Asiana gets help from Star Alliance partner United

Asiana has been getting help from Star Alliance partner United Airlines as it deals with the aftereffects of Saturday's Flight 214 crash landing.

That's according to The Wall Street Journal, which takes an interesting look at the expanding role of alliances that were originally were focused on frequent-flier benefits. Asiana and United are among the 28 members of the Star Alliance, one of three big global groupings that also include SkyTeam (anchored by Delta in the USA) and oneworld (American).

In the case of Asiana Flight 214, the Journal says "dozens" of United workers were dispatched to help Asiana survivors and customers, both at hospitals and at San Francisco International (SFO).

Asiana flies to five U.S. cities, but has a relatively small staff in the USA. United is the biggest airline at SFO, one of the carrier's eight hubs in the U.S. mainland.

"United is helping us a lot, and contributing significantly to manage" the situation, Asiana President Yoon Young-doo is quoted by the Journal as saying Tuesday during a Seoul news conference.

United's efforts also were noticed by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairwoman Deborah Hersman. During a Monday press conference from SFO, Hersman repeatedly praised the emergency response by United in caring for Flight 214 passengers who sought assistance with food, lodgings and transportation.

Yoon, who was traveling to San Francisco on Tuesday, added Asiana is still receiving staff support from about 30 United employees in San Francisco.

Asiana also leaned on Air China, also a member of Star Alliance, for language help when communicating to Chinese-speaking crash survivors and their families, according to the Journal.

The Journal writes "the swift assistance from … United underscores how emergency response protocols in place at major airline alliances had sprung into action. … As global airline alliance groups have gained traction, airlines increasingly rely on their foreign partners if they have accidents or incidents far from home."