Russian airlines don't have the easiest standing in the aviation world at the moment and S7 Airlines is the latest casualty as oneWorld has suspended the membership of the carrier until further notice.
OneWorld has removed S7 from its list of member carriers on the website, but S7 still doesn't have a logo on the main page.
The benefits of the frequent flyer program S7 Priority will no longer be available within the alliance, depending on how well informed the member carriers and lounge staff are.
The decision was made yesterday and according to S7, it was done in agreement as there is no practical purpose for the partnership at the moment.
S7 Airlines said in a statement.
… Due to the restriction of international flights the business relations between S7 Airlines and the Oneworld alliance have been greatly reduced.
In the current situation, S7 Airlines and Oneworld made a joint decision to suspend the partnership agreement from April 19, 2022. …
S7 Priority, the carrier's frequent flyer program, has stopped issuing mileage awards for most carriers, but it's still possible to collect miles on airlines such asQatar Airways.
… Mileage refund requests for flights prior to these dates will be processed within 45 days,” … For all Qatar Airways flights, the option to earn miles is available, but the issuance of award tickets is temporarily suspended. …
It wouldn't be wise to keep accumulating miles in the S7 program. Who knows if S7 and their partners will ever get full membership again, or if they will be temporarily excluded from oneWorld.
S7 was removed from OneWorld's list of members.
There is no value to be had from the balance of Priority miles. The same goes for SkyTeam.
Both carriers have suspended their international routes and are only operating domestically, following bans of governments for Russian airlines to operate in their airspace and the strong likelihood of the aircraft being seized at a foreign airport.
S7 Priority became more prominent a few years ago when they offered a status match that many used to access lounges in other parts of the world as it is so often when obscure/niche carriers offer such matches. Almost nobody will ever fly on this carrier, they use the match opportunity, and then the account will be burned. I have done that in the past.
Conclusion.
S7 Airlines put out a statement saying that they had decided to suspend themselves from the oneWorld. Considering that there is nothing useful about the membership right now for S7 as well as being a reputational liability for oneWorld, it is probably the best to suspend it until things get back to normal again.
This is a very unfortunate situation and it is only possible from the perspective of an aviation enthusiast and from an analytical standpoint. The way in which these airlines became entangled is going to leave a mess. Is Aeroflot going to survive by operating domestically for years or will some friendly neighboring countries allow them to fly there in the future?
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