At the recent London Doo, many poeple asked me about the future of Aer Lingus following their exit from oneworld. Here's what the airline has to say in an email yesterday:

Dear GoldCircle,
Membership no: 777xxxxxxxxx

Following on from our earlier announcement in May of this year of our intention to leave the oneworld™ Alliance, I am writing to you to confirm that Aer Lingus will formally cease to be a member of the Alliance from 1st April 2007.

If you are planning to travel or redeem Gold Circle points with another oneworld™ carrier then please refer to the headings below for information on how this will affect you.

I am also glad to inform you that we expect to shortly announce separate frequent flyer agreements with American Airlines, Qantas and Cathay Pacific. These new arrangements will allow you to continue to enjoy the ability to both earn and redeem points for travel with these airlines. We expect Lounge access benefits to also form part of the new arrangements with American Airlines. We anticipate these arrangements to be finalised in the coming weeks and I will communicate the full details to you as soon as they are finalised.

We also hope to conclude negotiations with British Airways in the near future, and will announce accordingly

In the meantime, please note the following important dates for redeeming points, earning points and accessing lounges within the oneworld™ alliance.



Booking a oneworld™ redemption flight
The final date for the booking of oneworld™ redemption flights is 31st of March 2007. After this date Gold Circle points can continue to be redeemed for travel on the partner airlines that form part of the new agreements, which will be announced shortly.

Earning points for travel with oneworld™ airlines
You can continue to earn Gold Circle points on oneworld™ carrier flights for travel completed by 31st March 2007 (subject to the normal fare eligibility conditions). After this date you can continue to earn Gold Circle points when you travel with the airlines that we have retained partner agreements with.

I will shortly be in contact with you again to confirm the airlines that will continue to partner with our Gold Circle Club. In the meantime, full details of these changes and other relevant information are available under the ´Services and Frequent Flyer´ section at www.aerlingus.com.


Your sincerely,
XXXX XXXXXX
Loyalty Marketing Manager