Friday, September 4, 2009

The Major Frequent Flyer Program Alliances and Their Partners

All major airlines have some sort of loyalty, or frequent flyer program where you can earn various levels of status and privileges based on how many miles you accumulate. In addition. Most of them have partner airlines with whom you can also earn mileage. The miles you earn, serve 2 purposes: one, they can be used for earning free reward tickets, and two, you accumulate 'Elite Miles' towards achieving Elite Status, which allows you varying levels of perks depending on which level you attain. Generally, there are 3 levels of Elite Status; silver, gold and platinum, on most. When you have Elite Status within your own airline's frequent flyer program, their partners will also acknowledge your status so your perks and benefits are portable.

In deciding which frequent flyer program to join, you should start by considering which airline best serves the areas you tend to travel to and from, and also, who their partners are. Below is a list of 3 major frequent flyer program alliances, and their partner airlines:


SKYTEAM
  • Aeroflot
  • Aeromexico
  • Air Europa
  • Air France
  • Alitalia
  • China Southern
  • Continental (only until October 24, 2009)
  • Copa Airlines
  • Czech Airlines
  • Delta
  • Kenya Airways
  • KLM
  • Korean Air
  • Northwest

STAR ALLIANCE
  • Air Canada
  • Air China
  • Air New Zealand
  • ANA
  • Asiana Airlines
  • Austrian
  • BMI
  • Continental (starting October 24, 2009)
  • Egyptair
  • LOT Polish Airlines
  • Lufthansa
  • Scandinavian Airlines
  • Shanghai Airlines
  • South African Airways
  • Spanair
  • SWISS
  • TAP Portugal
  • THAI
  • Turkish Airlines
  • United
  • US Airways
ONE WORLD ALLIANCE
  • American Airlines
  • British Airways
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Finnair
  • Iberia
  • Japan Airlines
  • LAN
  • Malev
  • Qantas
  • Royal Jordanian

1 comment:

BWI said...

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