Senator is the Miles & More tier that carries Star Alliance Gold, and Gold is the alliance's upper rank: more than 1,000 lounges on any of the 26 member airlines, for you and a guest, even on an economy ticket. Travel-Dealz priced Senator at roughly 1,954 euros of flying in 2026, and two other member airlines hand out the same Gold for less.
The tier below is where money gets wasted. Frequent Traveller, the entry level of Miles & More, is Star Alliance Silver, not Gold. Silver means priority on a waitlist and no lounge. Frequent Traveller does open the Lufthansa Group's own lounges, which is why it reads like Gold, and on Singapore Airlines it leaves you at the gate.
What Star Alliance Gold opens, and what Silver does not
Gold works on any member airline and in any cabin:
- More than 1,000 lounges, for you and one guest
- An extra 20 kg, or one extra bag where the airline counts pieces
- Business class check-in, and boarding with the front cabins
- Priority baggage handling, and Gold Track, the fast security lane, where an airport has one
Without a card the lounge comes with the cabin: a business ticket gets you in, an economy ticket does not. With Gold the cheapest seat on Air Canada gets you in, which is worth most to people who fly premium sometimes and economy often.
How Miles & More counts status points
Miles & More is the programme of Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and, since 1 April 2026, ITA Airways. Earn the card there and every other member honours it.
Since 2024 it counts Points. Two things set the number: the cabin you sat in, and whether the flight was continental or intercontinental. Fare class, the letter on the ticket recording how expensive and how flexible your fare was, is ignored.
| Cabin | Continental | Intercontinental |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 20 | 60 |
| Premium Economy | 20 | 80 |
| Business | 40 | 200 |
| First | 40 | 400 |
Three currencies share that table, and they differ only in where you can earn them:
- Points count on any Star Alliance member.
- Qualifying Points count only on the programme's own airlines: Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Air Dolomiti, Croatia Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings, LOT and Luxair. The same cabin on Copa or Avianca earns none.
- HON Circle Points count only in business or first on that list, for the tier above Senator.
| Status | Needs | Alliance level |
|---|---|---|
| Frequent Traveller | 650 Points, of which 325 Qualifying | Star Alliance Silver |
| Senator | 2,000 Points, of which 1,000 Qualifying | Star Alliance Gold |
| HON Circle | 6,000 HON Circle Points | Star Alliance Gold |
Both numbers have to be met, and missing the smaller one is how a year of flying ends with no new card. What you earn then runs to the end of February of the year after next: qualify in March 2026 and you hold it until February 2028.
What does Senator status cost?
Neither the price you paid nor the distance flown changes the number, so Athens to Tel Aviv in business earns the same 200 Qualifying Points as Frankfurt to Singapore. That fixes the cheapest unit, and Travel-Dealz costed it in 2026 at roughly 689 euros for Frequent Traveller and 1,954 for Senator: a business return from Athens to Tel Aviv through a Lufthansa Group hub is four legs, two intercontinental at 200 and two feeders at 40, so 480 Qualifying Points for one long-haul economy ticket's money. That is a status run, a trip flown for the points rather than to get anywhere.
Points follow the flight and not the point of sale, meaning the country the ticket was sold in, so the same SWISS flight earns its 200 or 400 bought in Zurich or in Budapest: why the same seat costs less when it is sold in another country. What does matter is the operating airline, because Qualifying Points follow the operator.
Cheaper routes to Star Alliance Gold
Two member airlines ask less for the same card, and two programmes run a status match, which means recognising the status you already hold with another airline and giving you the same rank in their own programme. What a status card actually costs prices all of them against the flown route.
Aegean Miles+Bonus has been the cheapest Gold in the alliance for years. Until 4 November 2026, renewing Gold takes four Aegean or Olympic flights plus 12,000 status miles, the miles that count towards a tier rather than the ones you spend on a free ticket. From 5 November 2026 it takes twelve flights plus 18,000, and the rule that applies is the one in force on the day you qualify: Aegean makes the cheapest Star Alliance Gold three times harder.
Turkish Miles&Smiles grants Gold at Elite, 40,000 status miles in twelve months. Classic Plus, the 25,000 tier below it, is only Silver and is widely misread. Turkish matches as well: four months, extended to a year by one international flight inside that window.
Miles & More matches too, at 99 euros for a British Airways or Iberia card, valid to the end of February 2027.
Frequent Traveller is Silver, not Gold. On that card a Singapore Airlines flight leaves you at the gate.