Melissa
I don't know if you are still looking for infomation, but if so, here it is. I fly Star mostly and have taken more than 20 International trips this year alone. Mostly go to Brazil (Amazon region), Australia, South Pacific and Asia. I am very familiar with Star but know little about the others. Seamless?? Well, they varry. Varig is on its own planet and might as well be a part of the "left Field" alliance. While you get Elite miles on UA (My main FF account), you have to beg, borrow and steal to get them posted. As far as interacting with UA, they don't at all. Not sure if they even know they belong to the Star!. Same goes with Ansett. Decent airline (although the layout of Biz class is very weird), but getting your miles posted on UA is like getting an audience with the pope. Star is good for one purpose only...building Elite miles on your FF account of choice. I am 1K with UA and Platinum with CO and I would guess that I aonly fly those carriers directly for 50% of my miles. I may try One World next year if they will qualify me with their top Elite level going in. Ranking the carries in Star?? Lets ee. I have flown them all and I would rank them as follows:
1) Thai, 2) UA, 3) LH, 4) ANA 5) SAS, 196th) Varig (Who am I forgeting??) Oh yeah air New Zealand is excellent and AC is average at best. Can't wait for Singapore Air to join.
Anyway, if you want more info, email me at (yogi3333@aol).
Good luck!

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YogiBear

[This message has been edited by YogiBear (edited 09-21-1999).]