Picture your Upgrade Competition - Your Personal Snapshots showing the Star Alliance Gold Benefits Could Be Rewarded with Fantastic Prizes

MONTREAL, Feb. 9, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Travel on the Star Alliance network, take photos of the Alliance's Gold benefits and enter a fantastic prize draw. All this is now possible with the Alliance's "Picture your Upgrade" promotion which is running from now through April 4^th, 2012.

Christopher Korenke, VP Commercial at Star Alliance commented: "Providing our most loyal customers with a set of consistent and enhanced benefits across the entire network has been a cornerstone of the Star Alliance customer proposition since our founding nearly 15 years ago. With our 'Picture your Upgrade' promotion we are highlighting these to our travellers, using a combination of mobile communication and social media tools."

Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance. Air Canada Elite and Super Elite members enjoy Star Alliance Gold benefits.

In order to participate, a special app has been designed for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry smart-phone platforms which can be downloaded by visiting www.staralliance.com. Using the app, participants will be asked to submit photos of objects which they find during their travels and which symbolise the Alliance's Gold customer benefits. Each week a different task related to Gold benefits will be made available to all those who have downloaded the app and will also be posted on the Star Alliance facebook page.

During the first week of the promotion participants are being asked to submit photos of airport departure boards. These symbolise the Star Alliance Gold benefits of Priority Waitlist and Priority Stand-by. The winners of this part of the promotion will be able to receive a higher priority on more than air travel, through their complimentary membership to Quintessentially, the leading luxury Private Members' Club with a 24 hour global concierge service.

Further Star Alliance Gold benefits, such as Priority Check-In, Boarding and Baggage, as well as extra baggage allowance and lounge access will be featured later in the promotion.  Prizes for the lucky winners submitting the best pictures include: accommodation in a Five Star Hotel Suite, luxury luggage, designer furniture, VIP experiences and Business Class return tickets. In addition, all participants automatically enter the grand prize draw which could see them win either a pair of Star Alliance Round the World Business Class tickets or a status upgrade to Gold in the Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Programme in which they are enrolled.

The benefits accorded to Star Alliance Gold Card holders are as follows:

• Access to more than 990 Airport Lounges
• Priority Airport Check-in
• Priority Boarding
• Extra Baggage Allowance
• Priority Baggage Handling
• Priority Reservations Waitlisting
• Priority Airport Standby

About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.

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