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[TRAVEL] Update to Airline Alliances (August 2, 2014)

I have written about my airline portfolio and explained that I generally earn the points of at least one airline per alliance. There are several reasons for this diversification.

I never know which airline is going to give me the best price for the ticket that I buy. So regardless of which airline I fly on, I can earn points with one of the partnered airlines for that flight. For example, I earn Delta SkyMiles. If let’s say I wanted to fly to France with Air France, then the points I earn with Air France will be banked into my Delta SkyMiles account. This way, I can consolidate all my points into one airline per alliance.

Another reason is because we never know which program is going to be hit with a devaluation. If, for example, one airline takes a massive devaluation hit, then I can still depend on other airlines. For example, I currently earn British Airways Avios points and American Airlines points, both with Oneworld actually. If let’s say Delta took a massive devaluation hit, then I can shift over to American Airlines for the time being, while I consider another SkyTeam member to earn points with. If American Airlines also takes a hit too, because it is an airline from the same country as Delta, then I can focus on British Airways for the time being.

So even within alliance members, I would consider earning points with more than one airline. Award Wallet is my key to keeping track of all these accounts. Diversification may not be everyone because it does take a little more effort, especially with keeping track on preventing points from expiring, but I do want to prevent myself from being hit too hard by devaluations, so I am more than happy to diversify.

As I’ve often said, the points game is the type of game where the more effort you put it, the more rewarding it can be.

As for Canadians, it could be interesting to see if WestJet can eventually join an alliance. Oneworld would make the most sense because WestJet already has a partnership with American Airlines. Of course WestJet Rewards would have to revamp its program to be more in line with the other members. Such a move would definitely give Aeroplan some much needed competition.

Below are updates to the memberships within three major airline alliances:
Airline Alliance

Oneworld SkyTeam Star Alliance
Air Berlin Aeroflot Adria Airways
American Airlines Aerolíneas Argentinas Aegean Airlines
•  US Airways Aeromexico Air Canada
British Airways Air Europa Air China
•  BA CityFlyer Air France Air India (added on July 11, 2014)
•  British Airways Limited Alitalia Air New Zealand
•  Comair China Airlines All Nippon Airways
•  OpenSkies China Eastern Asiana Airlines
•  Sun-Air China Southern Austrian Airlines
Cathay Pacific Czech Airlines Avianca
Dragonair Delta Air Lines Avianca Brazil (to be added in 2014)
Finnair Garuda Indonesia Brussels Airlines
•  Flybe Nordic Kenya Airways Copa Airlines
Iberia KLM Croatia Airlines
Japan Airlines Korean Air EgyptAir
LAN Airlines Middle East Airlines Ethiopian Airlines
•  LAN Argentina Saudia EVA Air
•  LAN Ecuador TAROM LOT Polish Airlines
•  LAN Express Vietnam Airlines Lufthansa
•  LAN Peru Xiamen Airlines Scandinavian Airlines
•  LAN Colombia Shenzhen Airlines
Malaysia Airlines Possible future members to SkyTeam: Singapore Airlines
Qantas Air Madagascar South African Airways
Qatar Airways Air Mauritius SWISS International Air Lines
Royal Jordanian Gol Transportes Aéreos TAP Portugal
S7 Airlines Hunnu Air Thai Airways International
SriLankan Airlines Uzbekistan Airways Turkish Airlines
TAM Airlines Virgin Atlantic United Airlines
Possible future members to Oneworld:
TAM Paraguay

One Comment

  1. That is not true. You get 4% cash back on gas and groceries, 2% on phacamry and recurring, and 1% on all other purchases.Once you have spent 25,000 on gas and groceries the rest of your spending is called overflow and it drops to 1% . . . likewise for phacamry and recurring. How many people spend that much on gas and groceries in a year!?!

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