There are many airline alliances across the world, and Star Alliance is among the top ones, consisting of multiple top airline companies. The Star Alliance includes 26 top airlines, including many popular ones like Air India, Lufthansa, United, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and many more. The Alliance has many offers and programs going on at all times, and it is among the most connected air travel networks you will find across the globe. If you are planning to use your loyalty or reward miles of a particular airline to book an award flight, there are high chances of flying through a Star Alliance member airline.
Whether you aim to fly on Turkish Airlines’ business class or check out Lufthansa’s super luxurious first-class, Star Alliance member airlines can fulfill this for you, subject to the availability of award flights to your preferred destination and dates. You can research which flights and routes will provide the maximum value for redeeming your miles, but searching for award flight availability can be tricky.
Some airlines’ flight search engines are user-friendly and will show you the available flights along with nearby dates and other information, but some search engines are tricky and do not even show all available award flights. Keep reading the article to learn how to check Star Alliance member airlines’ award flight availability through different search engines and platforms.
Star Alliance Member Airlines
Before we talk about how to check award flights, we should know about the member airlines in the Star Alliance. The following airlines are part of the Star Alliance –
Aegean | Air China | Air Canada |
Air New Zealand | Air India | ANA |
Austrian | Asiana Airlines | Avianca |
Brussels Airlines | Copa Airline | Croatia Airlines |
Egypt Air | EVA Air | Ethiopian |
Lufthansa | LOT Polish Airlines | Shenzhen Airlines |
United Airlines | Singapore Airlines | Swiss |
South African Airways | TAP Air Portugal | Turkish Airlines |
Thai | Scandinavian Airlines |
There are different ways to search for award flights through these airlines. Some airlines’ search engines make it a bit difficult to check available award flights, but it is pretty convenient to look for award flights through others’ search engines.
Another obstacle you have to come across when booking award flights is phantom award space. Sometimes, you may find an award flight for the airline and destination you want, at the date you want to travel, and at a fair number of miles. However, when you try to book the award ticket, you come across an error and are unable to book it.
This is a phantom award space, and most of the time, it happens because the concerned award flight is not available anymore, but this has not been updated in the airlines’ award flight search engine. Let’s check out the ways through which you can check out Star Alliance members’ award flight availability and book them.
United Airlines
United Airlines is among the top search engines for Star Alliance award flights. You can search for flights even without logging into an account. You may face some issues with multi-partner connecting award flights, but you can search ticket segment-by-segment to make it easier.
Here is how you can search for award flights on United’s website.
- Visit the official United Airlines website and cancel the Sign In or Join Now pop-up.
- Click on Book > Flight and make sure to tick next to the Book with Miles option.
- Next, you have to enter the departure and arrival location along with the date, travelers, and your preferred class. Click on Find Flights after entering this information.
- You will see the search results with available flights on your chosen date. You can also see the flights available on nearby dates.
- There is a 30-day calendar view option through which you can see available award flights for the whole month.
- You can check the details of the available flight, including connection and seat information. Next to this, you will see the total miles required and taxes to be paid with money for both Economy and Business class.
Air Canada
Air Canada Airlines’ search engine can also be used to search for Star Alliance member award flights and also for non-alliance partners of Air Canada. It is an easy-to-use, convenient tool that is a good alternative to other options. You can book flights with Aeroplan miles, Air Canada’s loyalty program, and other Star Alliance member airlines’ miles.
Here is how to search –
- Visit the official website of Air Canada and click on the Flights button. Make sure to tick the Book with Points check box.
- Enter the departure and arrival destination, date of travel, and passengers, and click on Search Flights.
- You will see the available flights on the selected date with the total miles required and money to be paid for both Economy and Business class tickets for the flights.
- You will see the available flights on the selected date with the total miles required and money to be paid for both Economy and Business class tickets for the flights.
Singapore Airlines
Another famous member of Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines, allows only its KrisFlyer loyalty program members to book business and first-class tickets. You can use its search engine to find Star Alliance member award flights, but you will need to create an account on the website to search for award spaces. Here is how to search –
- Visit the official website of Singapore Airlines and log in to your KrisFlyer account.
- Click on Book Trip and tick the Redeem flights check box.
- Enter the departure and arrival destination, date of travel, class, and passengers, and then click on the Search button.
- You will see the search results for the chosen date and also for nearby dates. There is an option to look at flights operated by Singapore Airlines and Star Alliance members. You can choose Star Alliance to search for available flights.
- You can click on the flight you want to book, and you will see its details, total miles required, and money to be paid.
Bottom Line
With almost 26 member airlines around the world, Star Alliance operates numerous flights, and you have great options to redeem your earned air miles. You can book award flights with any of the Star Alliance member airlines’ miles, but it is not always easy to search for available award spaces.
Most of the time, it gets confusing to search for award tickets as some search engines are not user-friendly while some are inaccurate. There is also the issue of phantom award space, where you may see an available award flight but are unable to book it.
In the above article, we talked about the best ways to search for Star Alliance member airlines award flights. These websites are easy to use and show accurate search results most of the time. Make sure to confirm award spaces before you transfer your miles and plan your Star Alliance flight accordingly.