Star Alliance to Offer More Than 500 Lounges Worldwide

    SINGAPORE, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Star Alliance(TM) airlines, in
 their constant quest to make travelling easier by offering new benefits to
 their customers, will soon be able to welcome their elite-status frequent
 flyers to more than 500 airport lounges around the world -- thus providing
 their customers twice as many lounges as any other airline alliance.
     At a ceremony in Singapore today officially welcoming Singapore Airlines
 as the 11th member of the alliance, the Star Alliance airlines announced that,
 by July, some 250 lounges operated by outside parties for the member airlines
 will be opened to all Star Alliance Gold members.
     Until now, these so-called third-party contract lounges have been
 available only for customers of the contracting airline.
     The 250 third-party contract lounges are in addition to a similar number
 of carrier-operated airport lounges which already welcome Star Alliance
 customers all across the alliance network.
     "Our lounge offering will be further expanded by the addition of
 facilities operated by new members as they enter the alliance," said Per
 Stendebakken, Star Alliance Vice President, Product and Service Development.
     "Star Alliance Gold members will soon be able to enjoy the benefit of
 having access to more than 500 lounges from San Francisco in the west to Seoul
 in the east, from Helsinki in the north to Christchurch in the south.  No
 other airline alliance can claim this number of lounges," Mr. Stendebakken
 added.
     As of April 7, the Star Alliance members are:  Air Canada, Air New
 Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Ansett Australia, Austrian Airlines Group (which
 comprises Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air and Tyrolean Airways), Lufthansa German
 Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines System - SAS, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways
 International, United Airlines and VARIG Brazilian Airlines.
     Later this year, Mexicana Airlines and British Midland Airways are
 scheduled to join Star Alliance.  With the addition of the new members, the
 Star Alliance network will cover more than 800 destinations in 130 countries.
 
 

SOURCE  Star Alliance