For the über-Road Warriors - those who spend their lives on the road

Travel Loyalty Programs are offered by companies from the airline, hotel, car rental and credit card industries.  Looking at it from the point of view of a customer, loyalty programs can only be beneficial. 

And with more and more companies forging business partnerships, a bigger selection of rewards and service perks are made available to members.

You will definitely not lose anything by signing up for a frequent flyer program.  Upgrades and Free Flights top my list for staying loyal. Apart from that, loyal customers are given preferential service (separate check-in lines, access to business lounges and first pickings of the best seats, among others.) 

Members accrue miles based on the number of miles flown per flight. In addition, bonus miles are given to members who have higher membership thresholds (elite, gold, etc.) 

And with partnerships like Star Alliance, you can even consolidate your travel and accumulate more benefits. 

The beauty of this partnership is that membership in any 1 of the 14 separate frequent flyer programmes under the Star Alliance network automatically lets you earn or redeem miles/points and/or earn a status upgrade with any of the programmes across ALL the Star Alliance airlines.

Star Alliance has been recently voted by Business Traveler USA as the Best Airline Alliance of 2005.  And last September, it became “the first airline group to offer a frequent flyer redemption option across the alliance, rather than on an individual carrier basis.”

Star Alliance member airlines are the following: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, BMI, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, SpanAir, TAP, Thai Airways, United and US Airways and Varig.

However, here is an interesting blog entry from one disgruntled Diamond Club member (BMI) who advices readers to acquire membership from other Star Alliance airline members instead.