Tag Archives for star alliance.
United Airlines has limited Star Alliance Gold access to lounges across much of its network. This was against Star Alliance policy. Star Alliance policy has been changed to no longer require airlines to offer contract lounge access to Gold members.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Apparently — and unsurprisingly — Star Alliance member airlines were resistant to giving new benefits to a higher tier of alliance partner elite, preferring to keep exclusive benefits for their own elites and for joint venture partner airlines.
THAThai Airways has transferred a lot of its domestic and regional flying to THAI Smile, its lower cost subsidiary which operates 20 Airbus A320 aircraft. That makes award travel to many Thai cities problematic, because THAI Smile isn’t a Star Alliance member so miles from United, Aeroplan, LifeMiles and other Star programs don’t allow redemption on THAI Smile flights.
Thai Airways itself no longer operates any narrowbody aircraft.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Good availability in business class to Asia from 75,000 miles one way without significant add-on fees is worth paying attention to. There are worthwhile Star Alliance (Europe and Mideast especially) and round-the-world awards, too.
Business class fares are available from several US cities – including New York, DC, and Los Angeles – to Moscow from $1650 roundtrip.
Maybe you weren’t satisfied with the Mueller report and want to conduct your own on-the-ground investigation. Or you’ve always wanted to trace your family’s roots back to the Tsar. Either way this is one of the best sale fares I’ve seen to Russia.
Over the summer I reported a rumor that Etihad was in talks to join Star Alliance. That rumor heated up substantially in February.
Etihad is now joining Air Canada’s Aeroplan as an earning member
There’s a real problem that programs are facing, how to deliver award seats in a world where planes are full and airlines aren’t growing faster than the economy? If there aren’t unsold seats on desirable flights the model breaks down. The answer though isn’t to move towards low value redemptions where a mile is worth a penny. That’s giving up.
Fortunately it’s not really an either-or proposition. In fact United’s own experience with revenue-based redemptions shows that this new model can easily co-exist with award charts.
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 »
