It hasn’t been front page news, certainly compared to the wayward Northwest-Delta pilots, but Continental is dropping their partnership with Delta and Skyteam. They have joined with United and USAir in the Star Alliance. Now, the ramifications of that change are becoming a frequent flier reality.
There are undoubtedly ConsumerTraveler.com readers who know their preferred airlines’ frequent flier programs better than those airlines’ employees. This post is not for those readers.
Many of these programs are monsters with a multitude of changing partners. I suspect that most frequent fliers program members are aware of some airline partnerships, but don’t use them enough to have them all memorized, or they remember the answers from the last time they checked.
These partnerships, obviously, are not carved in stone. This week, some Continental fliers could get a pleasant, or unpleasant surprise.
Continental is still keeping its own OnePass program, but its partners are changing. Passengers can now choose to get credit with United, USAirway and Lufthansa’s “Star Alliance.” Frequent flier credit is no longer available with any of their previous partners, including KLM and Air France.
For the the moment, Skyteam fliers only get credit in the U.S. with Delta (and Northwest). Star Alliance fliers get credit with United, Continental and USAirways. The ripple effect of this shift of Continental into Star Alliance and out of SkyTeam will affect scores of mileage programs internationally and will probably affect mileage redemptions for months.
In the frequent flier world, a long-long time ago, Delta once partner with United, and US Airways partnered with American. But the frequent flier partnership world has shifted. It’s Delta and Northwest in bed together and American only now partners with Alaska Airlines in the U.S.
Confused yet?
The safest way around all this, if you are flying a carrier solely in hopes of getting miles on one of their partner carriers, a quick phone call or online check is not a bad idea. Especially if it’s not a carrier you fly regularly.
And then when you check in for the flight, double-check too that the mileage number is in the record. Most major carriers do pretty well with crediting miles in their own programs when the number is inserted at time of booking.
From experience I have learned that inserting a partner’s mileage number in advance into a passenger record, by computer or phone, is an inexact science at best. And checking at the airport is faster than calling your travel agent, or an airline, for a ticket number or copy after the fact.
(Photo by stevesheriw on flickr/creative commons.)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Janice: I fear I know the answer. But is there anyway I can deposit my Continental miles into my Star Alliance account? I usually use my points/miles for upgrades.
If I am unable to combine the miles- will Continental charge the same for free tickets on a Star Alliance carrier? Ditto for upgrades.
If interested in frequent flyer miles, you also need to ask if your particular flight on a partner carrier earns miles. Don’t assume you can get United miles for flying Air New Zealand, which is theoretically listed as a partner. Miles are only awarded in certain classes of service, which I found out the hard way. There is no way to know that on the website (except if you know what all the codes mean), so you need to call the carrier and ask.