Summary
- Star Alliance Gold cardholders can access over 1,000 lounges worldwide, including top airline lounges.
- Star Gold members receive an additional baggage allowance of up to 20kg when traveling with member airlines.
- Star Alliance Gold members receive priority boarding along with first and business class passengers.
While each carrier that is a member of the
Star Alliance
belongs to an airline-specific loyalty program, such as United Airlines
MileagePlus
or Air Canada
Aeroplan
, the alliance offers reciprocal benefits for the top frequent flyers in all member schemes. However, not all of the loyalty programs neatly line up.
To simplify things between carriers, Star Alliance has created two alliance-wide tier levels corresponding to each loyalty program’s different tiers. While Star Alliance Silver benefits leave much to be desired, Gold status with the alliance comes with some convenient benefits for frequent flyers, which we will look at in this post. The list is ranked in perceived value from high to low. Priority reservations waitlist and priority airport standby are benefits shared with Star Alliance Silver, and this is not covered in this post.
1
Airport lounge access
Gold holders can access over 1,000 lounges worldwide
Star Alliance Gold cardholders can access over 1,000 lounges worldwide when traveling on a Star Alliance member airline. These can range from contract lounges like the Aspire Lounge at Bristol Airport (BRS), to some of the top airline provided lounges. The Star Alliance also has its own lounges at the following airports,
- Amsterdam Schiphol Airport – AMS – The Netherlands
- Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport – EZE – Argentina
- Los Angeles International Airport – LAX – United States
- Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport – CDG – France
- Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport – GIG – Brazil
- Rome Fiumicino Airport – FCO – Italy (This lounge is temporarily closed)
Photo: Simple Flying
Complimentary lounge access can be convenient for frequent travelers. One of the most significant benefits of an airline lounge is the ability to fuel up with complimentary food and drink before a flight while relaxing in an area that is likely less busy than the immediate gate area. When you consider that a restaurant breakfast and coffee could be worth upwards of $15 at an airport, travelers are already making a saving. Lounges also allow individuals to hop in the shower to freshen up on layovers or get ahead of a quick hop.
Photo: Star Alliance
Those with Star Alliance Gold status can also generally pick which lounge to access. At a Star Alliance hub such as Frankfurt Airport, the choices are pretty limited as almost all of the lounges are run by Lufthansa itself. However, if you go to an airport such as London Heathrow’s Terminal 2, with Star Alliance Gold status, you could access,
Except for a couple of fare types, Star Alliance Gold members receive an additional luggage allowance when traveling with member airlines. Travelers get an additional 20kg (44 lbs) when the baggage limit is determined by weight. Where a number of items determine the baggage limit, Star Alliance Gold members get to check in an extra piece of baggage.
Photo: Fengianum | Shutterstock
This can be handy when a traveler wants to take a lot of baggage or on specific hand baggage-only fares. For example, a
SAS
EuroBonus Star Alliance Gold member traveling on a transatlantic Air Canada basic fare without checked baggage would be eligible to check zero bags through their fare but an additional one through having Star Alliance Gold status, giving a total of one free bag. To buy a single checked bag on such a fare can cost CAD 75 ($54.84).
Source: Star Alliance
This is one of the benefits that does have some limitations, however. According to the Star Alliance rules, passengers do not get an additional baggage allowance if traveling with one of the following fares,
- Within Europe, traveling on light fares that Lufthansa, Austrian, and SWISS offer.
- Traveling on “Check&Go” fares offered by Brussels Airlines.
- Traveling on “Go Light” fares offered by SAS.
- Traveling on “Seat” fares offered by Air New Zealand.
Travelers should note that the rules may differ when flying with the airline through which they have achieved Star Alliance Gold status.
3
Priority boarding
Star Alliance Gold members can be among the first on the plane
If you’re only planning to travel with hand luggage, being one of the first to board the aircraft can be a huge bonus. It’s easy to lose count of how many times you’re the last to board, and then there is no bin space above your head or worse. You have to gate-check your bag.
Photo: Castleski | Shutterstock.com
One of the benefits of Star Alliance Gold Status is that passengers can board at their leisure with first and business class passengers when this is something that an airline offers. Note that each airline has a slightly different boarding order; some even allow Star Alliance Silver members priority boarding, though this is not an alliance-wide policy. Below is a comparison of the boarding groups of United Airlines,
|
Boarding Group |
United Airlines |
|---|---|
|
Pre-boarding |
|
|
Group 1 |
|
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Group 2 |
|
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Group 3 |
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Group 4 |
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Group 5 |
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Group 6 |
|
This benefit is most useful to economy passengers. In the United Airlines example, Star Alliance Gold members board simultaneously as travelers in the United Polaris, United First, and United Business cabins.
Related
How Do United Airlines’ Boarding Groups Work?
United has extended the number of boarding groups from 5 to 6 and has made some changes in between, cutting down on their boarding time.
4
Gold Track (Priority security and immigration)
Star Alliance Gold members can skip even more queues at the airport
When you are a frequent traveler, time is king. The less time you spend standing in airport queues, the quicker you can get to your destination or the airport lounge to relax before your flight. Star Alliance offers Gold members fast-track security and immigration lanes at select airports. While the name of these lanes varies by airport, the benefit is known as “Gold Track,” which is what it is called at major Star Alliance terminals worldwide.
Photo: Yau Ming Low | Shutterstock.com
Gold Track immigration fast lanes are only available at ten airports worldwide. These are,
- Addis Ababa – Bole International Airport – ADD – Ethiopia
- Amsterdam – Schiphol Airport – AMS – The Netherlands
- Brisbane – Brisbane International Airport – BNE – Australia
- Cairo – Cairo International Airport – CAI – Egypt
- Istanbul – Istanbul Airport – IST – Turkey
- Istanbul – Sabiha Gokcen Airport – SAW – Turkey
- Melbourne – Melbourne Airport – MEL – Australia
- Panama City – Tocumen International Airport – PTY – Panama
- Paris – Charles de Gaulle Airport – CDG – France
- Sydney – Kingsford Smith Airport – SYD – Australia
Below is a map showing all cities where Star Alliance Gold Track is offered at security. Cities with multiple airports are shown with bigger circles. A complete list of Gold Track airports is available on the Star Alliance website.
Photo: Simple Flying
5
Priority check-in
Less time queuing = more lounge time
Of course, another significant benefit of traveling with Star Alliance Gold Status is the ability to use priority check-in counters at an airport. These are typically the business class check-in lanes indicated by a Star Alliance Gold logo.
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying
Joining the business class line at an airport can be a significant time saver. It can take an awfully long time to get through an economy check-in line with 40-50+ people in it. By comparison, the business class lines typically only have a handful of people and are served by dedicated desk(s), depending on the check-in size.
I personally experienced this when traveling with Air Canada earlier this year. I arrived later than I’d liked to check in due to a delayed train and found an economy line that would’ve easily taken me half an hour to snake through. With Star Alliance Gold status, I could join the business class line, where I was the second person, and somebody checked my bag within 5-10 minutes of my arrival at the end of the queue.
Related
Flight Review: Air Canada’s Airbus A330 Economy Cabin To Montreal
I left the flight pleasenty surprised by the whole experience.
6
Priority baggage handling
Possibly the least helpful benefit
Last but not least, Star Alliance Gold members can avail of priority baggage handling. This means that when checking in a piece of luggage, it is given a priority flag in the baggage system and usually a bright orange Star Alliance priority tag to make it stand out to baggage handlers.
Photo: WeStudio | Shutterstock
I would rate this as the least helpful benefit, as unless you are traveling on an incredibly full flight, the chances are that the tag won’t make too much difference in terms of delivery time. If all of the baggage takes half an hour to get to the belt, you still have to wait half an hour with everybody else, and in that case, what difference does an extra five minutes really make?
What do you think is the most valuable Star Alliance Gold benefit? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below!