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Since Monday, August 1st, 2022, the Deutsche Bahn (DB) has been the first intermodal partner of the Star Alliance. Deutsche Bahn is a private company who operates almost all of the train services in Germany. Intermodal means the combination of different ways of travel. As of now, when you thought about Star Alliance, you were thinking of planes and flying to your destination. With this new partnership you can now start or end your journey with the Deutsche Bahn when flying on one of the partner airlines of the Star Alliance.
This new partnership builds on the Lufthansa Express Rail Program. Lufthansa customers were able to buy combined tickets for over 20 years. A similar service, Rail&Fly also exists, which gives you access to discounted tickets to and from the airport on your day of travel.
With the new partnership with Star Alliance, you can fly any of the Star Alliance member airlines and get a combined ticket with Deutsche Bahn.
Star Alliance Member Airlines
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Brussels Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- Egyptair
- Ethiopian Airlines
- EVA Air
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Scandinavian Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- Swiss International Air Lines
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways International
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
All you do is go to your favorite Star Alliance member airline website and start your booking process as usual. But instead of an airport you can now choose any of the Deutsche Bahn train stations as a starting or end point for your journey. The partner airlines can now include any of the ICE (Inter City Express) trains as a flight number in their booking engine and customers will benefit from advantages such as:
- In just one booking process, airline customers receive a combined ticket for the flight and train journeys including seat reservation. Upon check-in – which is possible until shortly before the train departs – travelers receive their boarding passes for both the flight and the train journeys.
- With integrated ICE train journeys, air travelers will have even more choice based on timings, duration and prices offered.
- Customers also benefit from priority baggage handling and other services in the AiRail check-in area at the Frankfurt Airport.
- For all bookings of combined train-flight journeys via Lufthansa Express Rail with the member airlines of the Star Alliance, points or miles can be collected for the train journeys in the preferred frequent flyer programs of the airline.
- In addition, Business and First-Class flight customers of Star Alliance member airlines will receive additional benefits with an LH Express Rail ticket, such as access to the DB lounges.
Find out more about the new intermodal way of travel here.
Conclusion
I love that you can even earn frequent flier miles with your favorite Star Alliance member airline by booking this industry-first service. Star Alliance was founded in 1997 as the first airline alliance. Now, 25 years later, Star Alliance is the first alliance including an intermodal partner. With this, Star Alliance is setting its signals to a more sustainable way of traveling and connectivity for their customers.
Since this new partnership is still so young, we have to see how everything pays out in the next few weeks and months in terms of lounge access, mileage credit and even ease of booking your trip that way. I am sure many people are still unaware of this option and still will perform searches from airport to airport instead to a train station in Germany. Just a few weeks ago, I had my first trip on an ICE in Germany. I was always a big rail fan but never had the chance to travel long distance in Germany on their fastest train. It will also be interesting if you can redeem miles for a combined ticket with train travel.
Peter has a passion for Traveling, Photography, and Geocaching. These are the best ingredients for amazing adventures all over the globe. “Traveling is fun, no matter if you stay in a luxury hotel or travel like a backpacker.” Peter shares his experiences on his Blog www.gatetoadventures.com
Some of Peter’s photos are published on corporate websites, in-flight magazines, travel guides, and much more.
