What I learned at oneworld’s 20th birthday event

oneworld held a major media event in London on Friday morning to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the airline alliance.  All 13 CEO’s were meant to attend and most of them did make it, including the heads of BA, American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Qantas (got to give Alan Joyce credit for that!), Cathay Pacific and Finnair.

Obviously the key question you want to ask is “was there a birthday cake?”.  And there was!

I got a slice too ….

I won’t go into everything that was covered because a lot of it involves ‘behind the scenes’ changes that don’t impact you as a customer.  Here are things you might want to know:

As we have covered on HfP before, Royal Air Maroc will soon become the first African member of oneworld

oneworld is to launch its own airline lounges.  The first of these will be announced in June but already appears to be signed.  This will allow airlines such as BA to close their own facilities and become partners in bigger lounges in core gateway airports.

oneworld is speaking to Heathrow about co-locating the oneworld airlines in one facility when the third runway opens.  Alliance-wide co-location deals are being done in conjunction with new terminal developments in Sao Paulo, Beijing and Frankfurt.

oneworld has developed a new IT platform which allow you to manage your entire oneworld trip using the app or website of ANY oneworld member.  This means that you could manage a Qantas booking from inside the BA app, including checking in and issuing a mobile boarding pass.  This is slowly rolling out and all airlines should have adopted it within 12-18 months.  There will be no need, in theory, to have multiple oneworld airline apps on your phone.

As usual with these events, the Q&A was more insightful than the main presentation.  These are the highlights you will find relevant:

The Qatar Airways CEO said that the airline will remain in oneworld ‘if they can resolve the differences they have’.  This is a reference to campaign against the Middle Eastern airlines being waged by the three main US legacy airlines, including American Airlines.  (My personal view is that, given the major shareholding that Qatar Airways has in BA’s parent company, Qatar Airways and British Airways would retain a frequent flyer relationship even if Qatar Airways left the alliance.)

There is a ‘very realistic’ chance of Aer Lingus joining oneworld as a ‘oneworld connect’ member, said IAG’s CEO Willie Walsh.  The new ‘oneworld connect’ framework – of which Fiji Airlines is the first member – offers the low level of complexity which Aer Lingus would prefer, since it only requires full commercial ties with three other oneworld airlines and not the entire alliance.

British Airways would love to buy more A380’s said Willie Walsh.  Customers like them and the airline likes them.  Airbus has been told the price that BA is willing to pay but, so far, they are not willing to meet it.  This issue is ‘live’ again because Airbus has confirmed this week that Emirates is looking to cancel some of their A380 orders and switch to A350’s, leaving the A380 production line looking worryingly bare.

China Southern is not joining oneworld despite leaving SkyTeam recently.  The airline is, however, is discussions with a number of oneworld airlines over bilateral partnerships and has already agreed a modest codeshare deal with British Airways.

It was an interesting morning and good to see all of the airlines, especially Qatar Airways and American Airlines, putting on a friendly face together. 

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 Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.