Airline alliance
Star Alliance
founded 1997 · 26 members
Star Alliance was formed on May 14, 1997 by Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways International and United Airlines as a global airline alliance built around cross-airline travel. Today it has 26 member airlines. For travelers, the practical value is not a single shared loyalty program, but reciprocity: you generally join one member airline’s frequent-flyer program, add that number to eligible flights on Star Alliance carriers, and earn according to that program’s published partner rules. Higher tiers in member programs map to Star Alliance Silver or Star Alliance Gold, which can unlock alliance-recognized benefits when traveling on member airlines. When choosing or crediting flights, the key questions are which carrier operates the flight, whether the booking class earns in your chosen program, and whether your status benefits apply on that itinerary.
AI-organized · as of 2026-06-14 · 3 sources