A review of the Skyteam alliance......


SkyTeam at a glance

The most notable aspect of Northwest's alliance with SkyTeam is it broadens WorldPerks fliers' ability to earn and burn. Also, you're likely to see nonstop service between Minneapolis-St.Paul and Paris to connect into Air France's hub; Mexico City (to Aeromexico's hub) is a real possibility as well. I wouldn't exclude Rome and Seoul, either, but they're longer shots.

That said, in my opinion, SkyTeam is more of a nothing burger than a meaningful change.

Let's start with access. The SkyTeam partners new to WorldPerks -- Air France, Alitalia, Aeromexico, Korean Air and CSA (Czech) -- don't significantly broaden WorldPerks' reach. They open up minor destinations in north Asia, France, Italy, Mexico and the Czech Republic, but Northwest, KLM, Continental and Delta already have Europe, Asia and Latin America broadly covered. SkyTeam remains the only global alliance without convenient service from North America to Australia or New Zealand.

Then there's the quality issue. The two other major alliances, oneworld and Star Alliance, are home to the remaining premier carriers (such as Singapore Air, Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific) that offer special luxuries and wonderful service no longer provided by U.S. airlines. By contrast, one of the SkyTeam partners, Korean Air, is notorious for a high volume of crashes and incidents in the past 20 years, which caused the Korean government to temporarily ban it from adding new routes in 1999. Two other partners, Alitalia and Delta, are publicly threatening to declare bankruptcy, and SkyTeam's next likely entrant is, seriously, Russia's Aeroflot.

Of the three major alliances, SkyTeam is the one that offers the fewest added benefits to Minnesota travelers.

Adam Platt is the travel editor at Mpls.St.Paul magazine.