BlueHorseShoe2000

According to Delta's website, the partnership with Midwest will terminate on June 7, 2010. After that date, you will no longer be able to earn SkyMiles on Midwest operated flights or Midwest Miles on Delta operated flights.

There is currently no word on what, if anything, will happen to the codeshare agreement (that was seperate from the expanded frequent flier alliance).

This move surprises me a great deal. For starters, Bryan Bedford has mentioned his desire to join a larger airline alliance, specifically SkyTeam, in some capacity. With the frequent flier agreement out the window, I seriously doubt this will happen (at least with SkyTeam). I would also think that Delta would like to maintain pressure on a key rival in what was a very strong market for Northwest.

Does this mean that a larger relationship with AirTran may materialize? Bedford has said that Republic would need to chose between Delta and AirTran in 2010.

This whole Midwest/Frontier/Republic/Delta/AirTran story line gets stranger and stranger every day. Whatever happens, no one can say this has been an uneventful journey.

MKE 1K

This is bad - way bad. Another sign that the end is near for YX.

The big question remains on what will happen to the codeshare.

Blue - good catch on this. ^

mke9499

+1

Remember when YX was FF partners with AA, in between the two periods with NW?

flyYX

Something major is going to happen and I heard April 13th is going to be a big day for Republic. Of course, this is rumor and I have no direct source to back it up. AirTran must want some sort of relationship with Republic....Otherwise they would have left the Frontier FF agreement a long time ago.

knope2001

Dang...that is a blow. I wonder if they could not come to an agreement, or if other partnerships are looming, or if Delta flat out decided no, or what. I'm sure Blue is hoping for a UA link?? :-)

Although the link with Frontier replaces most of Delta's penetration west, there are still quite a few destinations east and south which Delta brought to the table.

mke9499

Needless to say, what about international routes?

knope2001

Absolutely. I was thinking more about earning miles versus spending them (although DL international could earn you YX miles, too) and about being able to earn miles when domestic travel took you places that were not on the YX/F9 map. But having a partner with broader award possibilities is not insignificant.

tvnwz

Damn! It will mean less YX travel for me. In fact, it will mean very little YX travel for me.

mke9499

Does this mean that KLM is gone, too?

Perhaps MostlyAir can advise.

BlueHorseShoe2000

Would that really be so bad

Perhaps Lufthansa will swoop in and take an ownership stake in Republic (a la JetBlue), thus opening the door for the branded operations to become part of Star Alliance. Lufthansa seems to be on an empire building mission these days.

One can dream, right???

As flyYX mentioned, something is up. I wonder just how big April 13th will be. Besides the new name, will there be some kind of blockbuster announcement?

MKE 1K

I would be a second one very happy with that. But when you think of it who is left but UA and the Star Alliance? I highly doubt that YX would head back to AA and One World.

Needless to say in this day and age, it would be very hard for Republic to try and go it alone without some sort of a tie up that gave YX fliers international routes -either to earn or redeem miles. Granted, that has not been talked about but it has some serious implications.

knope2001

The discounters...Southwest, AirTran, JetBlue, Spirit...have very limited or no large international partners. However this is something which Midwest had as an advantage over them.

Separate from the large partnerships with NW/DL and AA, Midwest has over the years had FF ties with airlines like SAS, Virgin Atlantic, Swissair, Air Jamaica and a few others. This sort of thing could happen without entering a big-airline program or entering one of the alliances. But having a few assorted foreign carrier tie-ins is nowhere near as good as reciprocity with a large US domesitc+international carrier.

newsmanhoss

This better put to bed the misinformed folks who claim that Midwest "will only end up as a feeder for Delta"...yadda yadda.

Anyway, here's my off the wall prediction: Midwest becomes a short-haul feeder for AirTran in Milwaukee, the A319s go back to flying the Frontier routes, FL handles all the long-haul MKE flying, and F9/FL keep and expand their FF partnership to a full code-share.

Having feed from YX, combined with the FL MKE network, would create quite the fortress and allow both carriers more pricing power in MKE.

There are probably a thousand holes in my scenario, but I figured I'd throw it out there in light of the Delta partnership cancellation.

Bryan Bedford certainly wouldn't be as opposed to this as Tim Hoeksema would.

blucys

How does your scenario fit with the just announced purchase of the "C" series from Bombardier? If this is the scenario, then why would Midwest be reintroducing routes like SAN, SFO and SEA from MKE? In your scenario do you see an expansion in DEN by F9, for instance DEN to BOS?

newsmanhoss

Yes, there are holes in my scenario. It's possible that the C-series could be used for long-haul DEN flying to eventually replace the Airbus aircraft, which could be sold or otherwise retired. The C-series can carry comparable loads with a lot less fuel burn.

Certainly both YX and FL are trying to determine ways to stop the bleeding and more dominate the MKE market. Midwest could remain to feed FL in MKE and F9 in DEN, and codeshare between the three carriers.

Again, these are all far-out guesses in my own head. I could be way off base. But stranger things have happened. Just look at how YX and F9 got to where they are today!