The three big airline alliances: who are the members and how do I pick the right loyalty program?

The airline alliances are very useful for the frequent flyer. Frequent flyer program members of any airline within one of the alliances can earn and spend air miles on all of the other airlines within the alliance. In addition, the airlines with have partnerships with non-alliance airlines too which whom you can earn and spend air miles.

We recommend you become a member of just one airline within each of the following major alliances. We recommend just one because, if you collect miles with several airlines within one alliance you are spreading your miles thinly instead of bulking them up within one program.

Usually we would recommend choosing the airlines either based in your home country or on an air route that you fly often. For example, if you fly from London, UK to Atlanta, USA often you would probably want to join British Airways as your Oneworld choice and Delta as you SkyTeam choice. However, the options can be complex so feel free to contact us if you need help.

Oneworld 

As of January 2017 there are 14 members: airberlin (Germany), American Airlines (USA), British Airways (UK), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong), Finnair (Finland), Iberia (Spain), Japan Airlines (Japan), LATAM Airlines (Chile), Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia), Qantas (Australia), Qatar Airways (Qatar), Royal Jordanian (Jordan), S7 Airlines (Russia) and SriLankan Airlines (Sri Lanka) and around 30 affiliates. 

Star Alliance 

As of January 2017 there are 28 members: Adria Airways (Slovenia), 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 (Colombia), Avianca Brasil (Brazil), Brussels Airlines (Belgium), Copa Airlines (Panama), Croatia Airlines (Croatia), EGYPTAIR (Egypt), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), EVA Air (Taiwan), LOT Polish Airlines (Poland), Lufthansa (Germany), Scandinavian Airlines (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), Shenzhen Airlines (China), Singapore Airlines (Singapore), South African Airways (South Africa), SWISS (Switzerland), TAP Portugal (Portugal), Turkish Airlines (Turkey), THAI (Thailand) and United (USA).

SkyTeam  

As of January 2017 there are 20 members: Aeroflot (Russia), Aerolíneas Argentinas (Argentina), Aeroméxico (Mexico), Air Europa (Spain), Air France (France), Alitalia (Italy), China Airlines (China), China Eastern (China), China Southern (China), Czech Airlines (Czech Republic), Delta Air Lines (USA), Garuda Indonesia (Indonesia), Kenya Airways (Kenya), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines(Netherlands), Korean Air (South Korea), Middle East Airlines (Lebanon), Saudia (Saudi Arabia), TAROM (Romania), Vietnam Airlines (Vietnam) and Xiamen Airlines (China).