United Airlines Status Match

With demise of BMI and my Star Gold Status locked in until 2015 thanks to Asiana, I was looking for a secondary frequent flyer program to bank to. Instead of flying solely on Star Alliance, I was strongly considering to switch some of my travel to Oneworld. Additionally, I was also tempted by possible new experiences like redeeming First on Cathay, British and Qantas and the fact that Malaysian Airlines would be joining Oneworld at the end of the year which allowed for possibly better redemptions to/from home in Malaysia.

I was about to sign up for a Status Challenge to Platinum on American Airlines where it would cost $180 and you need to do 10,000 points in a 3 month period to fast track to Platinum. Soon after, I got an email from United that they were matching my Emirates Gold to Premier Gold Status. I had sent the email weeks ago but didn't hear back from them and I didn't follow up thinking I'll just go the Oneworld path.

Looks like I'll be sticking to Star Alliance for now until when I have a trip back to Malaysia where I could easily do the Status Challenge and possibly make the switch to Oneworld then. Hopefully by then, Malaysian Airlines would have joined Oneworld.