Originally Posted by
jspira
Yes there was an interline agreement but I don't think this is a coincidence in terms of timing. I doubt they would have made the announcement had El Al and AA not ended their partnership and it's not inconceivable that El Al and B6 will consider a similar partnership given the lack of a U.S. frequent flyer program partner.
The AA announcement was yesterday. B6 & LY started significant negotiations with B6 over a month ago:
http://www.elal.co.il/elal/english/s...nt_190814.html
One would assume that LY had some advanced notice of AA's intention, but it would be interesting to know if they did or not.
It is somewhat surprising that a FF partnership wasn't announced today by B6; I don't believe that such would require USG approval, unlike codesharing which does require approval.