djsflynn

We've known this was in the works for sometime, but it's now been revealed that Australia (which has no home-grown Star Alliance member) will be the test market for the HSBC Star Alliance credit card, which will let you earn miles or points in the frequent flyer programs of any selected member airlines using new 'Star Alliance Points' as a common rewards currency. The card will also come with spend-based Star Alliance Gold status.

More at https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...ia-credit-card

cbourl

So far they only mention SingaporeInc's Singapore Air Not willing to dump miles there- what about United and Lufthansa and Swiss and Aegean???
If its only SQ I'll stick to my Amex cards

email2markt

Very happy to see more opportunities to earn on Star Alliance in Australia, it's not easy at the moment. With Qantas still in Australia's bad books, this feels like a smart move to encourage some Oneworld travellers over who would normally not be open to a change.

The one area that's lacking for me is if you're already a Business class traveller. The Star Alliance Gold gives you zero(?) extra benefits so I think the card needs something extra for the $450 annual fee. Maybe offer a portal that offers extra ticket availability, or extra flexibility on bookings - eg free ticket class boost subject to availability (within cabin).

email2markt

The article says you can funnel earn into any Star Alliance partner.

cbourl

So true! Business/First for me with upgrades, and Lufthansa Senator and United 1K so pretty much so far the "benefits" are superfluous for many of us. I remeber the good old days of Ansett 12500 Pts for Lufthansa Business TXL-FRA-TORINO-FRA and when I could redeem my United miles for qatar flights

dvs7310

Ability to funnel to any *A partner would be huge. Even in the US market where there are many credit cards that can go to certain airlines, there are some real sweet spots that aren't accessible to people in most markets. Think A3, SK, SA (super cheap biz rewards in Southern Africa pre-COVID), and definitely NH which most markets don't have access to via credit card and even in Japan Amex has a cap of miles per year you can transfer to NH via Membership Rewards (and it's silly low)

thibaultFR

New links with more information

Home page https://rewards.staralliance.com/
Programs https://rewards.staralliance.com/transfer/programs
FAQ https://www.staralliance.com/en/web/rewards/au/faqs
T&Cs https://www.staralliance.com/en/web/rewards/au/tnc

Also good to note that if the card holder choose SQ, AC or UA for Gold Status - those benefits will also be usable on VA-operated services domestically (lounge access & etc).

djsflynn

So here's something interesting: at launch, the HSBC Star Alliance credit card will support only a selection of 'participating partner frequent flyer programs' – those being the programs of Air Canada, Air New Zealand, EVA Air, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Thai Airways and United Airlines (most of which fly to Australia, natch).

So where’s Lufthansa, Swiss, SAS, Turkish Airlines and co? “Not all member carriers of the Star Alliance network are participating in this program through their respective frequent flyer programs,” Star Alliance says. That said, I would expect more Star Alliance members to come on board as the programs evolves.

downinit

$450 AF, and you still need to spend $60k annually just for *G. Definitely not a good deal at all. Anyone spending $60k is probably already flying enough for *G and/or flying in J, making the "benefit" useless.

Koru Flyer

Looking forward to the sign on bonus - I doubt in the AU market it will get traction without that.

So at 1000 points = 800 miles (except NZ), which offers the best conversation rate, and separately benefits of *G

(to the above not all people spending $60K travel in business/first, and not all travel is for work, some of us travel with our families) FT can have a skewed membership base ;-)

KF

mistytalon

Given the very low interchange rates credit cards are allowed to charge, I doubt the card will gain much traction. Conversion from SA card to FFP doesn't seem optimal.

If only those of us in Canada can earn Qantas points as easily.

mad_atta

Updating this old thread with a couple of relevant things.

AC Aeroplan has for a while now been running a promo whereby in addition to the initial offer of a fast track to Star Gold status by spending AUD $4K in 90 days, you also get 50K bonus Aeroplan miles. They have renewed this promo several times; it currently says it's valid until June 3rd, 2024. Details here: https://www.aircanada.com/au/en/aco/...ds/hsbc.html#/

Second, you can see my experience of utilising this promo here: Aeroplan status via (Australian market only) HSBC Star Alliance credit card

Most notable is that through Aeroplan's promo I have earned *G status for the rest of this year plus all of 2025, which is a pretty sweet deal. Plus a reasonably generous number of eUpgrade credits and some useful benefits when flying Virgin Australia domestically (lounge access plus the ability to earn *A status miles) makes for a pretty useful proposition for Aussies.