why skyteam forum deader than *A & OW
Nov 13, 2008, 3:50 pm
#1
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why skyteam forum deader than *A & OW
Why does this forum have only like 1/5th of the posts / threads of the other two alliance forums? They are all generally the same size, i suppose that skyteam is slightly smaller (not sure how much) but certainly its at least 2/3 the size.
Nov 13, 2008, 5:13 pm
#2
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There are a number of reasons.
1) *A is much bigger than ST.
2) ow is smaller than ST, but it has members from 4 English-speaking territories, and FT is in English.
3) The ST passes and RTW products are less heavily promoted than those of the other alliances, and they also happen to be less popular with English-speakers, as most of the latter tend to go to Oceania as part of their RTW, and there are very few ST options there.
There will be a couple more that I can't think of at the moment.
1) *A is much bigger than ST.
2) ow is smaller than ST, but it has members from 4 English-speaking territories, and FT is in English.
3) The ST passes and RTW products are less heavily promoted than those of the other alliances, and they also happen to be less popular with English-speakers, as most of the latter tend to go to Oceania as part of their RTW, and there are very few ST options there.
There will be a couple more that I can't think of at the moment.
Nov 13, 2008, 5:45 pm
#3
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Africa - South America -*A
South America to Oceania - OW
Oceania - Africa - OW and *A
Asia - Africa - OW and *A
Makes them more limited and less attractive than OW or *A.
Nov 13, 2008, 6:18 pm
#4
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Skyteam does offer Asia-Africa connections, primarily with KQ. Better than what ow has to offer.
I agree that their South American coverage isn't good, but on the whole the options aren't worse than ow...it's just that most people here are more interested in OZ/NZ than, say, Senegal (from where ST services 7 destinations while ow only offers one miserable IB flight that you can't really use in a RTW) or Mexico.
I agree that their South American coverage isn't good, but on the whole the options aren't worse than ow...it's just that most people here are more interested in OZ/NZ than, say, Senegal (from where ST services 7 destinations while ow only offers one miserable IB flight that you can't really use in a RTW) or Mexico.
Nov 14, 2008, 2:01 am
#5
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Because SkyTeam sucks. Don't get me wrong -- I find NW/DL/CO to be basically interchangeable with UA/US, and the same for AF/KL/AZ/OK/SU/etc. and LH/OS/SK/LO/TK/etc. (Of course SkyTeam falls far short of *A in Asia, and short of both *A and OW in the Middle East with the entrances of TK/MS and RJ.)
But SkyTeam as a product is, in my experience, less compelling than Star Alliance. A previous poster mentioned that their round-the-world product is less advertised. And traveling around airports on all continents, *A is promoted more heavily and the benefits are more uniformly applied than ST.
But SkyTeam as a product is, in my experience, less compelling than Star Alliance. A previous poster mentioned that their round-the-world product is less advertised. And traveling around airports on all continents, *A is promoted more heavily and the benefits are more uniformly applied than ST.
Nov 14, 2008, 2:37 pm
#6
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Because SkyTeam has relatively little value as an alliance relative to OW and *A. The integration between the carriers is marginal at best in SkyTeam and the benefits are not nearly as clearly defined or implemented.
Nov 14, 2008, 5:08 pm
#7
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Why are you saying that? I think your statement may have been accurate three years ago, but nowadays I find all my flights being codeshared by a bunch of ST carriers and my elite status benefits acknowledged by virtually every member- even UX are working on it...Plus there are passes, RTWs...yes, they should be offering alliance-wide MFUs and one-way awards, but it is my understanding that they're working on these things....
Nov 14, 2008, 6:35 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 79
I would tend to agree that integration is an issue. One thing that should not be overlooked is that ST has really bad coverage of the western USA, not to mention the obvious holes worldwide. Everything requires a time-consuming and expensive change in SLC, a problem that could easily be solved by trying to get AS into ST. There are also no obvious benefits to the program anymore. With the FB upgrades on NW in limbo, it would seem that OK is the only decent program in ST. I hope things improve for ST as I don't want to change, but I don't have much to be excited about either.
Nov 15, 2008, 12:20 am
#9
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They are so slow in integrating their new members. firstly they do not announce their membership in advance, preferring to make it a "surprise". secondly even after an airline has joined the others take so long to recognize it and allow award redemption. It does not have major/luxury players. 1W maybe smaller but it has much better brands and they are scattered well enough to make a RTW worth it.
They never proactively go after potential members. i think they could place more pressure on china airlines and MH.
ST are trully the whats leftover alliance. caught the last bus.
They never proactively go after potential members. i think they could place more pressure on china airlines and MH.
ST are trully the whats leftover alliance. caught the last bus.
Nov 15, 2008, 8:46 am
#10
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Why are you saying that? I think your statement may have been accurate three years ago, but nowadays I find all my flights being codeshared by a bunch of ST carriers and my elite status benefits acknowledged by virtually every member- even UX are working on it...Plus there are passes, RTWs...yes, they should be offering alliance-wide MFUs and one-way awards, but it is my understanding that they're working on these things....
Still, benefits for elites are way less consistent across the alliance than it seems that they are for *A/1W:
- Baggage benefits? Depends on the carrier.
- Priority seating? In theory, a true benefit but so many caveats and poor implementations that it is of limited value.
- Upgrade Rewards: Ha! (though supposedly coming, I'm not holding my breath)
- Coverage: Each alliance has its strong points, but ST suffers in Oceania making their RTW product less valuable.
Nov 15, 2008, 11:14 am
#11
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one might also notice for example that the UA forum has traditionally had more posters than the DL or NW forum. That being said, star Alliance is bigger in posts and peoples memory as a direct correlation of the first mover status they had as well as quite frankly their better and more extensive marketing and budget.
Being a top tier member on all three I would rank their "integration" as 1) Star, 2) Skyteam, 3) OW.
Being a top tier member on all three I would rank their "integration" as 1) Star, 2) Skyteam, 3) OW.
Nov 15, 2008, 6:53 pm
#14
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Nov 16, 2008, 4:55 pm
#15
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Which is also the real reason behind the UA/CO "Global Cooperation plan."
