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If you frequently fly on Star Alliance airlines, you should at least have a designated loyalty program to which you can credit the miles you earn from your flights. Remember, Star Alliance has 26 airline members, and it won’t be a good idea if you sign up for all of them.
Choosing a loyalty program isn’t easy because you need to consider multiple factors, such as the place you live in, the destinations you want to travel to, membership benefits, and many more.
But in this article, we’ll share with you some of our top picks for the best Star Alliance loyalty programs and explain why they made it on our list.
Read More: What’s The Best Frequent Flyer Program?
Egyptair Plus
EgyptAir has one of the most underrated loyalty programs among other Star Alliance airlines. The EgyptAir Plus program has a reasonable status requirement making it easy for members to reach elite status.
The program has five status tiers: Blue, Silver, Gold, Elite, and Platinum. Depending on your status, benefits may include bonus miles on EgyptAir flights, travel assistance, complimentary upgrades, the ability to gift Gold status, and many more.
However, reaching EgyptAir Plus Gold status may be enough since that’s the minimum requirement to get a Star Alliance Gold status.
You’re only required to earn a total of 30,000 Tier Miles from EgyptAir flights or Star Alliance members within a span of 2 years, and that’s fairly generous.
Not to mention, the program allows family pooling of miles, where the miles earned from the flights of registered family members (up to 5) will credit toward the account holder. This means that you can earn EgyptAir Gold status and eventually Star Alliance Gold status in the shortest time possible.
United Mileage Plus
The United MileagePlus program is perfect for U.S.-based frequent flyers who live in major cities.
One of the program’s major upsides is its numerous flight routes to popular destinations in Asia, Mexico, Australia, Central America, South America, and Europe. This gives you the flexibility to earn and redeem miles on United’s airline partners.
United MileagePlus has four status tiers: Premier Silver, Premier Gold, Premier Platinum, and Premier 1K. Elite members will earn benefits such as free checked bags, complimentary upgrades, bonus miles on United flights, and PlusPoints which can be redeemed for international business-class upgrades.
Another advantage of the MileagePlus program is that it offers a wide selection of personal and business co-branded credit cards, such as the United℠ Explorer Card, United℠ Quest Card, and United℠ Presidential Plus℠ Business Card.
Avianca LifeMiles
There are three tiers in the Avianca LifeMiles program: Silver Elite, Gold Elite, and Diamond Elite. Benefits include lounge access, bonus miles, additional baggage allowance, upgrade certificates, and more.
While the benefits are great, Avianca’s mileage promotions make it stand out from the rest. The program is well-known for its regular transfer bonuses ranging from 30%-50% and mileage sales reaching up to 140%.
Typically, Avianca LifeMiles costs 3.3 cents apiece, but with bonuses, you can increase the price per mile to 1.1 cents apiece. This allows you to redeem premium flights at a price that’s lower than usual.
Avianca LifeMiles is a transfer partner with other popular credit cards currency programs like Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Brex, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy. Most of these programs transfer to LifeMiles at a 1:1 ratio. For example, if you have 100,000 MR points on your Amex Platinum Card, you can transfer that to your LifeMiles account and also get 100,000 Lifemiles.
You can also sign up for Avianca’s own co-branded credit cards and earn Lifemiles through everyday spending.
Aegean Airlines Miles & Bonus
The Aegean Airlines’ Miles & Bonus program has three status tiers: Blue Tier, Silver Tier, and Gold Tier. It’s one of the easiest programs to get top-tier status. To earn Gold Tier, all you need to do is to:
- Fly at least 4 legs on Aegean or Olympic Air and earn as little as 24,000 Tier miles, OR
- Earn 48,000 Tier miles on Aegean or Olympic Air
You get to retain your Gold status if you earn 12,000 Tier Miles per year and fly 4 legs with Aegean or Olympic Air or earn 24,000 Tier Miles flying with Aegean or Olympic Air. Additionally, if you get Gold Tier status, you also get Star Alliance Gold status.
The Miles & Bonus program is perfect for people who live in Europe or frequent travelers to Europe.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
When it comes to booking award flights on First and Business class, Singapore Airlines never disappoints. However, these premium seats are often reserved KrisFlyer members, so it’s a good idea to join the program and start crediting the flights you take to it.
There are three status tiers in the KrisFlyer program: Krisflyer, Krisflyer Silver, and Krisflyer Gold. Depending on your status, benefits include bonus miles, extra baggage allowance, priority services at the airport, and lounge access.
But one major upside of the KrisFlyer program is it allows family pooling. The primary member can link up to 5 child accounts, and each account can transfer up to 50,000 miles per year. It’s a great way to capitalize on the flights your children take.
Additionally, you can also boost your mileage earnings through transfer partners. Singapore KrisFlyer has strong relationships with major credit card points currencies around, such as American Express, Chase, Citi, Capital One, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Read More: Your Guide To SkyTeam Airline Alliance
(Image courtesy of Canva Pro by encrier of Getty Images Pro)
Bottomline: What’s The Best Star Alliance Loyalty Program?
While all of the programs mentioned above have solid benefits, choosing the right flyer program to join is always a personal decision. There are still 21 other Star Alliance airline members that we haven’t mentioned, and you might find great value in them.
Remember, it will all boil down to your travel habits and preferences. You can try asking yourself these questions first before you join one:
- How frequently do you travel every year?
- Where do you live?
- What destinations do you travel to?
- Do you mainly travel domestically or internationally?
- Do you fly in First, Business, or Economy class?
- Are you a solo traveler, or do you travel with your family?
- Are you traveling for work or for leisure?
As you answer these questions, you can get a clearer picture of the type of traveler that you are and eventually choose the best frequent flyer program for you.
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