also called Oneworld · SkyTeam · Star Alliance · alliance · global alliance
A partnership of airlines that share routes, lounges and frequent-flyer benefits.
An airline alliance is a big club of airlines that pool routes, lounges and loyalty perks so your status counts across all of them. It is broader than a codeshare, which is just two airlines selling seats on one specific shared flight. The value shows up when you do not fly one home airline: your status on a member can still get you lounges and priority on its partners.
You earned status on one carrier, then take a partner airline in the same alliance for a trip across Asia. Even though it is not the airline you built your miles with, you still walk into the lounge and board early, because the alliance carries your status across.
Status on one member can unlock priority and lounges on partners when you do not fly a single home airline.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
An airline alliance is a partnership that pools routes, lounges and frequent-flyer benefits, and a frequent flyer program is the loyalty scheme you earn in across it.
A codeshare is one airline selling a seat on a flight another airline actually operates.
A fifth freedom flight is an airline carrying passengers between two foreign countries on the way from its home, and cabotage is the rule that generally forbids it from carrying passengers between two points inside one foreign country.
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