Garuda enters the world of Avios, Air France-KLM / Etihad break-up, and lifetime lounge members (Saturday Selection)

This Saturday, we see Garuda entering the world of Avios, an Air France-KLM and Etihad break-up, and some lucky lifetime lounge members.

NEW: Earn and redeem Avios on Garuda Indonesia flights!

I feel like every time I blink there’s a new airline joining Avios. This time, it’s Garuda Indonesia (though in the sort of roundabout manner). This may seem a little odd since it’s a part of the competing SkyTeam alliance, but in any case, Garuda is becoming a partner of Qatar Airways Privilege Club (an Avios earning program). This means you’ll have to do everything through Qatar Airways Privilege Club. For example instead of crediting your miles from cash-purchased Garuda flights to British Airways Club, you would credit them to Qatar Airways Privilege Club.

Air France-KLM & Etihad End Partnership, Cut Ties

Air France-KLM and Etihad have had some kind of partnership since 2012. And in 2023 that partnership was amplified with a more significant codeshare agreement among other things. Perhaps the writing was on the wall though when last fall, just a year after they’d launched it, Air France cut its Paris to Abu Dhabi route. Now it seems the codeshare agreement too is ending March 29, 2025, and their interline agreement ends April 15, 2025. Ben at One Mile at a Time believes that inevitably this also means their frequent flyer reciprocity will be ending as well. He also points out that the termination of a seemingly benign interline agreement (which is barely a mark of a partnership, and a rather commonplace cooperation) might indicate that things are not ending on a very positive note at all. (Maybe Air France-KLM has a partnership with the soon-to-launch Riyadh Air in mind instead?) Interesting thoughts from Ben in this article.

The Lucky Fliers Who Got the Best Airline-Lounge Deals Ever

Anyone here a member of the “lifetime lounge members”? If unfamiliar (like I was) this is a lucky group of people who purchased lifetime lounge access long ago that’s still being honored now (and in a more impressive way than it began.) 65 year-old Jonathan Slater for example bought a lifetime membership to Eastern Airlines’ Ionosphere Club for ~$300 in the early 1980’s, but somewhere along the way that became Continental Airlines club membership thanks to an acquisition, then United membership thanks to a merger. Similarly, his Piedmont Airlines lounge membership went through the same glow-up when it was purchased by US Airways, and then of course became American Airlines. And Slater isn’t the only one with lifetime status like this. Check out this fun read to be justifiably jealous.

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