From 1 August, Germany's national rail carrier Deutsche Bahn (DB) to become Star Alliance's first intermodal partner. DB and the aviation sector are thus sending out another strong signal in favour of the ecological evolution of the travel industry. As part of this new cooperation, DB customers and passengers on Star Alliance member airlines will be able to incorporate train connections into their itineraries.
An alliance initially restricted to Lufthansa Express Rail services in Germany
The initiative initially concerns trains in Germany. However, this is a historic first in the world of alliances, with the integration of a non-air transport mode. The Star Alliance model of intermodal partnership aims ultimately to combine airline networks with railways, buses, ferries or any other transport ecosystem. An initiative to be applied alliance-wide. It is designed to simplify and facilitate transfers between airport, station and port. Star Alliance plans to extend its intermodal partnerships in the future.
Michael Peterson, Member of the DB Management Board for Main Lines underlined that " from Freiburg to Singapore, all you need is one ticket. With attractive connections within Germany in coordination with the other links in the travel chain, Deutsche Bahn and Star Alliance make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector. Working closely with the airlines, we are now tackling the challenge of integrated mobility. We are continuing to network our services so as to make optimum use of the respective strengths of our modes of transport."
The new partnership between DB and Star Alliance is based on the Lufthansa Express Rail programme. For over 20 years, this offer has consisted of a combined ticket for trains and flights in a single booking. In future, in addition to Lufthansa, the 25 other Star Alliance member airlines will be able to include DB's ICE trains as flight numbers in their reservation system.
The benefits of the alliance
With a single booking, passengers buy a combined plane and train ticket, including seat reservations.. At check-in, passengers receive their boarding pass for the flight and train.
The integration of ICE trains offers passengers even more choice in terms of timetables and prices. Customers also benefit from priority baggage handling in the AiRail check-in area at Frankfurt airport.
All bookings via Lufthansa Express Rail earn points or miles on the frequent flyer programmes of all Star Alliance airlines.
And finally.., Star Alliance Business and First Class passengers will benefit from LH Express Rail tickets, such as access to DB lounges..
This initiative by Star and DB should open the door to further cooperation. Rail systems in the countries of Star member companies could join the movement. For example CFF (Switzerland), SNCB (Belgium) or ÖBB (Austria).
Other partnerships could be forged through other alliances. Cooperation between Skyteam and the rail operators SNCF and NS could therefore be a realistic option.
