Hi All,

I have a couple of questions. Firstly, has anyone heard of Emirates joining one of the major alliances any time soon? I'm not certain if this will be a good thing for emirates, the alliance it joins, both or neither, however, its probably a good thing for the consumer right?

Secondly, with the partner airlines of emirates, I know you get points for flying with them that can be credited to your EK account, but I wanted to know, do these count as Tier miles?

No, and no.

Tier miles are only earned flying EK.

Their business model is based on not being part of an alliance, and by serving many markets.

I don't even think any alliance would even take EK, if they were to join, EK would eat a lot of the alliance members' traffic. There was a discussion about this not long ago.

lol @ eat other airline.. but its true they are one of the best!

My humble explanation:

Unlike Major participants of major alliances e.g. Lufthansa, BA, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines and many others, The location of DXB is so perfect for an airline that it does not require it to join any alliance. That can also explain the reason why so many airlines have sprung so quickly in the Gulf area. I also believe that a hub anywhere in the Mideast would help an airline grow very quickly.

P.S. This can also explain why Israel has tried very hard to bargain allowing EL AL to overfly Arab neighbors (e.g. a large country like Saudi Arabia) in exchange for other things, in regards to the Palestinian crises. If that happens, Tel Aviv would also become a major hub in the Middle East. EL AL has to take a long route over the Red Sea and then on to the Indian Ocean in order to reach any Asian city.

Hey, this is only the second thread started today on EK joining an alliance! Wow, are we heading for a new record?!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-n...-alliance.html