If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years as a content marketer, it’s the power of similes when explaining complicated concepts. So what are airline alliances? Think of airline alliances as a large parent company like Johnson & Johnson or LVMH. LVMH owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Celine, Christian Dior, Rimowa, and more. Each brand has its own website, products, and services, but they’re all under the LVMH umbrella.
Instead of being owned by the same head company, airlines partner and work together to create a global airline alliance network that delivers a more seamless travel experience to their customers. The benefit for airlines is they can offer their customers more destinations by sharing routes via codeshares with their partners. For example, Virgin Atlantic customers can book a Delta flight through Virgin Atlantic’s website and vice versa. This helps Virgin Atlantic’s bottom line by keeping flights full and ensuring their customers stay on their website and fly within their alliance vs. driving them into the arms of competitors.
So what are the airline alliances?
The three main airline alliances are SkyTeam, Star Alliance, and Oneworld. Star Alliance is the largest with 26 members.
Sky Team is the alliance I use most frequently as KLM, Air France, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic are members. (It also happens to be my favorite sweet spot. Some example redemptions are below.)
Oneworld is the third main alliance with key members like American Airlines and British Airways.
What are the benefits of airline alliances for consumers?
There are many benefits of airline alliances for consumers, which I have benefited from myself over the years. The top four benefits are:
- The ability to earn miles with partner airlines. When you book a flight, you are given the option to enter your loyalty program membership information for that airline or one of its partners. This allows consumers to decide where they want to credit their miles. So instead of having dozens of loyalty memberships with different programs that only have a few miles each, you can credit all your miles to the main airline you fly within a partnership. If you want.
(i.e. if flying Virgin Atlantic, you can add your Flying Club membership info or your membership info with one of their partner airlines like Delta).
(i.e. if flying Virgin Atlantic, you can add your Flying Club membership info or your membership info with one of their partner airlines like Delta). - Fast track elite status with partner airlines. Here’s where partnerships can get more complicated. Not all airlines credit partner miles the same way. Some airlines within an alliance can have stronger benefits for consumers, like enabling them to earn elite status faster.
Take Delta, for example. At the time of writing, to earn Delta status there is a mileage requirement (MQMs) and dollar requirement (MQDs). Delta’s entry-level gold status requires 25,000 miles flown and $3,000 spent, which is a lot of money. However, Delta credits a percentage of the miles flown as MQDs with a few of their partner airlines like Virgin Atlantic. So if you buy a $500 ticket on Virgin Atlantic that flies from JFK-LHR. Instead of earning a percentage of the $500 towards MQDs, you’d earn a percentage of the total miles flown, which is 3,451, enabling you to fast-track your way to elite status. - Earn reciprocal elite status benefits. If you earned elite status with one airline, you may also receive the same benefits with some of their partner airlines. Some elite status benefits are checked baggage allowances, priority boarding, lounge access, and more. Not all partner airlines will offer the same benefits, but you can visit your airline’s website to see which benefits you can receive with status.
- Book flights on partner airlines with miles. I saved the best for last. While you can’t transfer airline points across partners, like how credit card points work, you can use your airline points to book a partner flight. In practice, you cannot transfer Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles to Delta, but you can book Delta flights on Virgin Atlantic’s website using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points and vice versa.
This brings us to the world of partner airline mile redemption sweet spots.
How to maximize credit card points with airline partnership sweet spots
Booking with partner airlines has helped me maximize my credit card points. In fall 2022, I booked a one-way Delta One ticket (read: business class) from NYC-Frankfurt for 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles. The same ticket on Delta would’ve been upwards of 200k+ SkyMiles. As you can see, I gained a lot more value by booking through this sweet spot.
Similarly, Flying Blue (KLM and Air France’s loyalty program, which is free to join) also partners with Virgin Atlantic. While the award ticket fees are slightly more expensive on Virgin Atlantic, you can save a handful of miles by redeeming and booking via Virgin Atlantic vs. Flying Blue. For example, learn how I saved 12,000 miles on a weekend trip to Amsterdam.
When looking into partner airline sweet spots, check both how many miles are required for a ticket and the fees. Be sure to remain flexible with your travel dates and stay curious. The opportunities are endless, and I’ll take you along as I continue unlocking redemption sweet spots.
