I wonder if this will affect LH Cityline (as does tbk06). Cityline folks apparently earn 20% less than LH mainline staff and this caused the strike a few weeks ago (
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,570770,00.html). Getting rid of the LH Cityline staff (not that i don't like Cityline) and AB at the same time would be a brilliant move.
I hope the M&M affiliations will still exist in the future, at least for award redemption. How many routes would M&M customers loose if they cannot book Condor award destinations anymore?
If miles can be earned on the flights as well this could become yet another UA TED or DL Song ... hopefully with a better lifetime