A primer: Airline Alliances

An airline alliance is exactly what it sounds like: a group of different airlines who have agreed to work together.

By working together, individual airlines try to minimize the costs associated with their operations—think shared ground crews, codeshare flights (e.g., the ability to book the same flight with both American Airlines and British Airways for a flight operated by American Airlines), shared lounge access (e.g., frequent flyers with status with one member of the airline alliance can access a shared alliance lounge), and more.

The major players to keep in mind are Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Some of the most prominent members of each alliance are listed below.

Star Alliance: Air Canada, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, ANA

Oneworld: American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Japan Airlines, Qatar Airlines, Qantas, British Airways

SkyTeam: Delta, Air France, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico, AirEuropa

Knowing the specifics of how alliances drive down costs isn't important for booking award flights. What is important is knowing they exist and how you can use these alliances to your benefit; what award travelers really care about is booking great flights at a low cost. How do alliances help there?

Because you can book award flights on an airline with the award currency of a partner airline for way fewer points/miles than the airline you're flying on is charging. For example, one might be able to book a United Airlines flight using their Air Canada Aeroplan points for fewer miles than United is charging. This is often because of established award charts, which determine the cost in miles/points of a partner flight based on region being flown to and the distance flown. This is different than the dynamic pricing we see more and more of today, where the points price is sometimes staggeringly high relative to other options out there. One can easily find Air Canada pricing its own economy flights to Tokyo for upwards of 93000 Aeroplan points. Not a good deal. Because award charts are fixed, one can find really great deals. But because these are really great deals, individual members of an alliance only allow a few of these deals per flight.

Award inventory, as it's known, refers to how many seats an airline sells/makes available to be booked with the points/miles of its partner airlines. Just because both Air Canada and United Airlines are members of the Star Alliance does not mean you can always find a seat on one airline using the points/miles of the other. I frequently read posts online from newly-minted award flyers asking why they "can't find" any seats when booking with a partner airline. They can't find any seats because there's no inventory left. Award travel requires a degree of flexibility and a lot of planning. If it were easy to find incredible deals all the time, the entire industry would collapse.

In the most extreme case, airlines like ANA may offer only one or two business class seats to its partners for a flight from the USA to Tokyo. (This inventory may sell out within minutes of being released. Indeed, the most astute award traveler knows exactly when partner seats are released, and is on the phone at midnight to take them.) Most seats are not this exclusive, but as one might expect, First and Business class seats released to partner airlines sell out way earlier than Premium Economy or Economy seats do. If you're set on traveling in a premium cabin, I'd recommend learning when seats become bookable on each airline. The folks over at Upgraded Points have a great post that I used myself to plan travel next year.

Here are some personal examples:

For my Mediterranean trip in April/May 2025, I took advantage of Avianca LifeMiles' award chart. For 63,000 LifeMiles per person, I was able to book two business class flights on Turkish Airlines routing ATL-IST. The cash price for this flight was well over four thousand dollars per person. I was very intentional about this booking. I tried to book around 360 days prior to when I wanted to leave and searched the cost of this flight on other partners like Air Canada. After deciding on booking with LifeMiles, I enrolled in LifeMiles+ to get a 10% miles refund and free changes in case I needed to alter my plans.

There are great deals to be had in economy as well. When I was booking my trip to Japan for next year for myself and two friends, I had no issue finding economy seats on Japan Airlines using American Airlines. For 35,000 AA miles per person one way on a flight that retails for $1700/ticket, I was quite pleased.

Things to keep in mind:

1) If you book a flight on Airline A using the points/miles of Airline B, it is Airline B who 'owns' your ticket until 24 hours prior to departure.

2) Make sure you know all of the rules for booking using a particular partner airline. Some are more unforgiving with cancelations or changes than others.

3) You will receive a confirmation code or booking number for Airline B, but should also ask for a booking number for Airline A. This is also known as a PNR (Passenger Name Record). Airline A and B will use a different PNR, and you may need both in order to select your seats or add bags. The Airline that you book with may or may not be able to modify your ticket.

4) You need to check in with the airline you're flying on (Airline A) on the day of departure, as they are now responsible for your ticket.

5) Don't transfer your points or miles from your credit card without confirming availability first.

6) See number 5 above.

In summary: award charts are your friend. Check all of your options, including booking via a partner airline. Don't settle for dynamic award pricing that requires hundreds of thousands of points or miles. A step-by-step guide to booking an award flight can be found here.