Other European Frequent Flyer Programs - Spanair to sell 49% to QR

http://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20111027/54237153763/spanair-alcanza-un-principio-de-acuerdo-con-qatar-airways.html (Sorry, only in Spanish).

JK are losing money and the government has told them there's no more handouts so they have been looking for a partner and it appears that QR is it. Not really any details other than that they have reached an agreement, though there is all kinds of speculation obviously.

Pretty interesting read, especially the speculation that there would be funding for planes for BCN- Latin America longhaul and even a BCN-TYO.

What about the Spanair Plus future?

GBM

JK+ is already gone, replaced by Spanair Star, which is the same thing but worse. I'm hoping IB's new program will cause them to reevaluate.

SpanairStar is not worse or better - we don't know yet!

The Silver status level is twice as difficult to achieve (but still very easy), but the Gold is easier (same points or 30 *A flights - SpanairPlus was 30 Spanair flights).

What we don't know yet is the redemption tables.

BTW:
Spanair Plus area is closed now in spanair.com, but in http://www.spanair.com/web/es-es/Mobile/ you can check your new converted "mileage" =)

Anyhow... if they're changing the name of the airline, who knows what will happen!

OK - buying 49% stake of JK might be easy... But what next??? Interesting stuff...

So what does this really mean? QR now may apply for Star membership?

QR now may apply for Star membership?

Very unlikely, I would say. They could have applied for Star membership anyway, even without taking a stake in JK, and Star would have been very happy to have them. But I don't think QR's interests are helped by being an alliance member - when they can just as easily partner with airlines from all alliances, as they do now.

There was a consortium of Qatari interests trying to bid on JK a couple of years ago when the Catalan government (pretty much) took them over. So it seems to me this is a continuation of that. I wonder if the parties are the same. And I wonder what the attraction is of a (mostly) domestic carrier in a market stinking of LCCs if not for the *A link...

i agree.. they are going to have to either take on the LCC's hard if they want to build something out of JK.. or try to build a long haul product, as so much short haul traffic is connecting via the major hubs.

SpanairStar is not worse or better - we don't know yet!

The Silver status level is twice as difficult to achieve (but still very easy), but the Gold is easier (same points or 30 *A flights - SpanairPlus was 30 Spanair flights).

What we don't know yet is the redemption tables.

BTW:
Spanair Plus area is closed now in spanair.com, but in http://www.spanair.com/web/es-es/Mobile/ you can check your new converted "mileage" =)

Anyhow... if they're changing the name of the airline, who knows what will happen!

The new SpanairStar programme is worse than before.

Before: Silver with 3000 Star Points with at least 6 *A Flights
Now: Silver with 10000 Points

Before: Gold with 10000 Star Points or 30 Star Alliance/JK
Now: Gold with 30000 Star Points

Earning miles remain the same as before, but it costs about 25% more to spend miles:

Before: Spain to Far East required 24,000 Star Points
Now: Spain to Far East requires 29,000 Star Points

Qatar Airways leaves Spanair talks (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/27/spainair-qatar-idUSL5E8CR21K20120127)

GBM

JK just announced that they are shutting down.

JK just announced that they are shutting down.

Spanair prepara la suspensión de actividades tras el fin de las subvenciones (http://www.abc.es/20120127/economia/abci-spanair-solicitud-vuelo-cese-201201271742.html)

Spanair.com has gone dark.

Yes, they are ceasing all flights after midnight :(

From the staralliance.com homepage popup:
SPANAIR SUSPENDS OPERATIONS
Our member carrier Spanair has unfortunately suspended its operations.
If you are booked to travel on Spanair and hold a ticket issued by Spanair, please contact Spanair on +34-902-131415 or on www.spanair.com.
If the ticket for your Spanair flight has however been issued by another airline, please contact that airline for rebooking and ticketing.
Links to carrier call centres can be found under the “contact” button at the bottom of www.staralliance.com or click on the member carrier logo to be redirected to the respective homepage.

Shockingly quick all these developments.
The website has now a press release with instructions Spanish and Catalan for the moment (http://www.spanair.com/es_pos/en_GB/portal/Error/Page404).
JK and the Catalan Regional Govt have agreed with Vueling, Iberia and Air Europa a rescue fare, as follows:

Domestic Mainland and Balearic Islands for - 60 euros.
Canary Islands - 90 euros
International - 100 euros

GBM

From the staralliance.com homepage popup:

They say to contact Spanair on a phone number, or at http://www.spanair.com - the website is gone, I doubt there will be any reply at the phone number, either!

Shockingly quick all these developments.
The website has now a press release with instructions Spanish and Catalan for the moment (http://www.spanair.com/es_pos/en_GB/portal/Error/Page404).
JK and the Catalan Regional Govt have agreed with Vueling, Iberia and Air Europa a rescue fare, as follows:

Domestic Mainland and Balearic Islands for - 60 euros.
Canary Islands - 90 euros
International - 100 euros

Ryanair is offering a €49 rescue fare - for those domestic, Balearic, Canaries, and International routes covered by Ryanair (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-launches-49-euro-spanair-rescue-fare)

Ryanair has a rescue fare at 49EUR. (http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-launches-49-euro-spanair-rescue-fare)

El Pais reports over 22'000 persons were due to travel over the weekend on JK. (http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2012/01/27/catalunya/1327682057_912827.html)

GBM

Does anyone know whether they made it to midnight or quit early?

They should cease operations at 2am.
You can follow abc.es (spanish, but should be easily google translated) with their by the minute live coverage.

http://www.abc.es/20120127/espana/alminuto-abci-spanair-directo-cese-actividad-201201272017.html

They mention the first cancelled flight was BCN-VLC [see 20.50]. Let's see the last to operate

GBM

They are answering the phone though its tough to get through. I have flights next week and they told us to talk to Amex for a refund. Luckily we already got VY flights to replace them.

Next few days will be interesting.

i predict more Ryanair expansion at BCN - they'll be dusting off the planes in winter storage

i predict more Ryanair expansion at BCN - they'll be dusting off the planes in winter storage


According to this article (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/spanair-stops-flying-after-qatar-deal-falls-through-367505/)...

Spanair's demise can eventually hugely benefit its principal Barcelona based rival, Iberia's low cost affiliate Vueling, also an Airbus A320 operator. Reportedly some Vueling pilots have been taking already courses during the last months to be certified for flying aircraft equipped with the same engines of the Spanair fleet, which might suggest Vueling's preparedness to take over quickly some of Spanair's capacity and routes.