New Star Alliance small business scheme launched

A lot of Head for Points readers will be familiar with the British Airways On Business programme for small companies.  It effectively allows you to double-dip, earning both Avios points for yourself and On Business points for your company, which can also be redeemed for free flights.

Star Alliance has a similar scheme called Star Alliance Company Plus, aimed at companies in the UK and Ireland.

As of Monday, this has been relaunched as PartnerPlusBenefit, which was already the ‘trading name’ of the scheme.

What is new?

Well, there is a more modern website for a start, which you will find here.  The real change, though, is that you will now earn points for ALL flights you take. 

Historically, Star Alliance Company Plus did not award points on discounted tickets.  With more and more companies now making their staff travel on the cheapest possible fare – even at the loss of flexibility – the scheme was becoming irrelevant.  PartnerPlusBenefit should change that.

What makes PartnerPlusBenefit more powerful than BA’s On Business is that flights from 11 airlines earn points.  The participating airlines are Air Canada, germanwings, LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Austrian, ANA, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, United and TAP Portugal

There is also a wider range of redemption options than On Business offers.  As well as flight redemptions and upgrades, you can also redeem for good old fashioned cash, Orbitz giftcards for hotel bookings and Heathrow Express tickets.

If you not already a member of Star Alliance Company Plus, I would wait a while before signing up for PartnerPlusBenefit.  There may well be a generous signing up offer made available.  There is a generic offer of ‘up to 1,500 points’ for signing up which is always available, but hopefully something more generous will appear.  I also do not understand how the ‘up to 1,500 points’ works – it isn’t clear before you sign-up.  If anyone knows the terms of the sign-up bonus, please let me know!

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Star Alliance miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

None of the Star Alliance airlines currently have a UK credit card.

There is, however, still a way to earn Star Alliance miles from a UK credit card. 

The route is via Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy hotel loyalty points convert to over 40 airlines at the rate of 3:1.

The best way to earn Marriott Bonvoy points is via the official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. It comes with 20,000 points for signing up and 2 points for every £1 you spend. At 2 Bonvoy points per £1, you are earning (at 3:1) 0.66 airline miles per £1 spent on the card.

There is a preferential conversion rate to United Airlines – which is a Star Alliance member – of 2 : 1 if you convert 60,000 Bonvoy points at once.

The Star Alliance members which are Marriott Bonvoy transfer partners are: Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Thai Airways, Turkish Airlines and United Airlines.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points for signing up and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review