Some lesser-known airline partners and how to use them to your advantage

Best features of the main three airline alliance — Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld — is that you can earn points or miles on any carrier in a given alliance by flying on any other carrier. Likewise, you can use points or miles from any carrier in that alliance to reward a flight operated by another carrier. These reciprocal arrangements are easy to understand, even if they don’t always work well in practice.

In addition to major alliances, airlines also have non-alliance partners that passengers can use in the same way. However, many non-alliance partners limit the flights for which you can earn or redeem miles, so it’s important to review the requirements on the airline’s website before you book any Which flight? Below, we’ll take a look at some of the lesser-known airline partnerships and highlight some interesting ways to take advantage of them.

Canadian Airlines

Air Canada is part of Star Alliance. Its Plane program is the transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Mile, Chasing the ultimate reward And Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Creebec aircraft
• Air Dolomites
• Mauritius Airlines
• Serbian Airlines
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Bamboo Airways
• The air is still
• Northern Canada
• Cathay Pacific
• Explore airlines
• Edelweiss Airlines
• Emirates
• Etihad Airlines
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
• Gol Airlines
• Gulf Airlines
• Juneyao Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Olympic Aviation
• Oman Airlines
• PAL Airlines
• SunExpress
• Australian Virgin

Monetary-only non-alliance partners include:

• Aer Lingus
• Central mountain atmosphere
• Middle East Airlines
• Sri Lankan Airlines

Related: You can now use Aeroplan points for Emirates first class, but it doesn’t come cheap

Air France and KLM

Air France and KLM are both members of the SkyTeam alliance. The miles you earn on Air France and KLM flights — plus non-alliance partner Transavia — visit Flying blueThe loyalty program is shared between these three airlines.

Flying Blue is a transfer partner of American Express Member Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Air Corsica
• Mauritius Airlines
• AirBaltic
• Aircalin
• Chalair Aviation
• China Southern Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• El Al
• Etihad Airlines
• Gol Airlines
• Japanese Airlines
• Malaysian Airlines
• Oman Airlines
• Qantas
• Transavia
• WestJet
• Winair

Flying Blue also has a partnership with Bangkok Airways, but only with redemptions. You cannot earn miles from paid Bangkok Airways flights.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance. Its Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program is a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Tahiti Mountain
• Cape Air
• Great condor hero
• Hainan Airlines
• Icelandair
• Korean Airlines
• LATAM
• Oman Airlines
• Porter Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• Starlux Airlines

Monetary-only non-alliance partners include:

• Aleutian Airlines
• Bahamair
• Cape Air
• Contour Airlines
• Kenmore Air
• Mokulele Airlines
• Southern Airways Express

Related: Onboard Condor’s first Airbus A330neo to NYC – in a luxurious new business class product

All Nippon Airlines

ANA is an airline headquartered in Japan and a member of Star Alliance. Its ANA Mileage Club program is a transfer partner of American Express Member Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Air Dolomites
• Macau Airlines
• Etihad Airlines
• Eurowings
• Garuda Indonesia
• Olympic Aviation
• Philippine Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Vietnam Airlines
• Australian Virgin

American Airlines

American Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance. Its American Airlines AAdvantage This program is not part of any credit card transfer program but is a transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

Monetary-only non-alliance partners include:

• Aer Lingus
• IndiGo
• JetSmart — currently monetized only but redemptions coming soon

British Airways and Iberia

British Airways and Iberia are both member airlines of Oneworld. They are two of six airlines use Avios as bonus; Other airlines are Oneworld members Finnair and Qatar Airways and non-alliance members Aer Lingus and Vueling. While each airline has its own program, you can freely move your Avios at a 1:1 ratio between all six airlines.

British Airways and Iberia are both transfer partners of American Express Member Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Wells Fargo Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. The former is also a Capital One Miles transfer partner. Because you can move your Avios between the six participating airlines, any Avios you have in these programs can be used to book tickets for multiple non-affiliated partners.

British Airways non-alliance partners for earning and redemption include:

The airline also has a partnership with China Southern Airlines, but you can only earn Avios for paid flights. You cannot redeem Avios for China Southern flights.

Iberia’s non-union partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Avianca
• Bitter Canaria
• LATAM
• Level
• Vueling

Cathay Pacific

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is part of the Oneworld alliance. Its Asian Mile program is a transfer partner of American Express Member Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Canadian Airlines
• Chinese Airlines
• New Zealand Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Bangkok Airlines
• Fiji Airlines
• Gulf Airlines
• HK express delivery
• LATAM
• Lufthansa
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Swiss

Delta Airlines

Delta is a member of the SkyTeam alliance. Its Delta SkyMiles program is a transfer partner of American Express Member Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• AirBaltic
• Cape Air
• Southern China
• El Al
• Hawaiian Airlines
• LATAM
• WestJet

Redemptions on AirBaltic are limited to connecting flights from Delta, Air France or KLM transatlantic award flights. Earning and redemption on Hawaiian Airlines is limited to flights within Hawaii only.

Non-alliance partners that can only be redeemed include:

• Air Tahiti Mountain
• Mandarin Airlines
• Shanghai Airlines

Related: 5 things to know about the Delta-LATAM joint venture

United Airlines

United is a Star Alliance carrier. Its United MileagePlus program is a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Dolomites
• AirLink
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Cape Air
• Explore airlines
• Edelweiss Airlines
• Emirates
• Eurowings
• Flydubai
• Hawaiian Airlines – flights within Hawaii only
• JSX
• Juneyao Airlines
• Lufthansa
• Olympic Aviation
• Silver Airlines
• Australian Virgin

For Emirates and Flydubai, you can only redeem miles on select routes between Dubai and Africa, the Middle East, and the South Asian subcontinent as part of an award booking that includes a United flight between Newark and Dubai, all both on the same ticket. Earning and redemption on Hawaiian Airlines is limited to flights within Hawaii only.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic is part of the SkyTeam alliance. Its Virgin Atlantic Flying Club programs and rewards program Virgin Red — which you can link to Flying Club — is a transfer partner of American Express Member Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Non-alliance partners for monetization and redemption include:

• New Zealand Airlines
• All Nippon Airlines
• El Al
• Hawaiian Airlines
• LATAM
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airlines

Virgin Atlantic also has a partnership with IndiGo, but you can only earn points for paid flights. You cannot redeem Virgin points for IndiGo flights.

The sweet spot between non-alliance partners

Many airlines have switched to fluctuating award rates, known as dynamic pricingto redeem on their own airline. However, most programs still have a flat rate redemption chart for partners.

Some programs offer region-based redemptions, where the reward rate is determined by the region you’re traveling to. Other programs have distance-based redemptions, where the award rate is based on the number of miles between the airports you’re traveling to.

Reviewing an airline’s partner award rankings can help you target redemptions that may be particularly useful or noteworthy. Here are some interesting points from the non-alliance partners.

Alaska offer for Starlux business class

Alaska is Taiwan’s only airline partner Starlux Airlines. Starlux has an impressive business class product between the US and Taiwan, and award prices start as low as 75,000 Alaska miles each way.

Related: Starlux business class review on the Airbus A350-900 from Los Angeles to Taipei: Out of this world

Redeem Virgin Atlantic for ANA business or first class

This redemption is not as sweet as before some depreciation over the past few years. Still, it’s one of the best uses of Virgin points for premium cabin travel — especially if you can book first-class The Room or The Suite business-class tickets instead of older airline products. airline. One-way business class between the US and Japan is only 52,500 Virgin points; First class is available for just 72,500 points.

Using Virgin points offers more flexibility than ANA miles; This is because Virgin allows one-way ticket changes while ANA only allows round-trip ticket changes. Virgin also has more options for transferring money from credit card points and airline miles programs.

Bottom line

Airline partners make award travel much easier as they expand the network of carriers and routes available when redeeming your points and miles. It’s not just airline alliance partners that can offer good value for earning or redeeming your miles. Keep non-alliance partners in mind as well.

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