What is Star Alliance?

Star Alliance is one of the big three airline alliances in the world (the other two being OneWorld and Skyteam). Generally speaking, an airline and its customers benefit from being in an alliance because:

• it allows you to travel across different airlines on a single ticket, giving you more connectivity to more destinations.
• it allows an airline’s frequent flyer members to earn and redeem frequent flyer points on other airlines in the alliance
• it allows elite/VIP and business/first class passengers access to privileges and benefits across the alliance – this often includes things like:
  • free or better seat selection privileges
  • priority check in
  • priority security
  • additional luggage allowances
  • airport lounge access
  • priority boarding
  • more/better upgrade opportunities
  • priority baggage handling

However, the benefits you get on each airline does vary.

Even when an airline is in an alliance, it most likely will also partner with other airlines outside of the alliance – those partnerships are usually bilateral (i.e. between the two parties), meaning whatever benefits agreed on between the two airlines only extend to those two airlines.

The airlines currently in Star Alliance are:

• Aegean Airlines (Greece)
• Air Canada (Canada)
• Air China (China)
• Air India (India)
• Air New Zealand (New Zealand)
• ANA (Japan)
• Asiana Airlines (South Korea)
• Austrian (Austria)
• Avianca (Various bases across South America)
• Brussels Airlines (Belgium)
• Copa Airlines (Panama)
• Croatia Airlines (Croatia)
• Egyptair (Egypt)
• Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia)
• Eva Air (Taiwan)
• LOT Polish Airlines (Poland)
• Lufthansa (Germany)
• SAS (Norway/Sweden/Denmark)
• Shenzhen Airlines (China)
• Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
• South African Airways (South Africa)
• Swiss (Switzerland)
• TAP Air Portugal (Portugal)
• Thai Airways (Thailand)
• Turkish Airlines (Turkey)
• United Airlines (USA)

Are any of the details above out of date? If so, get in touch and let us know, so all travellers can benefit!

The PSSTT Insider KnowHow pages contain knowledge about airlines, hotels, airports, restaurants and cities that we’ve collected over many years. We regularly review this to keep things up to date but information can sometimes become obsolete. If you need definitive information, please always get in touch with your travel service provider!