Summary

• Star Alliance was founded in 1997 and is still the largest airline alliance with 26 members and 19,000 flights daily.
• Star Alliance’s two-tier rewards program offers perks such as priority boarding and lounge access.
• With the Star Alliance Round-the-World ticket, passengers can explore 720 destinations in 110 countries.

Star Alliance was the first and largest airline alliance in the world. The coalition, based in Frankfurt, Germany, was founded on May 14, 1997 and since that year has held the largest market share compared to the other two major airline alliances. SkyTeam And a world.According to Statista, Star Alliance accounts for 17.4% of the total air transport market (as of April 2024), compared to 13.7% for SkyTeam and 11.9% for oneWorld.

19,000 departures daily

The alliance has 26 member airlines operating a combined fleet of over 5,000 aircraft. You can board a Star Alliance flight at 1,290 airports in 195 countries on over 19,000 daily departing flights. Star Alliance members have two rewards programs, Silver and Gold, with incentives such as priority boarding, free upgrades and lounge access.

In May 1997, United Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Thai Airways, Air Canada and Lufthansa signed an agreement to form the world’s first airline alliance. Under the slogan “The Airline Network of the Earth,” they were to form the alliance that would bring passengers to every major city on earth. With an initial advertising budget of $25 million, the airlines shared logos and strove for world domination. The now-defunct airline VARIABLE from Brazil joined the alliance in 1997, with Ansett Australia (also no longer exists) and Air New Zealand joined soon after.

With these airlines, the alliance alone served 720 destinations in 110 countries with a fleet of over 1,650 aircraft. All Nippon joined the group next and became the second Asian airline after Thai Airways International From here, the alliance has gone from strength to strength, becoming the powerhouse it is today. Within the alliance, a unique round-the-world ticket was developed, allowing every passenger to take advantage of the alliance’s offerings in all shapes and sizes from its member airlines. With all this information, Simple Flying has found out why you should book your next round-the-world adventure with Star Alliance.

Ticket around the world

There is a handy tool on the Star Alliance website that lets you let your imagination run wild: a booking tool for round-the-world travel plans. You can plan and book your multi-stop trip online. With this inspiration, you can either book it on the spot or discuss it with your local travel agent. An Alliance ticket allows you to earn frequent flyer miles and points with your favorite member airline. The Round-the-World ticket allows a minimum of two stopovers and 15 stopovers with at least 24 rest stops in each port (without changing to a connecting flight). There are several restrictions to be eligible:

• Start and finish must be in the same country (so you could depart from New York City and return to Los Angeles)
• Follow a global direction (East or West)
• Cross both the Atlantic and the Pacific
• Plan at least two stops
• Maximum 15 stops
• Travel between 10 days or up to 12 months to complete the itinerary
• The transit time must not exceed 24 hours.
• Stopovers must last longer than 24 hours
• The total journey must not exceed 39,000 miles
• Your preferred frequent flyer membership must be with a member airline of Star Alliance.

As a reminder, the members of the Star Alliance include:

The booking process

Planning and booking a world tour is easy on the Star Alliance website, with a simple guide to help you through the process. Planning the route is the fun part. The website’s easy click-and-select options allow you to quickly enter any of your preferred destinations. For example, I selected a world tour departing from New York in November this year, where I will visit Cape Town, Cairo, Bangkok, Auckland and Los Angeles before returning to the Big Apple. Creating my itinerary on the website was easy:

Throughout the planning and booking process, the website assists you with a range of direct or indirect options depending on your destination, informing you of the airline, flight and transit duration, as well as your class of service and baggage allowance. The booking tool then calculates the total price of your itinerary so you can book and confirm immediately. For my itinerary, the total price was $6,732 in economy class.

When booking, you can enter your preferred airline’s membership and use the online seat selection tool to ensure you have the best seat on the flight. You’ll find many other useful tips during the booking process, but remember that it’s your responsibility to ensure your passport meets the entry requirements for each destination and transit country, and you may need to meet other health requirements (such as vaccinations).

With the Earth’s circumference of 40,900 kilometers and seven billion people speaking over 6,000 languages, the world is your oyster. The real question is: when do you book your ticket?