure that is against the Star Alliance rules as you can bring in a guest. But, owning the lounge and being their elite member must allow them to set the rules. Last month, I tried to get in with a friend and they sent us to a partner lounge instead (in Athens).

But, 9 passengers! That is crazy. The lounges are already packed around the popular flights so to let a Platinum member guest in up to 8 people is nuts.

For Platinum members, they do get to give Gold status to someone so that is nice. Having a dedicated team could be good but I have found their teams to be fantastic anytime I call in anyway and I never have to wait so I guess we will see how well that works.

I am surprised they are not going to give Platinum members free upgrades at the gate. Instead, they give them 4 upgrades like they give at Gold tier. That is really not a good way to reward someone who is flying 32 segments on your airline in 12 months and flying 72,000 credited miles across the alliance.

Also, the birthday gift? Gold members already get 500 miles for their birthday so that isn’t new. My guess is it will go up to 1,500 miles if Platinum is getting 3,000 miles.

Summary

As a loyal Aegean Gold member for 12 years, I am very disappointed with this new change. When I was in Greece, I was flying them often but still would not hit the 32 flights in 12 months simply because there were times that I would use SWISS when flying to Zurich (since the schedule worked better), Lufthansa to Germany, etc.

Now, this will likely cause their Aegean Pass to become more popular with those that do want to keep status. The reason is you can buy a bundle of flights for various destinations at a discounted price and then just fly for “free” plus taxes anytime you want within the validity of the pass and within the total number of flights in the bundle.

For example, you could buy a bundle of 30 flights between Thessaloniki and Athens for €510 if you book 30 days before the flight. With airport taxes, that would probably be around €1,100 total or less for all those flights. That flight is 40 minutes long but you cannot do a quick turn so at least an hour between flights. Basically, it would take you days to hit the 32 flights doing it this way. And if you are vacationing in Greece, do you really want to spend days on planes and in airports?

I’m sorry to see my Aegean Gold go but I will just move my business to another partner instead. The funny thing is that will probably be with Turkish Airlines – not just an airline competitor but a country which is often at strong odds/close to war with Greece. Good job, Aegean.

If you have Aegean Gold, will you try to retain it with the new program?