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MMMondayMemo: What is an Airline Alliance?
Each Monday, Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet which is why we created the Monkey Miles Monday Memos. This week we will explain an Airline Alliance, and how this information can be beneficial to you. Without further adieu…MMMondayMemo: What is an Airline Alliance?
What is an Airline Alliance?
As defined by Wikipedia,
An Airline Alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within countries. This branding may involve unified aircraft liveries of member aircraft”
There are 3 Major Airline Alliances
- One World
- SkyTeam
- Star Alliance
There are also 3 smaller Alliances:
- Vanilla
- U-Fly
- Value
Each Airline Alliance has member airlines. Here’s a look at the 3 major alliances
One World has 14:
Sky Team has 20
Star Alliance has 27
Why is it worth knowing about Airline Alliances?
Airline Alliances create a bevy of benefits for travelers flying on their member airlines. The biggest benefit is the ability to fly on various airlines, but still earn Elite and Redeemable miles in one central loyalty account. For instance I earned American Airlines Executive Platinum status this year and over 1/3 of my miles were earned on partner airlines.
When you achieve Elite Status with one member airline, the Alliance Partner airlines acknowledge that status as well. A few of those perks are early boarding, free checked bags, and access to partner lounges even if you aren’t flying on that airline. I was flying back from Japan on American Airlines First Class in 2015, but because they are partners I was able to visit Japan Airlines First Class Lounge. Now, because I’m One World Emerald, I can enter One World First Class lounges even when I’m flying on a coach ticket internationally. That’s pretty amazing. 
Having an idea about Alliances makes it easier to use flexible currency
Flexible or Transferable currency, like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards can be moved into airline programs. Because I knew that Singapore, United, and Lufthansa are in the same Alliance, I knew I could search on United for award space on Lufthansa, but transfer American Express Membership Rewards into their partner, Singapore, to book a Lufthansa First Class ticket when it was available. I LOVED the Porsche experience provided by Lufthansa ground services.
Noteworthy Airlines not a part of an Alliance
These airlines create partnerships outside of Alliances that create benefits similar to those airlines that are members of an Alliance. For instance, you can earn and redeem American Miles with Etihad, but Etihad isn’t a member of One World. In fact, my priority this year is achieving top tier status with Alaska Airlines which has an amazing list of partners, but isn’t part of a broader alliance.
- Alaska Airlines
- Etihad
- Emirates
- JetBlue
- Southwest
- El Al
- Virgin Australia
ICYMI Alaska is currently offering a 40% bonus on purchased miles.
I used American miles to book Etihad’s Business Studio. It still stands as one of my favorite flights.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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