SkyTeam

The last of the three big airline partnerships to form, SkyTeam began in 2000 when Delta Air Lines, Aeromexico, Air France and Korean Air joined together.

Over the years a number of airlines have joined the group, and now there are nineteen members spanning the world.

In their own words, they are dedicated to transforming the future of travel by powering the most responsible and integrated customer journey.

So what does that mean for you and me, the passengers?

Frequent Flyers - each airline maintains its own loyalty scheme and being a member of any of these gives access to benefits across the network. You can also accumulate and then spend miles.

First, you need to enroll in one of the schemes run by one of the member airlines to become an Elite or Elite Plus SkyTeam member.

SkyTeam then offers the following via SkyPriority

• faster check-in

• easier bag drop-off

• priority security lanes

• priority boarding

• dedicated transfer lanes

• priority baggage handling

• priority immigration lanes

• priority ticket office

These benefits are all subject to availability and should be considered SkyTeam benefits that might sit alongside the benefits of the airlines' own benefits.

And, as well as there being the numerous airline lounges there are also five SkyTeam lounges located at Istanbul, Vancouver, Dubai, Sydney and Santiago de Chile.

The website can be found here www.skyteam.com/en/

The full list of current members is as follows, with their frequent flyer scheme noted.

Aerolineas Argentinas (Aerolineas Plus), China Eastern Airlines (Eastern Miles), XiamenAir (Egret Club), Czech Airlines (OK Plus), Air France (Flying Blue), Garuda Indonesia (Garuda Miles), ITA Airways (Volare), Kenya Airways (Asante Rewards), Middle East Airlines (Cedar Miles), Aeromexico (Titanio Rewards), KLM (Flying Blue), TAROM (Flying Blue), Saudia (AlFursan), Korean Air (Skypass), Air Europa (Suma Platinum), China Airlines (Dynasty Flyer), Virgin Atlantic (Flying Club), Delta Air Lines (Sky Miles), Vietnam Airlines (Lotus Miles), Scandinavian Airlines (from September 2024)