Beginner's Guide: Airline Alliances, Miles, and Membership Programs

I realized I hadn’t written an airline miles introduction that’s friendly for beginners, and I’ve recently updated a lot of airline mileage program articles, so this is a good time to summarize everything and help newcomers get started faster! We’ll walk through a few questions so beginners can get up to speed quickly.

• What are airline miles?
• What is an airline alliance?
• How can you earn a lot of airline miles with credit cards?
• Which airline should we care about?
• What is airline elite status for, and how do you get it quickly?
• A roundup of mileage program guides for each airline!

What are airline miles?

Airline miles are actually not complicated. For example, Starbucks has its own rewards program, and the corresponding game currency is Stars. Each transaction earns you one Star, and once you collect 12 Stars, you can redeem any Starbucks coffee. Keep in mind that these Stars can only be used at Starbucks. Twelve Stars can get you a $5 coffee, but they can’t be exchanged for a $5 gift card from another store. So this kind of program is a way to retain customers. After all, you earn Stars on every transaction, and it feels wasteful not to use them. But to redeem them, you need to collect all 12 Stars, and missing even one won’t work. That gives you an incentive to keep spending there. Starbucks Stars are a simple rewards program. Airlines have similar programs too, except they reward you with airline miles instead of Stars. There’s also another part to rewards programs: the elite status system, such as how much you need to spend to get upgraded to Gold status.

In fact, an airline mileage system is just a slightly more complicated game than the Stars system. When you spend money with an airline, they give you some perks to keep you as a customer, and those perks are airline miles. What can you use these miles for? Just like Stars, they can only be used with the corresponding airline, and they can’t be converted into cash or gift cards. Airline miles can be redeemed for award tickets, and award tickets function the same as regular tickets: they are still just plane tickets that get you on a flight. So if you earn a lot of miles through flying, credit card spending, and sign-up bonuses, then redeeming them for award tickets is basically the same as getting free flights! Don’t underestimate how far miles can go. Once you have enough, you can redeem them for round-trip flights between China and the U.S., and even for business class or first class!!

Let’s talk about us mile collectors too. People who play the miles game enjoy, on the one hand, the fun of continuously accumulating miles (similar to saving money), and on the other hand, the chance to redeem a wonderful trip for themselves or their family and gain a broader perspective. Once your travel flights can be covered with miles, you can use the money you save to look for more food and entertainment. That’s the value of miles in improving travel quality.

Let’s look at an example. When Xiao Ming came to the U.S. to study, he spent $1,000 on an economy-class flight from Beijing to Los Angeles and earned 5,000 UA miles. Later, he also applied for the Chase UA Explorer credit card and received a 65,000-mile bonus. Then, when it was time for him to return to Beijing, he used 55,000 of the 70,000 miles he had earned to redeem a LAX-PEK return ticket. In other words, the entire ticket was effectively free, earned through his own flying and credit card rewards, and he only paid $5 in taxes.

What is an airline alliance?

You may have seen terms like “Star Alliance,” “oneworld,” and “SkyTeam.” So what exactly are these alliances? And when someone says they credit miles from XX airline to XX airline, what does that mean? Today let’s briefly talk through it.

An airline alliance is basically the result of major airlines banding together. The world’s first airline alliance was Star Alliance, founded in 1997, followed by oneworld in 1999 and SkyTeam in 2000. The creation of these alliances allows airlines to share resources, operate codeshare flights to expand their business, and more. So what benefits do airline alliances bring to us miles players? In the early days of frequent-flyer programs, each airline’s mileage program was independent. For example, if you flew a United Airlines (UA) flight, the miles could only be credited to UA, you could only earn UA elite status, and UA miles could only be redeemed for UA flights. The appearance of airline alliances made all these mileage programs more connected. Let’s use UA and Air China (CA), which is also a Star Alliance member, as an example to explain how those connections work:

• Miles can be credited to one another. You can credit miles from Air China flights to UA, and you can also credit miles from UA flights to Air China’s PhoenixMiles program.
• Miles can be redeemed across airlines. You can use UA miles to book Air China award tickets, and you can also use Air China miles to book UA award tickets.
• Elite status is mutually recognized. If you are a UA Gold member, when flying Air China you can check one additional bag, check in at the business-class counter, use Air China lounges, enjoy priority boarding, and receive priority baggage handling, as long as your miles are credited to UA. The reverse is also true.
• Checked bags can be tagged through to the final destination. What does that mean? For example, say I book a trip from New York to Frankfurt on UA, then connect the same day on Air China to Beijing. Because those two flights are operated by different airlines, and UA and Air China are both in Star Alliance, you do not need to pick up your checked bags in Frankfurt and re-check them. You can ask at check-in in New York to have your bags checked all the way through to Beijing.

For beginners, the easiest approach is to identify each alliance’s main U.S. carrier, and then credit all miles earned from flying other airlines to those carriers. That way you’ll have enough miles to redeem! For example, Star Alliance’s main U.S. carrier is United Airlines (UA), oneworld’s is American Airlines (AA), and SkyTeam’s is Delta Air Lines.

For example, you’ve accumulated 70,000 AA miles through the sign-up bonus and spending on an AA credit card, and you want to take a trip to Japan. If you search on the AA website, you can use 60,000 AA miles to fly business class on Japan Airlines, which is also a oneworld member like AA! Japan Airlines’ quality is far better than AA’s. The food is delicious and refined, and the service is top-notch.

Of course, airline alliances do change over time, with airlines joining and leaving. The current list is as follows:

• Main Star Alliance members: United Airlines (UA), Air China (CA), Shenzhen Airlines (ZH), Asiana Airlines (OZ), ANA, Singapore Airlines (SQ), Air Canada (AC), EVA Air (BR), Lufthansa (LH), Thai Airways (TG), Turkish Airlines (TK), and more.
• Main oneworld members: American Airlines (AA), Alaska Airlines (AS), British Airways (BA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Japan Airlines (JL), Malaysia Airlines (MH), Qantas (QF), Qatar Airways (QR), and more.
• Main SkyTeam members: Delta Air Lines (DL), Air France (AF), China Eastern Airlines (MU), China Southern Airlines (CZ), XiamenAir (MF), China Airlines (CI), Korean Air (KE), Aeroflot (SU), and more.

There are also some airlines that are not part of the three major alliances, but that have partnerships with alliance members and can also be used to issue award tickets for one another. We’ll talk about those in each airline’s individual introduction.

How to earn a large number of airline miles with credit cards

Earlier we saw that you can book flights between China and the U.S. with 55,000 miles, and that 60,000 AA miles can even get you a business-class ticket from the U.S. to Japan! So how do we earn a large amount of miles? Flying alone definitely isn’t enough. For example, if you spend $1,000 flying UA, you may only earn a miserable 5,000 miles, which is still very far from enough for an award ticket. This is where the advantage of being in the U.S. really shows up! U.S. credit card welcome bonuses are very generous, and by opening credit cards alone, you can earn a large number of airline miles to use for award tickets.

As we mentioned earlier, the big players in the three major alliances all have their own co-branded credit cards, and some even have more than one! The welcome bonuses are pretty good too, so here I recommend three cards that are suitable for beginners. Once you complete the minimum spending requirement, you can get miles to book China-U.S. flights. In addition, everyday credit card spending can also earn a decent amount, but welcome bonuses are still the fastest way!

In addition to applying directly for airline co-branded cards, there are actually quite a few credit cards or hotel points that can be transferred into airline miles. For example, the Chase Ultimate Rewards program can transfer to UA miles at 1:1, AMEX Membership Rewards can transfer to Delta miles at 1:1, and Marriott points can transfer to AA miles at 3:1.25. By applying for hotel and bank credit cards, you can indirectly accumulate a large number of airline miles as well.

Which Airlines Should We Focus On?

There are many airlines in the U.S., including the ones most people know: AA, UA, Delta, and Alaska Airlines, plus low-cost carriers like Southwest, JetBlue, and Frontier. So which airlines and mileage programs should beginners pay attention to?

One way is to look at the city you live in and the city you want to fly to. In general, an airport in a given city will favor airlines from a certain alliance or a hub for another low-cost carrier. This is how U.S. airlines carry passengers: each airline has several hubs, and the vast majority of flights depart from or arrive at these hub cities. So to travel from one non-hub airport to another non-hub airport, you usually have to connect through a hub airport. Here is a list of the major U.S. airline hubs:

• United Airlines UA: Washington (IAD), Houston (IAH), New York/Newark (EWR), Denver (DEN), Chicago (ORD), San Francisco (SFO), Los Angeles (LAX), Guam (GUM), Tokyo (NRT).
• American Airlines AA: Dallas (DFW), Philadelphia (PHL), Charlotte (CLT), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Washington (DCA), Phoenix (PHX), New York (JFK/LGA), Chicago (ORD).
• Delta DL: Atlanta (ATL), Minneapolis (MSP), Cincinnati (CVG), Detroit (DTW), New York (JFK/LGA), Salt Lake City (SLC), Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), Memphis (MEM), Tokyo (NRT).
• Alaska Airlines AS: Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX), Anchorage (ANC).

So what does this have to do with choosing a mileage program? It gives you more flexibility when redeeming award tickets. For example, if you live in Dallas, then AA or BA mileage programs are both good choices: use AA for long-haul flights and BA for short-haul flights. If you want to fly to Beijing, you can use AA miles to book the nonstop DFW-PEK flight. But if you use UA miles, you’d need at least one connection, so it’s less convenient than a nonstop option.

But! But! If you’re a credit card points person, my advice is: get them all! By using different credit cards, you can accumulate miles from multiple airlines in large quantities. For a need like China-U.S. round-trip travel, the number of connections doesn’t actually need to be too outrageous; keeping it within 2-3 connections is still acceptable. The most important thing is that award tickets are free, so no matter which airline it is, as long as you can use the miles and the credit card has a strong welcome bonus, go ahead and apply! Our site also has mileage guides for each airline. Get the miles first, then figure out how to use them slowly later—you’ll have plenty of time!

• Best U.S. Credit Card Welcome Bonuses Ranking (Personal Cards) [Updated Monthly]

How to Quickly Get Airline Elite Status

Airline elite status is still quite valuable. Common benefits include extra earning miles, complimentary upgrades to premium cabins, free checked bags, priority boarding, and more.

That said, airline elite status is much harder to earn than hotel elite status. You need real flight activity and ticket spend. For example, United’s elite status requirements are based on PQF (Premier Qualifying Flights, or the number of flight segments) and PQP (Premier Qualifying Points, or ticket spend). For instance, the lowest Silver tier requires 12 segments plus $4,000 in ticket spend, or $5,000 in ticket spend. The top 1,000 tier requires 54 segments and $18,000 in spend. On average, that means flying 4-5 times every month. Unless you travel constantly for work, it’s pretty hard to achieve.

And that’s just for elite status with one airline. If you want a great travel experience everywhere, it’s best to have elite status with all the major airlines, which makes it even harder. In fact, besides faithfully meeting each airline’s flight segment and spend requirements, a much faster way is to do a status challenge or status match. See the article below for details—it does have some requirements.

• How to Quickly Get Airline Elite Status

Airline Mileage Program Guides Roundup

Getting Started

• “Beginner's Guide” to Airline Alliances, Miles, and Memberships

Star Alliance

• United Airlines (UA) Membership and Mileage Guide “2024 Full Update”
• Air Canada Aeroplan Mileage Redemption Guide
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Mileage Program Guide “2024 Full Update”
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles Mileage Program Guide
• ANA All Nippon Airways Mileage Guide “2025 Full Update”
• Avianca LifeMiles (AV) Avianca Colombia Mileage Redemption Guide

Oneworld

• American Airlines (AA) Mileage and Membership Guide “2025 Full Update”
• Alaska Airlines Mileage and Membership Guide “2025 Full Update”
• British Airways Avios Mileage Redemption Guide “2025 Full Update”
• Cathay Pacific (CX) Miles Guide: Best Redemption + Award Seat Booking Tips
• Japan Airlines (JL) Mileage Guide: Latest Award Chart, Best Redemptions, and Award Seat Booking Tips

SkyTeam

• Delta SkyMiles Mileage and Membership Guide “2024 Full Update”
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue Program Guide “2025 Full Update”
• Virgin Atlantic (VS) Membership and Mileage Guide “2025 Full Update”

Others

• Southwest Airlines Mileage and Membership Program Guide “2025 Full Update”
• JetBlue Mileage and Membership Program Guide “2025 Update”

Beginner Guide Series

Read these articles and you’ll be better than 90% of Chinese Americans in the U.S.

• "Beginner Guide" How should you use U.S. credit cards? Save money and even make money?
• "Beginner Guide" How to earn checking and savings account bonuses
• "Beginner Guide" Introduction to airline alliances, miles, and elite status
• "Beginner Guide" Introduction to hotel programs and points
• "Beginner Guide" How to build credit in the U.S. without an SSN