Tag Archives for star alliance.
There’s a lot suggesting that this could be under discussion. The biggest argument against it is that it hasn’t happened yet, so might not come to fruition. But here’s the argument for yes.
Star Alliance is ‘losing’ many of its customers in Northern Europe. And SAS is trying to raid its members as well. So members with current SAS status can pick the Star Alliance program they’d like to stay in as an alternative to EuroBonus.
I’ve heard recently some several readers that customer service calls have gone much more smoothly in recent months, and I’ve seen discussion of this on Reddit as well, so I asked what changes they’ve made. Vincett put me on the phone with Luis Coreas, their Chief Operating Officer, who walked me through the changes they’ve made and those that they have in process.
Air China, which currently owns 30% of Cathay Pacific, is considering taking control of the Hong Kong-based airline. The Chinese flag carrier and Star Alliance member could cause a realignment of global airline alliances, moving Cathay from oneworld (American Airlines, British Airways) over to Star (United, Air Canada).
It’s now possible to earn Star Alliance Gold status through credit card spend alone, and to earn transferable Star Alliance points in the Star Alliance Rewards program.
Star Alliance has launched its first stand-alone credit card, in the Australian market. This is expected to expand.
Etihad has been posting odd clues in advance of a Wednesday announcement. One of those, discussed below, surely had to be trolling given the past speculation about the carrier joining Star Alliance. I do not know what tomorrow’s announcement entails, but I am told officially by Star Alliance that it is not their joining the global partnership.
Star Alliance, the largest of the three international partnership groups which includes United and Air Canada, plans to launch a credit card that’s separate from the co-brand cards issued by its individual member airlines. It’s expected to become available later this year.
They’ll also add a non-airline partner and are looking to bulk purchase sustainable fuel.
The Star Alliance lounge at LAX is no longer limited to business and first class passengers and Star Gold elites on Star Alliance airline flights (and other airline eligible passengers such as Air Tahiti Nui passengers in business class). Instead, you can now pay for access to the lounge.
SkyTeam’s Korean Air is acquiring Star Alliance member Asiana. Now the Prime Minister of Japan is talking about the need to merge ANA and Japan Airlines as part of injecting subsidies into his country’s two largest airlines.
There are a significant number of readers with Star Alliance Gold status and a lot of miles in the TAP Air Portugal Miles & Go program since they were selling miles for $0.0087 apiece as part of their mileage subscription program and matching status earlier this year.
TAP’s Miles & Go is running a mileage bonus (rather than a discount) on all Star Alliance partner flights. They will award “Club TAP” mileage subscription members with a 10,000 mile bonus for booking a one-way award on Star Alliance and other airline partners.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
