Originally Posted by
jimmac
Who are the main OW players in Canada? BA, CX and AA. Which bank do they have existing relationships with? RBC. Which other airline does RBC have a relationship with? WestJet. Add WestJet and RBC to the mix and you have a potentially very powerful player in the points game in Canada. The Aimia Board may not be as dumb as you think.
Except for the fact that WestJet will be part of SkyTeam (see the recent
announcement of the WS/DL JV, the
fact that WS has walked away from AA and the fact that WS is actively making several improvements under the
hood to their network, aircrafts (both hard and soft products) and potentially also revamping their
FFP via Ampili). I find it inconceivable for WS to join a OW backed program given the direction they're going. The only reason I could see WS being interested in Aeroplan is they could "steal" all the customer data AC has on their most loyal frequent flyers which they can generously reward and comp to get them to switch over to the dark side. This could potentially scare AC into doing the right thing and giving Aimia a decent compensation for their asset.
That being said, the executives at Aeroplan are clearly stuck between a rock and a hard place: they have this very valuable business they have been milking for some time through lucrative offers with CC companies and partners but are locked in to Star Alliance thanks to their agreement with AC and *.
Safe Travels,
James
Safe Travels,
James