FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Thai Smiles now "WE"; no longer Star Alliance; award availability with MileagePlus?
Old Apr 11, 2014 | 4:13 am
  #7  
goodeats21
FlyerTalk Evangelist
20 Countries Visited
2M
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: DAY
Programs: UA 1K 1MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Amex MR; Chase UR; Hertz PC; Global Entry
Posts: 11,354
Originally Posted by dsquared37
Very big implications indeed.

The facebook page indicated the initial change is to code share the domestic flights as TG/WE as of April 10 and who really knows what the plan is thereafter. Should the flights move over to be solely run as WE(ewee) then *A pax are SOL.

I'm seeing this right now:

[KVS Availability Tool 7.3.6/Diamond - Availability/FS/US]
Code:
BKK  Bangkok Metro / Suvarnabhumi Intl TH = BKK DMK [VTBS]
UBP  Ubon Ratchathani Muang Ubon TH [VTUU]
SUN  20 Apr 2014

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive    A/C  St  Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  -----------------------------------------
TG/WE      2020    BKK   07:30     UBP   08:35     32S      C9 D9 J9 Z8 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 T9 K9 S9 V9 W9
TG/WE      2030    BKK   17:10     UBP   18:15     32S      C7 D7 J7 Z5 Y9 B9 M9 H9 Q9 T9 K9 S9 V9 W5
So long as the fligths are listed as such there should be no problems. Once the TG moniker is taken off then benefits (and accrual/awards) will come solely from TG ROP.

It's gonna hit us hard if this goes to fruition.... however as with so much TG they could easily backtrack at some point.
Yes. I was curious why the flights are now showing up on United.com as "operated by Challenge". I was hoping someone had some inside info that Thai Smiles was going to be a non-*A partner for United. Won't help with *A benefits, but at least we could possibly earn/redeem miles on the flights.

From internet searches, airline code "WE" was assigned to Centurian Cargo, so I don't believe "Challenge" is related to outdated AITA data.
goodeats21 is offline