If you are new to the world of frequent flyer programs and you just created an account with one of the Star Alliance airlines’ frequent flyer programs, chances are you run into a mention of “Star Alliance Silver.”
In this article, I take a look at what it is, whether it has any benefits that make it worth getting, and how you can get it. Continue to learn all you need to know about the Star Alliance Silver status.
What Is Star Alliance Silver Status?
Generally, mileage programs offer frequent flyer statuses to those that meet certain conditions (typically either collecting a specific number of status miles or taking a specific number of flights with the program’s airline and its partners).
In the case of Star Alliance, in addition to offering perks on the program’s airline, each program’s status also maps to one of two alliance-wide statuses: Star Alliance Silver or Star Alliance Gold. These statuses offer their holders a set of benefits across all Star Alliance airlines.
Star Alliance Silver status is, as you can guess, the lower of the two. It is similar to oneworld Ruby and SkyTeam Elite.
Star Alliance Silver Benefits: Nothing to Write Home About
Being a low-tier status, Star Alliance Silver comes with just two benefits:
- Priority reservations waitlist: Excluding travel on award tickets, Star Alliance Silver members have priority on reservation waitlists when waitlisting is possible. That said, they, of course, have lower priority than Star Alliance Gold members among other groups of passengers.
- Priority airport standby: Similar to the above, when you have the ability to stand by for an earlier flight after you arrive at the airport, for example, having a Star Alliance Silver status will bump you slightly higher on the list than if you did not have the status.
Neither of these benefits has much practical use for two reasons.
One, most passengers rarely get into a situation where they need to either be put on a waitlist or stand by for a flight. Two, even if a Star Alliance Silver member found himself in such a situation, chances are there would be plenty of Star Alliance Gold or top-tier airline-specific status holders to essentially make the Silver-level priority useless.
Unfortunately, Star Alliance Silver status doesn’t offer more practical perks like extra baggage allowance or lounge access. That said, when flying on the airline that you have the status with (e.g. on Lufthansa if you have a Miles & More Frequent Traveller status or on ANA if you have an ANA Mileage Plan Bronze status), you might have such perks as part of the actual airline status.
Star Alliance Silver vs. Star Alliance Gold: How Do They Differ?
While Star Alliance Gold is more difficult to earn than Star Alliance Silver (i.e. you need a higher tier status with the airline that you collect miles with), the perks are also considerably more attractive.
In addition to offering the same priority waitlist and standby perks as Star Alliance Silver but with higher priority, Star Alliance Gold also offers:
- Priority check-in, baggage handling, security and immigration, and boarding
- Extra baggage allowance
- Lounge access
How to Get the Star Alliance Silver Status
As hinted earlier, Star Alliance Silver status is not something you get directly. Instead, you need to earn an equivalent status with one of Star Alliance airlines’ frequent flyer programs and you will get the Star Alliance Silver status as a perk. Typically, each airline’s lowest-tier frequent flyer status is what maps to Star Alliance Silver.
The table below shows all of the Star Alliance frequent flyer programs and the frequent flyer status you need to attain in each program to also have a Star Alliance Silver status. It also shows the criteria that need to be met to get and retain the status.
| Mileage Program | Status | Qualification Criteria | Retention Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines Miles+Bonus | Silver | Either 12,000 Tier Miles and two Aegean Airlines flights or 35,000 Tier Miles within a 12-month period | Either 8,000 Tier Miles and two Aegean Airlines flights or 35,000 Tier Miles within 12 months of reaching or renewing the status |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 25K | Either 25,000 Status Qualifying Miles (SQM) or 25 Status Qualifying Segments (SQS) and 3,000 Status Qualifying Dollars (SQD) within a calendar year; alternatively 100,000 EDQ (Everyday Status Qualification) | |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 35K | Either 35,000 SQM or 35 SQS and 4,000 SQD within a calendar year | |
| Air China Phoenix Miles | Silver | 40,000 qualifying km or 25 qualifying segments within a 12-month period | 35,000 qualifying km or 23 qualifying segments |
| Air India Flying Returns | Silver Edge Club | 25,000 points in one year | |
| Air New Zealand AirPoints | Silver | 450 Status Points within a 12-month period with at least half on Air New Zealand, Star Alliance, and qualifying partner airline flights | 405 Status Points with the same condition as qualification |
| ANA Mileage Plan | Bronze | 30,000 Premium Points including 15,000 on ANA Group flights within a calendar year | |
| Asiana Club | Gold | 20,000 status miles or 30 Asiana Airlines flights or 20,000 total miles accrued including at least 15,000 from flights within a 24-month period starting on the date of joining the program | 15,000 status miles or 20 Asiana Airlines flights or 15,000 total miles accrued including at least 10,000 from flights within a 24-month period starting on the date of reaching or reneweing the status |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Red Plus | 6,000 qualifying miles including at least 1,000 on Avianca within a calendar year | |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Silver | 12,000 qualifying miles including at least 6,000 on Avianca within a calendar year | |
| COPA Airlines ConnectMiles | Silver | 4 segments flown on Copa and either 25,000 qualifying miles or 20 qualifying segments within a calendar year | |
| EgyptAir Plus | Silver | 30,000 Tier Miles from joining | 15,000 Tier Miles or 16 sectors within 2 years of acquiring status |
| Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles | Silver | 25,000 status miles or 25 qualifying segments in a calendar year | |
| EVA Airways Inifinity MileageLands | Silver | Either 30,000 status miles and at least 4 qualifying EVA Air/UNI Air international flights or at least 26 qualifying EVA Air/UNI Air international flights within 12 months | Either 40,000 miles on qualifying international flights or at least 42 qualifying EVA Air/UNI Air international flights during the two-year validity of the Silver status |
| Miles & More (Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa, Swiss) | Frequent Traveller | 35,000 status miles or 30 scheduled flights within a calendar year | |
| Scandinavian Airlines EuroBonus | Silver | 10 SAS and Wideroe flights or 2,000 Basic points on SAS, Wideroe, and Star Alliance flights during a 12-month period starting on the month of joining the program | |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Elite Silver | 25,000 Elite miles within 12 consecutive months | |
| South African Airways Voyager | Silver | 30,000 Tier miles in a calendar year | 95% of Tier miles required to qualify |
| TAP Miles&Go | Silver | 30,000 status miles or 25 TAP flights within a 12-month period starting on the date of joining the program | 20,000 status miles or 15 TAP flights |
| Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus | Silver | 10,000 qualifying miles during a 12-month period or 15,000 qualifying miles during a 24-month period | |
| Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles | Classic Plus | 25,000 status miles or 40 flights | 17,000 status miles or 30 flights in one year; or 35,000 status miles or 60 flights in two years |
| United Airlines MileagePlus | Premier Silver | 4 flights on United or United Express and either 12 Premier Qualifying Flights (PQF) and 4,000 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) or 5,000 PQP |
Is Star Alliance Silver Worth Getting?
By now you can probably guess that Star Alliance Silver status in itself is not something worth chasing in case you don’t fly the required amount anyway. After all, there are no alliance-wide perks that you could use regularly and get value out of.
That said, if you fly a lot with a specific Star Alliance airline but not enough to get the equivalent of a Star Alliance Gold status, then getting the airline’s status equivalent to Star Alliance Silver might be well worth it for the perks you might get when flying on the program’s airline.
Just keep in mind that the perks of the Star Alliance Silver equivalent status can vary greatly by airline. For example, while some airlines offer some level of lounge access to their lowest-tier status holders, others do not.
Summary
Star Alliance Silver is an alliance-wide status that one gets upon achieving a specific status (typically the lowest-tier one) with one of the Star Alliance airlines.
Unfortunately, Star Alliance Silver in itself provides very limited benefits and as such is not worth spending an extra to get. That said, the airline status that gets you Star Alliance Silver might be worth getting if you fly on that specific airline relatively frequently.
