Is American Airlines Oneworld or Star Alliance?
Finally, the question is: Is American Airlines a member of Oneworld or Star Alliance?
American Airlines is among the major airlines worldwide and links to 64 countries at present. Many travelers wonder whether the airline is a member of either of the two largest airline alliances, Oneworld or Star.
The Background to Airline Partnerships
Emerging in the 1990s primarily to assist in bypassing restrictions placed on foreign interests in airlines by governments of particular nations, airline alliances became Airlines that might increase the connection of their networks, schedules, rates, loyalty programs, and airport lounges with alliance members using code-sharing and operational collaboration.
Thus created in 1997, the first worldwide union was called the Star Union. The Oneworld Alliance in 1999 and the Sky Team Alliance founded in 2000 followed this. The three alliances now include around 58 individuals in their crews, which offers a great link to the networks of the partners.
American Airlines also belongs to an alliance and to determine which one it is in, you should read the paragraph below.
It must be noted that American Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance with other airlines that started in February 1999. Other Oneworld members at the time of its creation included British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Canadian Airlines, Aer Lingus, etc. Today, Oneworld unites 14 carriers that offer access to more than one thousand routes in 170+ countries.
Why Americans chose OneWorld
Through affiliations with other top airlines based in different parts of the world through the Oneworld alliance, American has been able to greatly diversify its geographical network. This was one of the main considerations that led American Airlines to assist in the creation of Oneworld instead of joining a preexisting alliance, Star Alliance.
American’s then-Chairman Don Carty summed up the alliance’s value in 1999 by stating: “Today the members of Oneworld has increased 7 times, including American Airlines, and the company has become united with the seven other world’s best airlines and their broad global networks The term Oneworld reflects the vision of every single member of this alliance to make international travel easier.
One-world advantages for American Airlines passengers
As a Oneworld airline, American Airlines offers its customers a range of benefits when traveling with their alliance partners, including: As a Oneworld airline, American Airlines offers their customers a range of benefits when traveling with their alliance partners, including:
- It’s possible to earn and redeem miles in all Oneworld loyalty programs.
- A key feature of the service is access to airport lounges with more than 650 locations around the world.
- Services such as priority boarding, check-in, baggage, or other services and security lines.
- Lasting connectivity between Oneworld flights: This ensures that passengers can transfer between connecting Oneworld flights faster.
- Some routes where grouped flights are to be offered for customers as more travel options.
- American’s Oneworld Partners
- Currently, American’s OneWorld partners include: Currently, America’s OneWorld partners include:
- British Airways, United Kingdom-based Based Airline Company
- Iberia (Airline from Spain)
- KLM (Koninglijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV), SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System), Finnair (Flag carrier of Finland)
- Royal Jordanian is an airline based in Jordan and is the Jordanian national airline.
- Japan Airlines (JAL)
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas (an Australian airline)
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- S7 Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
- Fiji Airways
Some of these airlines were not even members of Oneworld (or did not exist at all) when America first embarked on the Oneworld initiative in 1999. Over the years, more global network carriers have been admitted into OneWorld to develop other parts of the world, such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America.
Did America Intend to Switch Alliances?
Thanks to Oneworld being the alliance that was created with the help of American Airlines as one of its initiators, it can be concluded that the airline is likely to stay in Oneworld in the short and long term.
Two major players in the US are Delta and United; while the former is a member of SkyTeam, the latter is a member of the Star Alliance. As things stand, it is possible to maintain the current cross-soutionship fragmentation to allow American, Delta, and United to retain some level of competitive differentiation in markets where alliance affiliations influence airline choices.
From the available evidence, it therefore seems that there is no strong incentive for America to contemplate exiting OneWorld since the latter provides its business with a lot of value. There was no previous instance where a US airline changed the alliance before, and hence, America leaving Oneworld is a unique situation. Though various changes and consolidations are persistently taking place in the strategies of airlines, it is very possible in the distant future.
Summary
To answer the key question, most importantly, American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld global airline alliance as well as partners such as British Airways, Qantas, and Japan Airlines. Some of the airlines that have a strategic partnership with America include North American, European, Australian, and Asian Oneworld alliances. The understanding makes it easier to move from these partner airlines and also comes with added perks for frequent fliers. And while Delta is a member of SkyTeam and United is part of the Star Alliance, you can assert that American Airlines is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance and is considered one of its anchors.
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