Having your favorite airline join a global alliance is a good thing. Your earning and burning opportunities increase, and you can even find yourself treated like royalty in lounges and terminals across the world.

But sometimes, there can be a few changes.

Consider Malev and its Malev Duna Club frequent flyer program. The Hungarian carrier is poised to join the oneworld Alliance in mere months, but as it prepares to do so, some changes have been made to the program to bring it more in line with its soon-to-be fellows.

For starters, you no longer need to fly Malev to become a member. A downloadable application is available at malev.com, which needs to be filled out and sent in. Once the application is registered, an identification number and temporary frequent flyer card will be issued.

Point accrual and award levels have been altered slightly. In some cases they’ve risen, in others, they’ve dropped. Check out Malev’s Web site for updated numbers.

On the plus side, members are now able to purchase points at a rate of HUF 5 each, and the deadline for claiming retroactive credit has grown from six months to a year.