Is Copa leaving ST
 

Is Copa leaving SkyTeam with CO now that CO had sold its remaining shares in Copa.

Nothing has been publicly stated that I'm aware of. Some of us think that Copa will stick with Continental since they share a program and it would be difficult to split it off and change everything to a different system. Some think that *A won't want Copa because of overlap. We'll find out eventually.

Overlap?

* Air Canada
* Air China
* Air New Zealand
* ANA
* Asiana Airlines
* Austrian
* bmi
* EgyptAir
* LOT Polish Airlines
* Lufthansa
* Scandinavian Airlines
* Shanghai Airlines
* Singapore Airlines
* South African Airways
* Spanair
* SWISS
* TAP Portugal
* THAI
* Turkish Airlines
* United
* US Airways

* Regional Members
* Adria Airways
* Blue1
* Croatia Airlines

None of those airlines have a strong Central or South American operation. I would think OW wouldn't want Copa or Aero Republica because of overlap. ST would probably like to keep them just as much as *A would like to get them.

Using SJO I would like to see them both in SkyTeam.

*A needs Copa BAD! or TACA... central/south america is a wide open huge gaping hole with *A. My tons of miles with UA are worthless when I'm trying to do IAD-LIM.

With Copa still one with CO because of OnePass, they'll either switch to *A, or incur the costs of developing their own FF program. I personally hope to see them with *A!

Both CO and CM (Copa) stay in SkyTeam or stay in the same alliance (i.e. *A)?

although Taca is not a * member , Taca is a partner with UAL, so at least UAL miles can be used to fly on TA, maybe even other *A partner miles as well.

I agree it makes sense for COPA to tag along with *A. This would give *A a much stronger Central/Latin American presence than it has, and make up for some of the void that RG's implosion left behind.

This would leave Central/North Africa and Oz as the biggest holes in *A (and biggest areas of relative strength for ST and OW, respectively).

UA conf. call today said that *A is "aggresively" looking for a Latin/Central America member. Um, duh.

Well CO has sold its remaining in CM, at this time CM needs to decide what want to do if either follow CO or stay in the Skyteam. i personally think Copa would be in a better position with CO because both airlines have the same both FF and livery. we have to also remmember that CO is cutting some routes in LA and Copa can be useful to cover those routes with codeshare.

regards

liveries can be changed...just ask US Air.ways.black.white, etc.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!!

Forget the livery. There's no need to change it if they split, though they could if they want to.

The real cost for Copa leaving would be in starting up a new FF program or in switching to a different partner's program. Either of those would require a substantial infrastructure investment, which is why I don't think it will happen.

Exactly.
I wonder what Copa would need to get in Star Alliance as an official member.

Could Copa continue its codeshares with AM y KLM if leave the Skyteam:confused:

thank you

regards

Recently I wanted to get a different flight time between CDG and BUD on a free tkt, checking the AF website I saw flights that worked great for me but CO said they couldnt book it for me using my Miles.

turns out its an AF code-share flight (with an AF flight#) but the Metal is Malev. AF = ST, MA = OW . So if AF sells code shares on another Alliances Partner why cant CM?

I highlighted the reason - it was right in what you wrote.
Airlines can SELL flights on airlines that are not alliance partners but with which they might have a bilateral agreement. AF->MA is that.

Airlines cannot do awards on airlines which aren't part of the airline with the miles (in your case, CO) award program.

It's not a distributive relationship.
CO->AF and AF->MA does NOT imply CO->MA for awards.

I'm guessing you could redeem AF/KL FlyingBlue miles for that MA flight, because AF partners with MA on that route. Just like I could redeem NW miles for a AMS-BUD NW codeshare on MA.

You had a free ticket using OnePass miles. You can only redeem on airlines that are award partners in the CO OnePass program. "Partner of another partner" does not count. By definition, any airline in the same alliance is an award partner. So any flight operated by a ST member is in theory available to you with CO miles (if it has award availability, of course). Also, as a CO member you have the ability to redeem on some non-Skyteam airlines that CO cut a separate deal with. You can redeem on Qantas and Virgin Atlantic from your CO program in Skyteam. I cannot from my NW program in Skyteam. That's because this scenario has nothing to do with Skyteam.

But now that I answered this, what the heck does your question have to do with the topic of the thread, which is about Copa remaining in Skyteam or going to *A?

To veer back on-topic, as a high-leve UA/*A elite and low-level NW/ST elite, I hope CO brings CM along for the ride. *A needs more help in Latin America than Skyteam does. CO itself will help a lot, but it would be nice to keep CM too. Though if ST wants to keep them, I'm thinking that their ST Associate status could easily enough be transferred to the New Delta and they would adopt SkyMiles (or SkyPerks or whatever it becomes) as their program, with a specially-negotiated one-time transfer opportunity for CO OP members who had earned miles on CM flights or who had joined via CM. This affiliation transfers for associates are not unknown; isn't one of the upcoming new ST associates originally sponsored by AZ but has been transferred to sponsorship through AF instead?