Star Alliance Brings Airlines Together

Why be limited to one airline’s app?

That’s where the Star Alliance’s new Star Alliance Navigator iPhone app comes in.

The app, which made its way into Apple’s iTunes app store in late July, lets you search flight schedules across the alliance’s network of airlines, including Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, TAP Portugal, South African Airways and nearly two dozen other carriers.

With its map view, the Star Alliance Navigator app also enables you to scope out more than 970 airport lounges in the network, receive real-time flight status updates, search other airport information and access city guides so you’ll know where to book a hotel stay, grab a bite to eat or go on a shopping binge around the globe.

The free app is available to download for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad from the iTunes app store. The app is compatible with iPads, but wasn’t built as a dedicated iPad app.

Many of the Star Alliance airlines, of course, have their own apps so the Star Alliance Navigator app can be viewed as a sort of add-on to individual airline travel apps.

For example, Star Alliance member Air Canada has its own free Blackberry and iPhone apps in English and French and they enable passengers to manage their flights, but the Star Alliance Navigator app goes a step further to give travelers an alliance network-wide view.

The Star Alliance is the last of the three major airline alliances to enter the mobile app arena.

Both Oneworld and SkyTeam had mobile apps available by the start of 2011.