Last year, Star Alliance CEO Jeffrey Goh hinted of at least one additional tier of Star Alliance status above gold status. One year later, those plans have been shelved.
Speaking at the IATA Conference in Seoul, Goh noted a shifting priority:
The priority at this time is to pursue delivering additional benefits to existing tiers, either from the member airlines or things we can coordinate as an alliance through other travel partners.
Christian Draeger, Star Alliance’s Vice President of Customer Experience, also chimed in, telling the Australian Business Traveller:
We’re in the middle of a review on this, but it’s not only about new benefits: it’s also the extension and the upgrading of existing benefits.
Draeger added, “It might very well be that (the third tier) will be periodically looked at again. But right now, we’re just really focused on the benefit side.”
The Problem
I am not of the opinion that alliances are out of fashion and largely irrelevant in 2019. Even as their mission has evolved over the years, alliances remain a powerful marketing tool for member carriers and a continuing opportunity for synergies and collaboration. The Star Alliance brand is still a very powerful, very valuable brand. Alliances have also made seamless award travel around the world possible, something we tend to take for granted.
But a Platinum or Diamond tier of Star Alliance status had inherent free-rider issues. Let’s assume, because I think it is reasonable to do so, that a central component of a higher Star Alliance status would be access to first class lounges. Who wouldn’t love having access to Lufthansa, Singapore, SWISS, and Thai First Class Lounges? I suspect that was precisely the problem.
There are 27 airlines in the alliance and only the following seven have first class:
- Air China
- Air India
- ANA
- Lufthansa
- Singapore
- SWISS
- Thai
(I left Asiana off the list because it will soon eliminate first class)
Let’s say that Diamond-tier status is awarded to top-tier members in airline loyalty programs. That may be fine for, say, Lufthansa HONs and United Global Services, which have high spending requirements. But what if top-tier members of programs like Aegean, which require only 48,000 miles/year were awarded Diamond status? Or what about those with Asiana Diamond Plus status, which requires only 100,000 miles over two years?
My point is that you would undoubtedly see more passengers in first class lounges, thereby making them less exclusive. To the purveyors of the world’s best first class lounges–Lufthansa, Singapore, SWISS, and Thai–I think this was a huge turnoff. For the same reason, passengers on partner first class tickets generally cannot access these first class lounges. For example, Singapore First Class passengers cannot use Lufthansa First Class lounges in Frankfurt, or vice-versa. There is simply no desire to make these lounges more accessible.
A Potential Solution
While this certainly implicates privacy concerns, imagine if Star Alliance Diamond status was awarded by the alliance itself, not individual airlines. What if airlines nominated their top 1% of spenders, subject to a a minimum spending of $50,000/year (I’m just throwing out numbers) to Diamond status? The cards would be sent by Star Alliance and benefits maintained by Star Alliance. Thus, the higher status would be beyond the airline itself and in the hands of a marketing company (because that’s essentially what alliances are) that could work as an agent for all members carriers. I’d wager that even Singapore and SWISS would probably like to show these sorts of passengers warm hospitality, in hopes that it would lead to direct business.
By truly placing strict controls on who receives Diamond status, the first class lounges need not become overcrowded. And by making Diamond status super-exclusive, the reputation of the brand would likely strengthen and interest would drive business.
CONCLUSION
The short-term solution remains what Star Alliance has already promised:
- Seamless partner seat assignments
- Paperless, efficient crediting of miles
- Baggage tracking using the Star Alliance app/carrier of your choice
- Online redemption for all 28 Star Alliance partners when using any Star Alliance loyalty program
Those improvements will indeed drive more customer satisfaction. A more dynamic upgrade system that is easy to confirm, even on a mobile device, would also be a welcome improvement.
But a higher tier status than gold still remains an interesting proposition.
> Read More: Star Alliance Rolling Out Extremely Useful New Services
SQ already has The Room within its F lounge at SIN accessible only to those flying F just as BA has its Concorde rooms for those flying F (or it’s higher yield elites). BA thus allows its Gold and OW Emerald elites (not flying F) into the F lounges without issue.
Better within the current tiers though to regularized across alliance member benefits like access to E+ extra legroom economy seats as OW does. Or reinstate through checked bags when on separate tickets.
You’re looking at things from the wrong angle as far as I am concerned.
While I am sure that teh airlines will continue to protect their top tier customers by not opening their First Class Lounges, the issue here is that the top tier status of Star Alliance does not grant access to the Star Alliance First Class Lounge unless flying on a First Class Ticket. Example: I am a Lufthansa HON but I am not permitted into the Star Alliance First Class Lounge in LAX when flying Business Class.
Thus, in my opinion the additional tier should be used to improve the Star Alliance benefits, not those of individual airlines.
I’d be happy if *A started getting priority baggage delivery right across the whole alliance before moving on to other things.
Also, ability to see all flights in one place in the *A app would be great instead of having to have a collection of different ones some of which are far better than others. At the moment on my phone I have A3, OU, LH, LX, LO, TP, OZ, AC, NH, SK and TG and I have live bookings in all of them, streamlining would be great and I know of no app that will do this. (Any advice greatfully received!)
I’m not sure about diamond/platinum status. I think the current system works well for the majority and if a new tier is to come it must come with what are new benefits and not a cut to existing ones for gold – there is no faster way to p*ss people off and make they feel less valued.
How does *A work regarding checking a bag on a trip with multiple airlines?
Clueless twits. They’ve had years to sort out the fiasco that is Star Alliance ( confusion over benefits across the member airlines is only one of the myriad of problems). It’s getting worse rather than better. They should both be fired. Beyond hopeless…just the usual ‘gonna’ gas-baggers.