Template: Easy midlevel status

Star Alliance (United)

Egyptair. For most people, Egyptair is the easiest program to earn and keep Star Alliance Gold status. You’ll need to acquire 30,000 QMs to get to Silver Status, but you can spread this out over any length of time. Once you’ve reached Silver status, you only need to earn an additional 30,000 QMs over TWO years to get to Gold. Then once you’re Gold, you only need 30,000 QMs every TWO years to keep your status. That's 30,000 QMs every two years, versus the normal 50,000 QMs every year.

In addition, (as described below) Egyptair is the only program that lets you earn qualifying miles from your family member’s flights. A couple only needs to average 7,500 QMs per year to earn Gold status for one of them.

Asiana Airlines (Korea). If you aren’t planning to share your elite status qualifying miles with others, Asiana airlines is a good option. You need 40,000 QMs every TWO years to qualify for a two-year period. Then you only need 30,000 QMs over those TWO years to re-qualify. That's a little harder than Egyptair, but Asiana is a better program for using your miles and has its own US branded credit card.
Turkish Airlines. Like Asiana, Turkish Airlines operates on a two-year cycle. While you only have one year to earn the 40,000 QMs to initially qualify, status will last two years, and you only need 37,500 QMs over those TWO years to re-qualify.

But if you have status with another airline / alliance and are planning to fly Turkish, you may be able to take advantage of their status match to make it easier. Once you match, you'll have status for 4 months. If you take one international flight with Turkish, it will be extended to a full year. If you then earn 15,000 QMs on Turkish international flights during that year, you'll get an extra year.

Aegean Airlines (Greece). If you can fly on Aegean, they are another easier-than-normal option. Earning 12,000 QMs in 12 months (including 2 Aegean-operated segments) gets you to Silver status. Once there, earning another 24,000 QMs in the following 12 months (including 4 Aegean segments) gets you Gold. Then you only need 12,000 QMs (including two Aegean segments) or 24,000 QMs (without the Aegean flights) to re-qualify.

SkyTeam (Delta)

Air Europa. Air Europa is the easiest program for earning SkyTeam Elite Plus status. It requires 12,000 QMs to reach Silver level. Once there, you'll have a year to earn 32,000 additional miles to reach and maintain Gold. Air Europa has a distance-based award chart, which can represent either very good or very bad award prices, depending on the length of the route. They are best for very short or very long flights. One downside is that Air Europa doesn’t partner with any credit card programs, so you can’t easily combine your miles with credit card points, to book tickets.
Flying Blue. Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue program uses "Experience Points" rather than qualifying miles. The number of XPs you receive is based on the class of service and distance buckets. It normally isn't particularly easy to earn the 280 XP you need to qualify for mid-level status. However, you may be able to take advantage of some quirks to qualify much more easily. On even the shortest international segments, Flying Blue gives you 10 XP in Premium Economy, 15 XP in Business, and 25 XP in First. If you have the opportunity to take very short inexpensive international flights, you'll quickly earn enough points without flying a lot of miles or spending a lot of money.

Oneworld (American)

British Airways. British Airways bases their status level on “tier points” rather than qualifying miles. The flight miles to tier points conversion rate is not fixed but is typically around 60:1. Thus, you only need to earn the equivalent of about 36,000 QMs per year to get the 600 tier points for gold status. Unfortunately. you’ll also need to make sure that at least four of those flights are on British Airways. So British Airways is a good choice for some people, but unworkable for others.
Iberia (Spain). Like British Airways, Iberia bases their status on “elite points” not qualifying miles. If you book full economy, business, or first-class tickets, you can earn status with far less than the normal amount of flying. But if you buy discounted economy tickets, it will take far more than the normal amount of flying.
Japan Airlines. For some travelers, JAL can be an unbelievable way to maintain Oneworld mid-level status (Sapphire). Once you qualify for JAL’s Sapphire tier, you’ll have an opportunity to join their “JAL Global Club” for two years. As a member, you’ll automatically have Oneworld mid-level status. To keep your membership, you’ll only need to earn 25,000 QMs per year. And if that isn’t good enough, you also have the option of simply paying 5,000 redeemable miles for the renewal fee.

The catch is that, to reach JNB Sapphire status in the first place, you’ll need to earn the normal 50,000 miles in a year, half of which needs to be on flights operated by JAL. So, to get started, you’ll need to wait until you have the opportunity to earn at least 25,000 miles on JAL flights.