also called FFP · loyalty program · mileage program
An airline scheme rewarding repeat customers with miles and status.
Airlines run these loyalty clubs to reward repeat flyers. You earn miles for flying, and enough of it bumps you up status tiers with perks like free bags and earlier boarding. An alliance is the wider group of airlines that honour each other's miles and status; the program is just one airline's own scheme.
Someone flying back and forth to clients across Asia signs up for a different airline's program on every trip. The miles scatter into a dozen tiny balances, none big enough to redeem, when picking one airline and its alliance would have built a single pile worth a free flight.
Choosing and concentrating on the right one builds the miles and status that make heavy travel cheaper and smoother.
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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