Given that Aegean Miles+Bonus has significantly tightened its requirements in 2026, earning Star Alliance Gold through Greece will no longer be the automatic choice for Belgian travelers. The question now becomes: what are your realistic alternatives across all three major alliances (Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and Oneworld) for Belgians seeking achievable elite status?

Multiple programs offer substantially easy pathways to valuable elite status. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown tailored to travelers based in Belgium with varying travel patterns and preferences.

Why Elite Status Matters

Before diving into specific programs, let’s briefly recap why elite status is worth pursuing. At the minimum, Gold-level equivalent status across any major alliance typically provides:

• Lounge access – free meals, drinks, Wi-Fi, and often showers

• Extra baggage allowance – one additional checked bag (exclusion may apply on cheapest fares)

• Priority services – check-in, boarding, and baggage handling

• Flexibility – priority rebooking during disruptions

• Network recognition – benefits work across the entire alliance, not just the primary airline

For Belgians, this means elite status is almost always worth pursuing if you fly regularly.

Status allows you to leverage your recognition over other airlines by using status matches.

Things to consider

Some important things should be taken into consideration depending on your travel habit when selecting the right frequent flyer programs. We’ve listed them below:

• Do the miles you earn expire?
• Does the status allows soft-landing? Meaning, if you earn the highest status, will you drop one level or will you drop back to zero if you don’t achieve the requirements?
• Do you earn award miles or status miles based on spend or on distance? (Revenue-based vs Distance-based)?
• Does the status miles count through a calender year or on a 12-month basis?

Program	Miles Expiration without status	Soft Landing?	Earning Type
Aegean Miles+Bonus	Never	NO	Distance-based
Turkish Miles&Smiles	3 years	YES	Distance-based
Lufthansa Miles&More	36 months	YES	Revenue-based
Air Europa SUMO	24 months inactivity	NO	Revenue-based
Flying Blue	24 months inactivity	YES	Revenue-based
Iberia Club	36 months inactivity	NO	Revenue-based

The Three Main Alliances for Belgians

From Brussels Airport (BRU), Belgian travelers have realistic access to all three alliances:

Star Alliance – the largest network, with Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, Turkish Airlines and many more as key members. Brussels Airlines also participates but its status is tied to Lufthansa’s Miles & More program.

SkyTeam – featuring Air France and KLM (very convenient for Belgians, as KLM flies directly from Brussels), plus Delta and numerous other carriers. This is arguably the most accessible alliance from Belgium given Brussels’s geographic proximity to French and Dutch hubs.

Oneworld – featuring Qatar Airways, British Airways, and Iberia. While less directly accessible from Brussels, excellent opportunities exist through specific programs, particularly Iberia for European travelers. Instead of “Silver” and “Gold” status, the terminology of “Sapphire” and “Emerald” status are used.

Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Programs

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles

Miles & Smiles Elite status emerges as the most realistic option for obtaining Star Alliance Gold:

• Qualification: Earn 40,000 Status Miles in a 12-month period. Status is valid for two years from the date of achievement.
• Renewal: Only 30,000 Status Miles in the first year of your two-year validity period to maintain, or 45,000 miles over the entire two-year period. This makes maintenance

Why it’s achievable: Turkish Airlines accepts any Star Alliance flight and doesn’t demand a minimum number of segments on Turkish metal. You could theoretically earn Elite status by flying business class exclusively on United, Lufthansa, or Singapore Airlines, and Turkish would count every mile.

Practical path: A single round-trip transatlantic business class flight (roughly 7,000 miles) plus a few intra-European flights or one or two premium cabin flights to Asia could comfortably exceed 40,000 status miles in a year.

Elite Plus consideration: If you want an even higher Star Alliance Gold tier with additional benefits (upgrade vouchers, increased baggage), Turkish Elite Plus requires 80,000 status miles annually.

Brussels Airlines / Lufthansa Miles & More

If you’re frequently flying with Lufthansa Group, you may consider collecting your flights and miles through Miles & More. Why? Because Frequent Traveller status (Star Alliance Silver) still gives you lounge access and priority features. While for every European flight you earn 20 Qualifying Points (QP) even in economy, you may as well reach this status fairly easy with multiple economy flights per year. Alternatively, you may be able to try out Frequent Traveller status through Uptrip, the loyalty scheme from Lufthansa Group.

Senator on the other hand requires much more flying and is especially reachable if you often fly business class (long haul) but gives you a worthy Star Alliance Gold status.

Why choose Miles & More over the rest: The availability of additional mileage earnings through Beobank credit cards.

Aegean Miles+Bonus

For years, Aegean Miles+Bonus has been regarded as one of the easiest pathways to Star Alliance Gold status. That reputation is about to change dramatically, particularly for members who don’t regularly fly through Greece.

The most significant impact hits the hybrid qualification method that allowed members to earn status with a modest combination of Aegean flights and tier miles. Previously considered the “sweet spot” of the program, this route is now being tripled in its flight requirements.

Status Level	Old Requirements (until Nov 4, 2026)	New Requirements (from Nov 5, 2026)
Earn Silver (from Blue)	2 Aegean/Olympic flights + 12,000 tier miles OR 35,000 tier miles	4 Aegean/Olympic flights + 12,000 tier miles OR 36,000 tier miles OR 16 Aegean/Olympic flights
Retain Silver	2 Aegean/Olympic flights + 8,000 tier miles OR 35,000 tier miles	4 Aegean/Olympic flights + 9,000 tier miles OR 36,000 tier miles OR 16 Aegean/Olympic flights
Upgrade Silver to Gold	4 Aegean/Olympic flights + 24,000 tier miles OR 70,000 tier miles	12 Aegean/Olympic flights + 24,000 tier miles OR 72,000 tier miles OR 32 Aegean/Olympic flights
Retain Gold	4 Aegean/Olympic flights + 12,000 tier miles OR 70,000 tier miles	12 Aegean/Olympic flights + 18,000 tier miles OR 72,000 tier miles OR 32 Aegean/Olympic flights
Platinum (NEW)	N/A	32 Aegean/Olympic flights + 72,000 tier miles (no alternatives)

While this is a clear devaluation, it is still an interesting program if you regularly fly to or through Greece. Especially considering that Gold can be attained and retained through segments only, totalling 32 flights in one year. Alternatively, if you’re flying 12 times a year on Aegean it can still be a considerable frequent flyer program on the Star Alliance network.

Why choose Aegean Miles+Bonus over the rest:

• if you fly to Greece often
• If you’re not able to to reach status but want to collect Star Alliance miles that do not expire

SkyTeam Frequent Flyer Programs

Air Europa SUMA

Among all major programs, Air Europa SUMA offers one of the absolute easiest paths to high-tier elite status. With 26 flight segments with any SkyTeam airline (none must be Air Europa flights), OR 32,000 level miles. 26 segments is genuinely achievable in a year for moderate travelers. Six short round-trip flights spread across a year gets you there. With layovers adding segments, a few well-planned itineraries could accomplish this.

SUMA Gold grants SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which includes:

• Lounge access worldwide (plus one companion)

• SkyPriority services – priority boarding, check-in, security/immigration

• Extra baggage – 20kg or one additional piece

• Priority baggage handling

• Guaranteed reservation on sold-out flights

• Priority transfer desks and immigration/security lanes

KLM/Air France Flying Blue

100 Experience Points (XP) to achieve Silver, followed by 180 Experience Points (XP).
Each XP is earned based on distance and cabin class.

Why it’s moderate difficulty: 100+180 XP is achievable but requires either: (1) multiple transatlantic flights in economy, (2) one or two long-haul business class flights, or (3) a mix of premium cabin short and medium-haul flights. For most recreational travelers, it is harder to attain. As seen above, it is harder to attain than to retain, as you’ll need to reach Silver status first at 100 XP, where you’ll get another 12 months period to achieve Gold for 180 XP.

Flying Blue Gold benefits:

• SkyTeam Elite Plus status (same as Air Europa)

• SkyTeam lounge access with one guest

• SkyPriority services globally

• Extra baggage, priority boarding, etc.

Why choose Flying Blue over Air Europa: The availability of additional mileage earnings through Beobank credit cards. FlyingBlue is as well a transfer partner of the American Express creditcard.

OneWorld Frequent Flyer Programs

​Iberia Club

While Oneworld is less convenient from Brussels geographically, Iberia offers a surprisingly efficient path to oneworld Sapphire status for Europeans:

Qualification: Approximately 6-8 round-trip flights in premium economy from a European city to the USA, or equivalent Elite Points. Iberia now awards 1 Elite Point per euro spent (as of April 2025), plus bonus points for premium cabin fare families.

Why this works: For a Brussels-New York premium economy round-trip (~€1,200-1,500), you’d earn roughly 125+ Elite Points. Two round-trips equals ~250 points. Combined with short-haul premium economy flights to Madrid or Barcelona (~€300-400 each), you could reach the Elite Points threshold faster than other programs.

Oneworld Sapphire benefits:

• Business class lounge access globally with one guest

• Priority check-in and boarding

• Extra baggage – 15kg or one additional piece

• Preferred seating at booking (not just 24 hours before)

• Priority baggage handling

Why choose Iberia: If you’re already planning transatlantic travel in premium economy or business class. Iberia flies to Madrid and Barcelona from Brussels (via Air France codeshares), making it accessible. OneWorld is a great transfer partner for the American Express creditcard (to British Airways).

Limitation: Iberia is best for those planning European-US travel in premium cabins. It’s not a quick status for casual travelers. OneWorld should be the least focus for Belgian citizens as the coverage is quite limited from Belgium. Except if you travel a lot with British Airways or Qatar Airways internationally, it may be more interesting to look into Skyteam and Star Alliance frequent flyer programs.