Major expansion for oneworld alliance

Oneworld has completed the biggest expansion in its history with Japan Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian all now offering the alliance's services and benefits as full members. Seven other carriers have joined at the same time as affiliates: LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador, as well as JAL associates JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air.

Frequent flyer programme members of the established oneworld airlines ” American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LAN Airlines and Qantas ” can now earn and redeem awards and receive all other oneworld benefits on JAL, Mal”v, Royal Jordanian, LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador.

It works the other way too with members of the JAL Mileage Bank (JMB), Malev Duna Club and Royal Jordanian Royal Plus programmes, earning and redeeming mileage awards on all other oneworld carriers.

Oneworld claims to be the only global airline alliance with the customer convenience of interline e-ticketing between all its partners, enabling passengers to transfer between its airlines' flights without the need for traditional paper tickets. The same is true for the alliance's recruits as they join the grouping as part of a comprehensive programme, that has seen all their internal processes and procedures brought into line with the alliance's requirements. 

Tens of thousands of employees from the airlines have participated in a special training programme to ensure they can deliver the alliance's services and benefits from day one, and dozens of its IT systems are linked to those at the other oneworld airlines. 

Signage at the 700 airports served by the alliance's member airlines and at hundreds of sales outlets worldwide, has been changed to reflect oneworld's new membership line-up.

Oneworld managing partner John McCulloch, said: "Today is a truly historic day for the oneworld alliance, for our new member airlines and for our customers worldwide. Our recruits have enabled oneworld to broaden its coverage in three of the world's fastest growing regions for air travel.”