All about Star Alliance

Being the largest international airline alliance, Star Alliance offers several benefits for you as a traveler. But which airlines are part of the alliance, and how beneficial can it actually be?

There are several globe-spanning airline alliances, and on top of the list we found Star Alliance. This alliance was founded in 1997 by five airlines – Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Thai Airways and United Airlines.

Today the alliance has grown to have 26 members, and among them are both some of the world’s top carriers, as well as smaller and more regional aviation companies. In total, the cooperating airlines offer over 50 global hubs. Their headquarters are located in Frankfurt, Germany – which is also the main hub for the founding member Lufthansa.

What’s in it for me?

So, what benefits can come from choosing an airline that is part of an alliance? The answer is that there are several! One thing is that the alliances normally make the connections better, and also make it easier to both collect and spend miles. If you’re a flyer with elite status, this will also be recognized across all partners in the alliance.

Another major pro with an alliance such as Star Alliance are the codeshare flights that you can normally find. This is common between airlines in the same alliance (but also pretty frequent between airlines outside of the alliances). Codesharing means that the airlines can sell seats on each other's flight – very convenient for you as a traveler!

One more positive thing is that the partnership normally means that the airlines have shared services, meaning that you can turn to any of the partner airlines if you have an issue with one of the cooperating operators. This is normally the case with all three major airline alliances – Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld.