Double miles offer to frequent flyers as airberlin joins

20 March 2012

A special double miles offer is being made to cardholders of all oneworld® member airlines' frequent flyer programmes - including those of airberlin's topbonus programme - to mark the addition to the alliance today of Germany's second biggest airline, along with its group member Austria's NIKI.

topbonus members will receive double topbonus award miles when flying on any oneworld partner from today until 15 May 2012 - as long as they register first at airberlin.com/miles.  Similarly, members of existing oneworld airlines' loyalty programmes will receive double mileage awards when flying on airberlin from today until 15 May 2012.  For further details, see member airlines' websites.

topbonus Silver and Gold cardholders - along with members of its new Platinum tier for its most frequent flyers - have been mailed new membership cards, bearing the oneworld logo and the alliance's "gemstone" tier status symbol, to ensure that they receive the alliance's full range of services and benefits when travelling throughout the entire oneworld network from today..

The new topbonus Platinum Card is equivalent to the alliance's Emerald frequent flyer top tier.

That means that its cardholders and a guest can now access any of more than 550 First or Business Class lounges offered by oneworld's member airlines - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines and their 20 or so affiliated airlines - worldwide when they travel on any oneworld flight, no matter in which class they are booked. 

Those lounges include many judged among the best in the world in the various airline industry award schemes.

oneworld is the only alliance to offer top tier frequent flyers access to First Class lounges when they are not booked to travel in the First Class cabin.

topbonus Platinum cardholders will now also be able to check-in at the First Class counters of the oneworld airlines, even if they travel in Economy or Business class.

airberlin's topbonus Gold Card is equivalent to oneworld Sapphire, enabling cardholders, accompanied by a guest, to use any Business Class or Frequent Flyer lounge offered by oneworld's member airlines worldwide when they travel on any oneworld flight, no matter in which class they are booked. 

They can also check-in at Business Class desks when they depart on any oneworld flight, no matter in which cabin they are travelling.

As oneworld Emerald and Sapphire frequent flyers, topbonus Platinum and Gold cardholders can now board any oneworld airline's flight when they choose, rather than wait for passengers in the cabin in which they are booked to be called for boarding.

topbonus Silver cardholders have become oneworld Ruby frequent flyers.

Like oneworld Sapphire members, they can check-in at Business Class desks when they depart on any oneworld flight, no matter in which cabin they are travelling.

All three oneworld tiers - Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby - are also offered priority standby and waitlisting on any oneworld airline, if the flight they want to travel on is fully booked.

In addition, they can pre-reserve their preferred seat on any oneworld flight, whenever this service is available.

Another key change for topbonus cardholders now airberlin has joined oneworld is that they can earn topbonus status miles when they fly on any oneworld member airline, helping them move up to a higher tier, with more services and benefits, or retain their existing status.

Since it was invited to join oneworld in July 2010, airberlin has developed frequent flyer links with a number of the alliances carriers - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LAN, Royal Jordanian and S7 - enabling topbonus cardholders to earn miles when flying on those airlines and to redeem them on those carriers.  Now that has been extended to cover all oneworld members - Iberia, Japan Airlines and Qantas and their affiliates.

That means that topbonus members can now earn and redeem miles across a network serving some 800 destinations in 150 countries.

For details of oneworld's frequent flyer benefits, click hereNotes

Notes

topbonus members will earn double topbonus award miles when flying on eligible flights on American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines from today until 15 May 2012. 

Members of American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7's frequent flyer programmes will earn double the normal mileage awards when flying on eligible airberlin flights from today until 15 May 2012.

For full details, see each airline frequent flyer programmes' website.

About airberlin

Since its launch in 1978, airberlin has grown into Germany's second largest airline - and the sixth biggest in Europe in terms of passengers boarded - after taking over dba (Deutsche BA) and LTU and gaining stakes in Austria's NIKI and Switzerland's Belair.

It serves 162 destinations in 40 countries, carrying more than 35 million passengers in 2011.  Its fleet comprises 170 aircraft with an average age of five years, making it one of the most modern and fuel efficient fleets in Europe, contributing towards a long-term reduction in emissions. The group has a workforce of 9,200 employees.

It has developed from its origins in the shorthaul leisure market to cater also for business travellers with its Euro Shuttle service providing high frequency connections between many of the continent's key destinations and now also flies longhaul.  It offers the full-range of services associated with a full-service network carrier, including its frequent flyer programme topbonus, and, for Business Class passengers and top tier cardholders, lounges, priority check-in and, for all passengers, free drinks and meals or snacks on every departure.

On its shorthaul services, it offers a single-class cabin.  On its longhaul routes, it offers two-classes, with a premium business cabin and individual in-flight entertainment screens for each passenger.

airberlin's hubs are Berlin Tegel (moving to Brandenburg in June), Dusseldorf, Palma de Majorca and Vienna.  Among its international destinations, it serves oneworld hubs Helsinki, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Moscow Domodedovo and New York JFK.

About oneworld

oneworld aims to be the airline alliance of choice for the world's frequent international travellers.   It brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - airberlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Qantas, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines, and around 20 affiliates including Austria's NIKI, American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Malaysia Airlines is on track to join later in 2012, with India's Kingfisher Airlines also a member elect.  Malev Hungarian Airlines and Mexicana are inactive members of the alliance. 

Between them, oneworld's active member airlines:

  • Serve some 800 airports in 150 countries, with more than 8,750 daily departures.
  • Offer more than 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
  • Carry almost a million passengers a day on a combined fleet of nearly 2,500 aircraft.
  • Generate some US$ 100 billion annual revenues in total.

oneworld enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.  These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges.   oneworld also offers more alliance fares than any of its competitors. 

oneworld is current holder of more international awards for airline alliances than any of its competitors - named the Best Airline Alliance by Global Traveler in its GT Tested Reader Survey 2011 Awards for the second year running, the World's Leading Airline Alliance in the 2011 World Travel Awards, for the ninth consecutive year, and the Best Airline Alliance 2011 in Australian Business Traveller's debut awards.