Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs - Is LACSA *A now?

LACSA is owned by Taca, but operates flights under its own IATA code. No mention is made of them in the *A website about the other airlines that just joined. Are they part of *A?

Good question. I was surprised to see that of the airline websites, I checked (US, LH, SK, UA), only UA has updated the TACA membership, but with no info in regards to Lacsa. But a hint may be found on the LH Miles & More website. M&M has been a partner since before TACA joined, and they do state that Lasca miles are credited:
http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/de/earn/flight/offer?nodeid=2658311&l=en&cid=18002

Yes, all LR operated flights are available for accrual and redemption

Not that I care that much, since I haven't used my LifeMiles account for years, but I did notice one odd thing in the "Avianca and TACA Airlines join Star Alliance"-email:

Also, you can redeem your LifeMiles for airline tickets on operated flights by the member airlines¹ to fly to more than 1,200 destinations in 193 countries!

Terms and Conditions
¹ Star Alliance member airlines may change at any time and the agreements may vary with each one. With TAM Airlines you do not earn miles, redeem tickets or upgrades.

Why is that?

Terms and Conditions
¹ Star Alliance member airlines may change at any time and the agreements may vary with each one. With TAM Airlines you do not earn miles, redeem tickets or upgrades.[/I]

Why is that?

TAM is about to leave *A because of its upcoming merger with LAN and they will follow them to Oneworld.

TAM is about to leave *A because of its upcoming merger with LAN and they will follow them to Oneworld.

I know that. Until they actually leave, I still find it weird that they don't follow Star Alliance standards.

I'm guessing it was something done proactively by TAM in the spirit of the Chilean Supreme Court and Antitrust board conditioning LATAM merger on the merged airline not being allowed to be in the same alliance as AviancaTaca.

Although LATAM has either 12 or 24 months (depending on what I read) to make the single alliance decision, and thus it is entirely OK with Chile for TAM to remain in Star during that period, perhaps LATAM management wants to show that they are going along with the spirit of the ruling right away?

It's far more likely that this is coming from LATAM rather than from AviancaTaca. If it were AV/TA saying "except with our biggest direct competitor" they would be excluding Copa/Copa Colombia rather than TAM. As a central american-hub narrowbody airline with a Colombian component airline, Copa is far more a direct threat to AV/TA than is TAM. But TAM needs to play ball with Chile, at least for the time being.

LACSA is owned by Taca, but operates flights under its own IATA code. No mention is made of them in the *A website about the other airlines that just joined. Are they part of *A?

Yes, all LR operated flights are available for accrual and redemption

Indeed, CM/AV/TA/LR have now all joined *A:

[KVS Availability Tool 7.0.2/Diamond - SNT: Awards/StarAlliance/JP-ANA-SP1] (http://www.KVSTool.com/)
SJO San Jose Juan Santamaria Intl CR [MROC]
BOG Bogota El Dorado Intl CO [SKBO]
WED 01 Aug 2012 | 1 Seat

Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive A/C St Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- -------------
LR 696 SJO 10:35 BOG 13:55 319 0 FS/ CS+ YS-
LR 691 SJO 17:25 BOG 20:45 319 0 FS/ CS- YS-
CM 629 SJO 14:25 BOG 20:06 CHG 1+ FS/ CS+ YS+
CM 392 SJO 08:06 PTY 10:12 EQV 0 FS/ CS- YS+
-> AV 59 PTY 11:05 BOG 12:32 319 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
CM 392 SJO 08:06 PTY 10:12 EQV 0 FS/ CS- YS+
-> CM 659 PTY 11:18 BOG 12:49 E90 0 FS/ CS- YS+
CM 163 SJO 11:43 PTY 14:00 E90 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
-> CM 633 PTY 15:32 BOG 16:59 73G 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
CM 629 SJO 14:25 PTY 16:42 E90 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
-> AV 61 PTY 17:53 BOG 19:20 320 0 FS/ CS- YS-
CM 145 SJO 15:23 PTY 17:40 E90 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
-> CM 629 PTY 18:36 BOG 20:06 73G 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
CM 145 SJO 15:23 PTY 17:40 E90 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
-> CM 653 PTY 21:04 BOG 22:36 73G 0 FS/ CS+ YS+
LR 693 SJO 10:10 Made 14:15 E90 1+ FS/ CS- YS-
-> AV 8437 Made 16:30 BOG 17:20 319 0 FS/ CS- YS-

TAM is about to leave *A because of its upcoming merger with LAN and they will follow them to Oneworld.

But no official announcement, much less effective date, yet? We assume that Avianca Brasil, currently operating separately from Avaianca International and not yet in Star Alliance, will in fact join that alliance.

We assume that Avianca Brasil, currently operating separately from Avaianca International and not yet in Star Alliance, will in fact join that alliance.

I certainly hope so. And actually I think they could boost traffic into GRU and GIG from major airports in Brazil, to feed LH, UA, TP, SQ, LX, CA, TK, SA and of course Avianca and TACA.

UA is giving me a hard time to book an award itinerary with a LR flight from TGU to SJO. Two agents have said it can't be done because it's a LR flight and "not a TA flight." Clearly, they don't understand the Grupo Taca system. I'm pushing back on this.

Well, to sort of answer my own question, affter another 40 minutes on the phone and escalating as far as I could escalate (through both the Star Alliance desk and a customer service supervisor), I was informed that even if Lacsa is now in Star, United's system has no way to book a LR flight. They said they would report internally, but no one could give me a call back if and when the glitch is fixed. Great customer service from the new UA!

I just booked a reward flight through Aeroplan with three flights operated by Lacasa. Based on my conversations with the agent I can indeed confirm they are part of *A. The itinerary shows a Lacasa flight number not TACA.

Oddly, I was not able to book a flight with Sansa which does small regional flights fo TACA.

I just booked a reward flight through Aeroplan with three flights operated by Lacasa. Based on my conversations with the agent I can indeed confirm they are part of *A. The itinerary shows a Lacasa flight number not TACA.

Oddly, I was not able to book a flight with Sansa which does small regional flights fo TACA.

LACSA not LACASA, make it sound like the Asian yummy noodle soup LAKSA. :D


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacsa

Lacsa (Spanish: Lineas Aéreas Costarricenses S.A.), is the national airline of Costa Rica and is based in San José. It operates international scheduled services to over 35 destinations in Central, North and South America. All international services are now operated by Grupo TACA.[1][2][3] Out of the five airlines that made up the original TACA alliance, Lacsa is the only airline of the group that still operates international flights with its own IATA code (LR) and flight numbers.[citation needed] As a subsidiary of Grupo TACA, the airline is also known as TACA/LACSA.[citation needed]

Now the other LAKSA:
Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from the Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and Indonesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laksa