History

In 1997 five legacy airlines; United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS and Thai joined together to launch what is now the largest airline marketing alliance in the world. Star Alliance was formed to coordinate marketing, engage in bulk buying to achieve discounts, standardize service delivery and ultimately to share passengers. Ten years after forming the club had 17 members and in 2012 it has expanded to 27 members with dozens of affiliates. In April this year Columbia’s Avianca, Panama’s COPA and El Salvador’s TACA Airlines will bring membership up to 30. Over the last 15 years some airlines have swapped alliances but Star Alliance has gained more than it’s lost. Star Alliance’s formation prompted the formation of rival, OneWorld in 1999 and SkyTeam in 2000. In the last few years legacy airlines have scrambled to join one of the three main alliances, however many of the world’s most prestigious carriers are yet to join. These include Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and China’s premium carrier Hainan Airlines. In 2011 Star Alliance withdrew its invitation for Air India to join as it failed to meet minimum entry standards for the second time! While there are huge differences in service levels provided by Star Alliance carriers ranging from terrible TAM Airlines to spectacular Singapore Airlines, the alliance is recognized by many travel organisations as the all-round best airline grouping. Star Alliance is head quartered in Frankfurt and member airlines serve more than 1200 destinations.

On-Board Service

The gap between the best and worst on-board service is wide amongst Star Alliance’s member airlines. Singapore Airlines provide passengers with a royal treatment, especially in their First Class while some airlines provide truly shocking service. While there are few truly superior airlines in the organisation the bottom end of the market is reasonably crowded. Untied Airlines and Brazil’s TAM are rarely mentioned for anything except for appalling service.

Network

Every part of the world is covered by one or several airline’s belonging to Star Alliance however some regions are more comprehensively covered than others. Currently Latin America is lightly covered, but in April this will change. The Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Australia are the other regions where Star Alliance’s presence is light. This may change as India’s Jet Airways has applied for membership while Virgin Australia’s move up-market is likely to lead to them to joining an alliance and their association with fellow Star Alliance members; Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic make Star Alliance the obvious choice.

Price

Star Alliance airlines, in keeping with virtually all legacy carriers offer mid-priced standard fares. Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic provide superior service than other alliance members need to fill planes so do provide competitive fares which present better value. Star Alliance does not co-ordinate ticket prices and each airline independently set their own fares; therefore it cannot be said Star Alliance carriers are better or worse value than others. Coordinating ticket pricing is considered collusion and is illegal in most countries. Round the world air passes are the best value, but practically every airline offer them and a Star Alliance ticket is not superior to others.

Catering

Star Alliance has no general catering policy and each airline determines its own menu or meal service. Amongst member airlines passengers can experience flights with no meals such as Chicago to Los Angeles on US Airways to extremely tasty full service meals on short flights from Bangkok to Singapore on Thai, for example. Star Alliance includes airlines which serve generous meals and they also includes carriers which basically serve junk food.

Entertainment

Each Star Alliance member is responsible for its own entertainment system so they vary considerably. Singapore Airlines has invested in state-of-the-art inflght entertainment units in all classes while some airlines have practically none at all. Most airlines ranging from South African Airways through to Air Canada and Austrian Airlines just have a standard system with a small video screen and modest selection of film/audio choices.

Ground Service and baggage

The quality of services provided by member airlines on the ground and baggage department reflect the airport more than the airline. Even no-frills carriers will benefit from excellent service offered in China for example while premium passengers checking in at Los Angeles are at the mercy of that airports indifferent staff. Some airlines attempt to make a supreme effort on the ground, such as Singapore Airlines, but most wait until passengers step onto the plane. Many airlines do provide genuinely lousy ground services, such as Brazil’s TAM.

Premium Classes & Lounges

All Star Alliance airlines offer passengers Business Class and a selection of premium products, but often they will not be available on some routes or aircraft type. For example Air New Zealand serves all of its domestic network with single class aircraft and most airports do not have a lounge, but where they do have lounges they are excellent. Singapore Airlines has the best premium service especially in their new A380’s while most member airlines offer ‘standard’ services.

Economy Class

A Star Alliance name attached to an airline has almost no bearing on what passengers will find on board individual airlines in Economy or Coach Class. It pays to check as they range from excellent to shocking.

Frequent Flyer Programme

As with the other airline groupings – OneWorld and SkyTeam, what passengers will notice is the seamless use of one frequent flyer card on any member airline. Frequent travelers typically only need a single Star Alliance membership which they can conveniently use on all member airlines and can rest assure that points will actually be credited. Star Alliance has some of the best frequent flyer programmes, which often say little about the airline. United’s MileagePlus is without doubt one of the world’s best loyalty schemes as is Miles & More used by Lufthansa and seven other European airlines. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is the best loyalty scheme in the Asia/Pacific region. Some frequent flyer programmes are useful the world over, others are only practical for a single country, such as Air New Zealand’s Airports while some schemes are poorly developed and not worth joining at all. Joining multiple plans means you will progress up the status ladder slower. Because points are split between airlines you may never see any benefit so it is usually best to join a single scheme and stick to is.

Corporate Culture

Star Alliance spends vast sums promoting member airlines in a positive manner but many airline executives will stoop to low levels if they think they can get away with it. Generally privately owned airlines are worse than ones with some community/government ownership as they can operate without much public scrutiny. They has led to airline managers being involved in illegal price fixing cartels, union bashing and underhanded dealings. Airline executives and Wall Street bankers are have a lot in common and Star Alliance members are little different from any others and certainly no better.

Safety

As with the other alliances, Star Alliance’s management team need to ensure poor safety does not damage the brand. While many airlines will operate planes to their utmost, all Star Alliance airlines are expected to maintain them well and not overlook safety.

Star Alliance - Rating

Star Alliance is no better or no worse than anyone else and exists to benefit the airline more than the passengers. Differences in member airlines is vast.

www.staralliance.com