Star Alliance just celebrated its 25 year anniversary this month. As a result, we thought it would be a good idea to update our airline alliance rundown post.
There are 3 worldwide major airline alliances, as well as 3 regional alliances that we will mention further down the post.
It has been just over a year since we last updated this post. The most significant change that would affect Canadians is adding Alaska Airlines to Oneworld Alliance. Now my hope is for WestJet to join an alliance themselves too.
There are 3 worldwide major airline alliances, as well as 3 regional alliances that we will mention further down the post.
It has been almost a year since I last updated this post. With so much “up in the air” for airlines, who knows who will survive the COVID-19 pandemic. So in the meantime, I would like to update the current list of members of each major airline alliance. I am hoping that we can avoid bankruptcies, and maybe see some mergers happen for survival. Mergers and acquisitions would probably save more jobs (not to mention salvage frequent flyer programs) than a flat out bankruptcies.
Another reason I triggered this update is the possibility of Alaska Airlines being added to Oneworld Alliance. Maybe WestJet should look into joining an alliance too?
Airline alliances have really revolutionised frequent flyer programs. Having codeshare partners has really increased the value of many loyalty programs by giving us to ability to redeem miles with one airline to use on partner airlines.For today’s post, many affiliate airlines have been discontinued, so I thought this post was due for an update. I also added the connecting partners mentioned by one of our readers from last time.
It has been over a year since I last updated this post, especially with OneWorld, so I thought it was due for an update as there were several changes to update.
Personal Airline Alliance Portfolio
As usual, here is a quick recap of my personal portfolio, which has not changed much. I was expecting to shake things up due to the Aeroplan and Air Canada break up, but that does not seem to be happening anymore.
In Canada, after Aeroplan, I would say, British Airways’ Executive Club Avios are the easiest miles to collect without flying. Canadian financial institutions offer a wide range of options to earn Avios. Personally I have an Executive Club account and I rack up most of my Avois through transfer partners and taking advantage of transfer bonuses (see below).
American Airlines (AA) announced back in November that they are expanding its service in Canada, including more frequency of its existing routes (see “List of Destinations Departing from Canadian Airports” section). So I thought that this post was due for an update. AA is a member of Oneworld alliance and has a rewards program called AAdvantage. Unfortunately, their rewards program took a hit, as their redemption schedule has become more expensive. However, they are the Oneworld airline with the biggest presence in Canada.
Airline alliances frequently change their members. This list was due for an update from last time. Most significantly, I added two regional airline alliances: U-Fly Alliance and Value Alliance.
Personal Airline Alliance Portfolio
As usual, a quick recap of my personal portfolio. Basically, I have at least one core frequent flyer program per airline alliance that I can bank all my miles to on paid flights. Most of my personal trips have been on reward flights, which is why you may not see me utilizing many different programs.
There always seems to be a few changes to airline alliances ever so often, so I thought I’d update the list from 4 months ago.
In case people are wondering why I put this together. As you know, one of the main reasons this blog was created was to help me document my personal research. I find having all the members of airline alliances listed on one page very handy.
I actually forgot to include a new airline alliance from last time, so I thought I’d provide another update to this list.
No updates to my personal portfolio, though I will include some new information. Below are the following airlines that I focus most energy with: