If you travel and fly often, you’re probably familiar with the concept of airline alliances. But if you’re unfamiliar with the differences between the big three (Star Alliance, Oneworld and SkyTeam), you could be missing out on plenty of perks. Not to mention, these airline alliances offer extra flexibility when it comes to earning and redeeming frequent flyer miles across multiple carriers.

United Airlines is a key member of the Star Alliance. So U.S.-based flyers who travel on United also tend to fly on and spend miles through its Star Alliance partners.

When you sign up for a frequent flyer program, you have access to award flights and elite status perks on other participating airlines in the same alliance. By using just one member number every time you fly on any of those airlines, you can earn miles and reach status faster than if you used each airline’s individual program. Then, you can use that status and all those points or miles when booking on any partner airline, not just the one you flew on.

But what makes one alliance different from the rest? Let’s break it down with the pros and cons of Star Alliance.

The benefits of Star Alliance

First things first: here are the things that make the Star Alliance great.

✅ It's the largest airline alliance

For starters, Star Alliance, which started with just five partner airlines back in 1997, has grown to include 26 airlines. That makes it the largest airline alliance in the industry, with Oneworld at 14 airlines and SkyTeam having 19.

Star Alliance airlines

Aegean.

Air Canada.

Air China.

Air India.

Air New Zealand.

ANA.

Asiana Airlines.

Austrian.

Avianca.

Brussels Airlines.

CopaAirlines.

Croatia Airlines.

Egyptair.

Ethiopian.

EVA Air.

LOT Polish Airlines.

Lufthansa.

SAS.

Shenzhen Airlines.

Singapore Airlines.

South African Airways.

Swiss.

TAP Air Portugal.

Thai.

Turkish Airlines.

United.

More partner airlines means more flexibility and opportunity to earn and redeem miles across brands. Together, these airlines offer travel to over 1,300 destinations in 195 countries with more than 19,000 daily departures.