When is CO officially joining *A?
 

The news had been out about 1/2 a year ago, and all I have seen on CO's website so far is that they're still hashing out the details on joining *A, with the press release dated 1/2 a year ago. Do any of you have other news? I wanted to fly continental on my upcoming business trip next week, but I want the miles to credit to my *A account. Suggestions?

Next week? Hm. Good luck with that. Even NW/DL are still operating under their own entities.

Probably not until 4Q 2009 . Maybe 3Q but very unlikely.

CO is a great airline and it will be a real blessing to have them in *A! Hopefully it's soon but I'm sure it will still be a while.

I figured it'd take them a while. I just had this distant hope that it may not be.... but not all wishes come true. :o

Rolov: That time line is a good guesstimate. Where else can I find more information?

There was much discussion here on the CO board and on the UA board, also
I think there is a thread in the Star Alliance Forum , but most of it is speculation.
The word was that CO could enter *A 9 Months after the DL/NW merger was complete.

So the joining would be well into 2010, seeing that NW/DL isn't even done merging yet. Thanks for all the info. I'll go poke around to see if I can find something. Thanks!

The rule was actually based on the transfer of ownership, which happened on October 29, which is when the merger happened from a financial perspective. Everything else going forwrd is now integration of the two brands/companies.

Based on that, the earliest CO can jump is July 29. Everything else is pure speculation.

Maybe we will be given an update at CO DO IV.

Can this be stickied or put someplace very prominent?

Two good recent articles on CO going *A, both of which predict a 4Q entry into *A:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...=60460518.blog

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D950QMK80.htm

(Personally I'm puzzled about what to do in 09. EWR is my airport, but my most frequent destinations are *A hubs. Not sure how to split travel between CO and *A.)

Two observations: the 4Q09 thing reads as if it's on background...no name seems attributed to it. Secondly, the Trib should sue the pants off USA Today. I thought the rule for avoiding plagiarism was to contribute original thought to another's work.

4Q 2009 does seem to be the standard estimate, do you think it might slip into 2010?

Hadn't noticed that until you pointed it out! Very funny. I guess since it is a blog different standards apply. I don't know what the Trib can do about it, I suspect their lawyers are very busy tending other fires....

No, but I just found it curious. If it's the consensus idea, there's inherently little harm in attaching a name to where it came from.

I don't think bloggers are held to a lower standard, and that's probably precisely why USA Today did it...they undoubtedly know about the trouble at the Trib (negotiate that one, Shatner) and likely believe they have a reasonable choice of no one noticing...it is USA Today, after all.

I spent quite a bit of time on the phone the other day with an SLC elite rep while she was fixing a a previously incorrectly booked upgrade for me. She was telling me about the computer training they were going through and will be going through for the fare class changes. She said it was all in prep for *A with with change likely in Fall 09.