Star Alliance celebrates its 15th anniversary

The Alliance thanks Customers for 15 Years of Loyalty

Star Alliance CEO Customer Forum on Facebook

Frequent Flyer Promotion

Competition to Win a Trip of a Lifetime

15^th Anniversary Round the World Promotion

Celebrations in Star Alliance Branded Lounges

FRANKFURT, Germany, May 14, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - 15 years ago today an event took place which would forever change the landscape of commercial aviation. Five forward looking and like-minded CEOs took the bold decision to create the first ever multilateral airline alliance, the Star Alliance network. Founding carriers Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, THAI and United all realised that with growing globalisation, the need for more international travel to a wider range of destinations would become increasingly important. As no airline on its own would be able to achieve this, these five airlines established the Star Alliance network with the aim of becoming the "Leading global airline alliance for the high value international traveller".

In 15 years the Alliance has grown from five airlines offering a combined total of 6,000 daily flights to 578 airports in 106 countries to a network of 25 airlines carrying more than 600 million passengers on 20,500 daily flights to 1,293 airports in 190 countries. To paraphrase the CEO of one of our member carriers: "If Star Alliance doesn't fly there, you probably don't want to go".

This growth has been achieved by a combination of adding airlines to the Alliance and by providing customer benefits which on a global scale an airline cannot offer on its own. Examples are through-checkin, mileage accrual and redemption, Star Alliance Gold and Silver benefits and Alliance wide fare products.

Below please find the elements of the 15^th Anniversary Campaign:

Thank You for 15 years of loyalty
As part of its 15^th Anniversary, Star Alliance is thanking its customers for their loyalty. This theme is being promoted through various channels, such as www.staralliance.com, Facebook, twitter as well as member carrier customer and in-flight magazines. In keeping with the tradition of featuring a personality in its advertising, the Alliance has selected its own CEO, Mark Schwab, who conveys the thank you message: "On behalf of all our Member Airlines, who are committed to working hard for you, now and in the future, I'd like to say thank you. You've earned it."

CEO Customer Forum on Facebook
In line with its growing presence in social media, Star Alliance will for the first time ever hold a live customer forum on Facebook. As part of the CEO thank you message, Mark Schwab will be responding to customers' feedback, comments and suggestions on the Star Alliance Facebook page. This will be hosted from the Star Alliance head office in Frankfurt and he will be available on www.facebook.com/staralliance on May 14^th, 2012 from 10.00 - 11.00 and 18.00 - 19.00 local time Germany (08.00 - 09.00 GMT and 16.00-17.00 GMT).

Star Alliance 15^th Anniversary Frequent Flyer Bonus (FFP) Promotion
In order to reward all our frequent travellers for their loyalty, all Star Alliance member carrier FFPs are offering their most active frequent travellers a bonus of 15,000 miles/points* . This will be awarded to the 15 FFP members registered in each programme who travel on the most Star Alliance airlines between now and 14 November. For exact details, please refer to the individual FFPs via the following link: www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/frequent-flyer/
* or equivalent value in the respective FFP

Star Alliance 15^th Anniversary Competition
Star Alliance is also rewarding customers with a selection of "once in a lifetime" trips. In a web based competition participants have to find an aircraft which is hidden somewhere on the Star Alliance network. The lucky winner and 14 friends can jet off to one of 27 global festivals. Further prizes include a Business Class Round the World ticket for two and 15 further round-trip air tickets to enjoy one of the 27 global festivals on offer. Further details can be found at: www.staralliance.com.

15^th Anniversary Round the World Promotion
As part of a special promotion, the Star Alliance network will be offering a 15 per cent discount on the Round the World (RTW) fares in Economy Class. This applies to the base fare of all RTW Economy Class tickets sold between May 15^th and May 29^th, 2012. All applicable taxes, fees and surcharges will not be discounted. Full details are available at www.staralliance.com.

Celebrations in Star Alliance branded lounges

Passengers using the Star Alliance branded lounges at the following airports: Cairo, London - Heathrow Terminal 1, Los Angeles - Tom Bradley International Terminal, Nagoya and Paris - Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, on May 14^th, 2012 will receive a small gift. In addition, the lounges will also be providing special cakes and other local celebratory items.

Note: the press release only provides an overview of the various promotions. Full terms and conditions are available at www.staralliance.com

About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines, EVA Air and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 20,500 daily flights to 1,293 airports in 190 countries.

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