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Understanding airline alliances and partnerships is crucial for mastering the travel rewards game. For example, if you exclusively redeem your AAdvantage® miles on American Airlines, you could be missing out on fantastic redemption opportunities offered through AAdvantage partner airlines.
Most airlines work with other carriers through alliances or individual partnerships. In this post, we’ll focus specifically on airline alliances — explaining why they matter and how you can maximize the value of your miles and points by taking advantage of them.
Page Contents
- Why Should You Care About Airline Alliances and Partnerships?
- Why Do Airline Partnerships Exist?
- Utilize Airlines Partnerships to Maximize Flexible Points
- Score Better Award Rates on the Same Flight
- The Three Major Airline Alliances
- Individual Airline Partners
- How Airline Alliances and Partners Benefit Travelers
- Earning Miles With Partner and Alliance Airlines
- How to Plan a Trip With Partner Airlines
- Final Thoughts
Why Should You Care About Airline Alliances and Partnerships?
Most travelers know that United MileagePlus miles can be redeemed for United Airlines flights and Delta SkyMiles for Delta flights. But if you aren’t familiar with airline partnerships, you may not realize how many additional redemption options are available.
While you can redeem miles exclusively on the airline that issued them, ignoring partner airlines means missing out on thousands of additional flights — including routes to destinations your primary airline doesn’t serve. In many cases, booking partner flights can also require fewer miles.
Beyond opening up additional award redemptions, airline alliances make it easier to travel across multiple airlines on a single itinerary.
If you book a flight to Jakarta, Indonesia on United's website, you won't fly all the way there with United. You might connect with All Nippon Airways (ANA) or even Asiana Airlines. Even so, the itinerary is issued as a single ticket, and checked baggage will be transferred automatically between the airlines.
Why Do Airline Partnerships Exist?
Airline partnerships and alliances exist to give one carrier access to another's route network. While these relationships serve several purposes, the biggest benefit for travelers is expanded access to destinations around the world. For example, it's not feasible for a U.S.-based carrier to serve every destination in Europe, so these carriers utilize the route networks operated by major European carriers.
One example is Delta Air Lines’ long-standing partnership with Air France and KLM. This relationship makes it possible to travel from New York (JFK) to the relatively small city of Split, Croatia (SPU), with just one connection in either Amsterdam (AMS) or Paris (CDG). You can even redeem Delta SkyMiles for this itinerary.
AAdvantage members and American Airlines frequent flyers can also benefit from these partnerships. For example, travelers can fly from the U.S. to Mallorca, Spain (PMI), with a quick connection in Madrid (MAD) or London (LHR), thanks to American’s partnerships with Iberia and British Airways (respectively).
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines aren’t unique in partnering with major international carriers. Because of these relationships, miles earned with U.S.-based airlines can take you much farther than you might expect.
Utilize Airlines Partnerships to Maximize Flexible Points
Beyond opening more routes, airline alliances can also give you additional flexibility when redeeming points and miles.
Let's say you want to fly from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) on American Airlines but don’t have enough AAdvantage miles to book the flight. Luckily, you can book the same award through a partner program. Oneworld partner British Airways often has access to the same American Airlines award space.
Unlike American Airlines, which only partners with Citi for transferable points, British Airways Avios can be converted from several major bank programs, including:
So, if you don't have enough AAdvantage miles for your flight, you can transfer points to your Avios account to book it through British Airways instead.
Score Better Award Rates on the Same Flight
In addition to expanding bank transfer partner options, airline alliances create opportunities to redeem fewer miles.
Looking at our Delta and Air France example from earlier, you can see that a flight from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) costs 40,000 miles for economy and 82,000 miles for premium when booked through Delta with SkyMiles. Further, it doesn't show any availability for business.
However, this same flight costs just 18,750 miles for economy, 40,000 miles for premium, and 60,000 miles for business class when booked through Air France. Understanding airline alliances helps save miles and opens up other seating options in this scenario.
If you're wondering why there are different prices or which flights you can book with miles, check out these two posts for beginners:
Now let's look at the partnerships and alliances that can supercharge your rewards strategy.
The Three Major Airline Alliances
Airline alliances are large networks of partner carriers. Rather than forming individual partnerships with each airline, alliance members operate under a shared set of rules that apply across the entire alliance. That said, airlines are still free to form deeper partnerships with certain members if they choose.
There are three major airline alliances:
- Star Alliance
- Oneworld
- SkyTeam
Star Alliance
The first global airline alliance, Star Alliance, was formed in May 1997 with just five member airlines. Today, it’s the largest of the three major airline alliances, with over 25 members.
Star Alliance is the only alliance with member airlines based on all six inhabited continents. It’s also the only alliance to partner with a rail provider, Germany's Deutsche Bahn.
Star Alliance members and frequent flyer programs
| Member Airline | Frequent Flyer Program |
|---|---|
| Aegean Airlines | Miles+Bonus |
| Air Canada | Aeroplan |
| Air China | PhoenixMiles |
| Air India | Maharaja Club |
| Air New Zealand | Airpoints |
| ANA | ANA Mileage Club |
| Asiana Airlines | Asiana Club |
| Austrian Airlines | Miles & More |
| Avianca | LifeMiles |
| Brussels Airlines | Miles & More |
| Copa Airlines | ConnectMiles |
| Croatia Airlines | Miles & More |
| Egyptair | Egyptair Plus |
| Ethiopian Airlines | ShebaMiles |
| EVA Air | Infinity MileageLands |
| ITA Airways | Miles & More |
| LOT Polish Airlines | Miles & More |
| Lufthansa | Miles & More |
| Shenzhen Airlines | PhoenixMiles |
| Singapore Airlines | KrisFlyer |
| South African Airways | Voyager |
| SWISS | Miles & More |
| TAP Air Portugal | TAP Miles&Go |
| Thai Airways | Royal Orchid Plus |
| Turkish Airlines | Miles & Smiles |
| United Airlines | MileagePlus |
Oneworld
The Oneworld alliance (stylized with a lowercase “o” as oneworld) was formed in February 1999 and currently consists of 15 member airlines. It is the smallest of the three major airline alliances, but it's growing quickly. The most recent additions were Alaska Airlines in March 2021, Fiji Airways in March 2025, and Oman Air in June 2025. Hawaiian Airlines is set to join in April 2026.
After LATAM Airlines left Oneworld in 2020, the alliance lost much of its presence in South America. And it’s also worth noting that Oneworld once had an extensive route network in Russia through member airline S7 Airlines. However, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, S7’s membership is currently suspended.
Oneworld members and frequent flyer programs
| Member Airline | Frequent Flyer Program |
|---|---|
| Alaska Airlines | Mileage Plan |
| American Airlines | AAdvantage |
| British Airways | Club (Avios) |
| Cathay Pacific | Asia Miles |
| Fiji Airways | AAdvantage |
| Finnair | Finnair Plus |
| Iberia | Club (Avios) |
| Japan Airlines | JAL Mileage Bank |
| Malaysia Airlines | Enrich |
| Oman Air | Sindbad |
| Qantas | Qantas Frequent Flyer |
| Qatar Airways | Privilege Club (Avios) |
| Royal Air Maroc | Safar Flyer |
| Royal Jordanian | Royal Club |
| SirLankan Airlines | FlySmiLes |
| Fiji Airways | Tabua Club / AAdvantage |
| S7 (Suspended) | S7 Priority (Suspended) |
SkyTeam
SkyTeam is the second-largest airline alliance. It was formed in 2000 by just four carriers but has grown to 18 with the most recent addition being SAS, which joined in September 2024. The second most recent addition was Virgin Atlantic.
SkyTeam’s members are well distributed around the world, including a strong presence in Asia, where six member airlines are based.
Similar to S7’s suspension from Oneworld, Russia’s national carrier, Aeroflot, is currently suspended from the SkyTeam alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
SkyTeam members and frequent flyer programs
| Member Airline | Frequent Flyer Program |
|---|---|
| Aerolíneas Argentinas | Aerolíneas Plus |
| Aeroméxico | Aeroméxico Rewards |
| Air Europa | Suma |
| Air France | Flying Blue |
| China Airlines | Dynasty Flyer |
| China Eastern Airlines | Eastern Miles |
| Delta Air Lines | SkyMiles |
| Garuda Indonesia | GarudaMiles |
| Kenya Airways | Asante Rewards |
| KLM | Flying Blue |
| Korean Air | SKYPASS |
| Middle East Airlines | Cedar Miles |
| Saudia | Al Fursan Loyalty |
| TAROM | Flying Blue |
| Vietnam Airlines | Lotusmiles |
| Virgin Atlantic | Flying Club |
| XiamenAir | Egret Miles |
| Aeroflot (Suspended) | Aeroflot Bonus (Suspended) |
Individual Airline Partners
Not every airline belongs to a global alliance. Many carriers prefer to operate independently, as it provides more freedom for the airline to implement its own strategic partnerships. Most global carriers are also far too small to participate in major alliances.
However, not every independent airline is small. For example, Etihad Airways, Emirates, LATAM, and JetBlue don’t belong to any alliance but maintain strategic partnerships with airlines around the world.
Previously, JetBlue maintained a close partnership with American Airlines. However, the United States Department of Justice determined the partnership violated antitrust laws. Now, JetBlue partners with United Airlines via its BlueSky partnership, offering reciprocal miles-earning and redeeming.
How Airline Alliances and Partners Benefit Travelers
Airline partnerships can simplify travel and make elite status more rewarding. When your itinerary includes multiple airlines, you usually can get your boarding passes for the whole trip when you check in for your first flight. Your bags can be checked to your final destination, and the minimum time to connect between partners is usually shorter.
Most airline partnerships also have reciprocal elite benefits. That means your elite status and benefits — like free checked bags, airport lounge access, and flight upgrades — will apply to partner flights, too.
Another key feature of many partnerships is the ability to earn and redeem miles with partners. However, this feature varies and may not apply, depending on the airlines and the type of partnership.
Related: Guide to Oneworld Lounges and How To Access Them
Earning Miles With Partner and Alliance Airlines
When you pay for a flight with money instead of miles, you typically can choose to earn miles with a partner airline's frequent flyer program.
If you rarely fly with Aegean Airlines, it doesn't make sense to accrue a few thousand Aegean miles that will be hard to redeem. Instead, when buying a flight on Aegean's website, you could decide to credit that flight to a program you'll use more often, such as United Airlines MileagePlus or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Just like frequent flyer programs can have different award prices for the same flight, they also differ in how many redeemable miles (what you need for booking award tickets) they earn for partner flights. For example, an economy flight on Aegean Airlines earns twice as many miles when credited to Singapore KrisFlyer compared to United MileagePlus. You can learn all about this topic in our post on where to credit miles.
In the case of airlines not affiliated with any major alliance — but that still maintain individual partnerships with other airlines — determining whether you can earn or redeem miles takes a little research. Luckily, you can find your answer to whether or not a partnership allows you to earn or redeem miles on each airline's website.
How to Plan a Trip With Partner Airlines
As we mentioned earlier, knowing how (and when) to redeem miles with partners is key to maximizing your rewards. The right strategy can save you cash and miles and get you to less popular destinations faster. Let's take a look at how you can use your knowledge of partners to plan your next trip.
Your first step will be to figure out what partnerships are relevant. You might be starting your search with a destination in mind. In other cases, you might want to explore where you can go with the points and miles you already have.
Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability
Working backward from a destination
Suppose you’re planning a vacation to Tuscany and want to fly into Florence (FLR). The first step is identifying which airlines serve Florence and which partnerships you might be able to use.
Several tools can tell you which airlines serve Florence. My favorite way is through FlightConnections.com. This gives you a visual of the direct routes to or from a particular airport. You can also view the airport's Wikipedia page, though this gives you a list of connecting airports and not a visual.
Another free tool is FlightsFrom.com, which also shows a complete list of direct flights. You can filter by destination (flights between Florence and Dallas) and limit the results to a single airline or alliance (SkyTeam flights from Florence).
Once you have a list of prospective airlines, the next step is determining which rewards programs allow you to book those flights with points or miles. Global airline alliances provide a helpful shortcut, as you can often redeem miles with any member airline.
If you're planning to book soon, your options will be limited by the program with which you already have points or miles. Checking your rewards balances should be quick and easy if you're using AwardWallet to track your rewards.
Don't have an AwardWallet account yet? Sign up for free and track unlimited rewards programs and travel plans.
But if you're planning a trip further down the line, keep the search broad. That way, you can plan your points-earning strategy and credit card applications around the programs that make the most sense.
The last step is to check pricing and determine if using one frequent flyer program currency over another offers any advantages. If you haven't already, make sure to review our guide to frequent flyer pricing.
Related: A Beginner's Guide To Building a Credit Card Application Strategy
Let the opportunities decide your next destination
If your heart isn't set on a specific destination, you can let the points and miles do the talking. Every frequent flyer program offers unique advantages. Some programs are great for a short weekend getaway. Others can facilitate ambitious round-the-world trips that will keep you busy in retirement.
For open-ended exploration, you'll find our posts on award sweet spots especially useful. Each focuses on a specific loyalty program and highlights the redemptions that set it apart from the competition.
Don't forget that transferable points can be redeemed for a wide range of options.
Turning your miles into a confirmed ticket
Booking with miles isn't nearly as straightforward as buying a flight with cash. You can redeem miles for a small percentage of the seats available for sale. We explain why and how to take the next step when you're ready to book in our guide to frequent flyer availability. If you're new to points and miles, this essential reading can save you lots of time and frustration.
Need more help? Ask in our Award Travel 101 Facebook community or send a request to our award flight booking service.
Final Thoughts
Airline alliances and partnerships are a critical part of using points and miles. If you limit redemptions to the airline where you earned your miles, you’re only accessing a fraction of the available award flights.
Using the wrong rewards can mean spending more miles or paying higher taxes for your flight. Without partner airlines, your list of possible destinations also shrinks dramatically. And even if you can reach your destination, you'll likely spend more time on a plane when partners or alliance airlines could have gotten you there with fewer connections.
On the other hand, the right rewards can open up creative routing opportunities like stopovers or open jaws. Once you know your options, you can compare prices and booking rules to pick the program that best fits your trip.
This is all very helpful thank you! I am looking to convert Cap One miles to Star Alliance miles to travel via United in the US (both departure and destination). However, Capital One does not transfer points to United and I’m unable to book US economy flights on any of the other Star Alliance airline websites (Singapore, Air Canada, Avianca, etc) because they don’t fly within the US (both departure and destination). Any guidance or tips here?
You should still be able to book domestic flights on these partner airlines. Each has a slightly different way of showing search results though. For example, Aeroplan shows United flights right in the search results when you search with points. However, on Singapore, you’ll need to click the “Star Alliance” tab on the search results to see United flights.
New to Award Wallet and very happy to find such useful information. Although I am not new to airlines programs, finding all summarized and with this level of data is amazing. Thank you!
Each airline has its own rules regarding how it uses airline miles. Some have blackout dates when you cannot use miles to purchase a ticket, some have a certain time period when miles expire, and each airline gives a different monetary value to airline miles. Because they all follow their own set of rules, it behooves you to sign up for the loyalty programs for the airlines that you fly. Hotels usually have loyalty programs, too, where you can earn airlines miles. Signing up is easy and usually free. Check the websites of your most used airlines, hotels and rental car agencies for information regarding their loyalty programs.
hi,
what about LATAM? as per its page, it´s linked to other partners like Delta and Aeromexico, so it should be in Skyteam (but not mentioned in the article or map). It´s meybe the biggest in the latin american market.
Said this, in Argentina they decided to retire about 1 year ago (because of government policies, though said the pandemia was the main issue). So, those having miles in the program about to expire, are trapped since not able to fly out of any AR terminal, both domestic or int´l. The only way to extend the mileage is buying and flying a ticket for the owner on their website (not even partners), before expiring date. Not even crediting miles for purchasing goods, nor moving the account (like transferring or submit reward tickets). Besides, any of the few tickets from BUE (even short as going to SCL or MVD) have amazing high pricings (like 600 usd roundtrip to Montevideo, 150 miles away, 6hs or overnight flight, since stopping in ASU)
Not even the pandemia made the airline to consider mileage exp date extensions. Ashaming. Be careful.
Thanks,
Ed
LATAM now has close ties to Delta, but there are no plans for it to join Skyteam.
Excelente Post. Gracias por la informacion, A tener en cuenta las alianzas para no perder puntos
Good way to use partner miles!
Thank you very much AwardWallet for the complete information on the existing alliances and at the same time for allowing me, in these difficult times to travel, the possibility of extending the expiration of AAdvantage miles with the possibility of commenting on your blog posts.
Excelente informacion de las alianzas entre aerolineas. Erroneamente pense que Aeromexico y UNITED tenian alianza pero acabo de leer que es con DELTA en Sky Team.
Nice discovery the site FlightsFrom.com
Usually I participate in one or two airline programmes per alliance.
Easy to take care of.
Not to mention that if you’re a flying numbers geek, there’s lots of interesting data on that site as well. Data that would allow you to pretty easily monitor the health the airline industry worldwide and watch their attempt to return from Covid.
Excellent report, concise and well explained. I would add the GOL Smiles Club, which is very interesting even though it is not part of the 3 major alliances. regards
Thanks for the information.
I did not care about alliance before. Perhaps I have missed many miles.
This blog is very useful. I have been flying since 1999 and even thouh I knew about the alliances, I didn’t how they work. Next time, I will re-read this post again before planning a new trip.
I appreciate the Post very much!
Thanks for this writeup. I will have to save this and study it next time I want to book a trip. I’ve always wondered how the partnership works and it all seems so complicated.
Excellent post. Very complete and clarify about airline partners. Thanks
Love this post!!
I always find this topic very confusing and this post clears up a Lot of my doubts. I will keep these tips in mind when planning my next trip. It’s a great help. Thanks!!
It is honestly a very clear and informative article at the same time. It provides very important information and web pages one must visit when planning a trip to get the most out of a mileage program.
However, I find it hard to believe that in the example of a flight from Chicago to Hawaii, traveling on United Airlines, it is more expensive to use the company’s own frequent flyer program than to use a program from another member of the alliance. Next time, I will check options, for sure.
Prior to COVID-19 it felt like Delta was leading airlines away from Global Alliances and instead investing heavily in key partnerships. Does the global impact of COVID-19 strengthen or weaken the position of Global Alliances?
That’s a good question. I expect they are less important to airlines right now with international travel suppressed, but I don’t think this situation weakens alliances long term. As things start to pick back up, having partners to share the risk/cost of getting people to destinations will be more valuable than ever.
I am a gold member of Star Alliance, They have provider my very good experience at some private trip with my family . Hope Covid-19 gone asap, or else i am afraid i can’t keep my Gold member this year.
One world is my most love alliances as the partners have very good Business class . And also they have very good Lounge at HongKong.
Very nice and useful sum up. Thank you.
Will save this post for the future reference.
Excellent guide, as always. Have you considered creating a tab in the nav bar or something else that would keep all of your guides in one place? I would love to be able to refer back to them. Depending on the subject, the search feature is sometimes not the most effective way of finding a past post.
Thanks for the suggestion. We are working on a refreshed navigation bar for just this reason! Stay tuned, you should see it roll out soon.
This is great to hear! Thanks for the reply!
Excellent post!!
I work in a VIP lounge and it is incredible how frequent flyers don’t know why is important to have just one FFP per alliance instead having 2 or 3 in the same airlines’ group.
It is also important to keep track of taxes, some countries have atrocious taxes even on tickets bought with mile, like UK. I try to find ways I dont “start” my journey in those countries!
All alliances are only truly strong on 3 continents.
I never knew about flightsfrom.com and will definitely use that in the future for trip planning.
Nice comprehensive guide to the major alliances- good to refer to when booking with points!
Great explanations, learned a couple new websites too, thanks!
I really like the American Airlines partners. Really can travel all over the world with all of them. Good deals and great information. Thanks for the post