FlyerTalk Forums - SkyTeam Exit Date

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- Continental OnePass (Pre-Merger) (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/continental-onepass-pre-merger-488/)

- - SkyTeam Exit Date (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/continental-onepass-pre-merger/915839-skyteam-exit-date.html)

I think we can book reward travel on Skyteam flights till Oct 24th. Reward tickets may be good for probably six months or one year after that.

But the tickets could be restricted, no changes or postponement after Oct 24th.

I may book a flight somewhere for Oct 24 to say goodbye to ST.

I wonder how long it will take for CO Elites to be able to use *A facilities - especially the lounges.

Also - anyone have any thoughts on which tier will equate to which *A status level?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolov (Post 11167565)

I may book a flight somewhere for Oct 24 to say goodbye to ST.

Should book it so you leave on SkyTeam and come back on *Alliance...

Oooh! We could turn it into a mini-DO!

official email:

Quote:

In June 2008, Continental announced plans for extensive commercial cooperation with United Airlines and Star Alliance, linking our networks and services worldwide to deliver new benefits to our customers. We pledged to keep you informed of developments and would like to provide you an update.

Regarding SkyTeam, Continental intends to end its participation in the SkyTeam Alliance after the last scheduled flight on Oct. 24, 2009.

We continue to work through the details of our planned exit from SkyTeam and entry into Star Alliance, but anticipate our participation in Star Alliance will begin promptly after we leave SkyTeam. We are committed to providing our OnePass members with opportunities to earn and redeem miles over an extensive network.

We will be working hard with our good partners at SkyTeam, and our future good partners at Star, to make the transition from SkyTeam to Star Alliance as smooth as possible.

You can expect to receive updates from us as we continue to develop our participation in Star Alliance. Remember the most current updates may be found at continental.com.

As always, many thanks for flying Continental. We appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

Mark Bergsrud
Sr. Vice President, Marketing Programs and Distribution

Although I have not read of any official movement of Copa (not a full memeber of Sky Team) to *A, it would be almost impossible for them to do anything else without starting their own frequent flyer program as they are part of One Pass. Taca would be the only question as they were supposely in discussion to also join *A.

Hopefully the gap between Sky Team and Star Alliance membership for Continental will be minimal or non-existant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by N515CR (Post 11167361)

Has it been formally announced that CO entering *A means the end of the Amex Plat relationship?

No, and I wouldn't expect it. The AmEx relationship is a direct contract and unrelated to SkyTeam in any way. CO makes a lot of money from that deal and I cannot imagine them wanting to give it up.

It does mean that when flying on partners there will no longer be access, which will suck, but that will actually likely work in CO's favor as it has the potential to drive more business back to their metal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbm12 (Post 11167862)

It does mean that when flying on partners there will no longer be access

I thought we were only allowed into a club/lounge if we were flying on that particular airline's metal; i.e., no access in a DL lounge unless we held a DL ticket (even if it were say, a CO code-share)?

How would CO partner access work?

I'll miss Northwest Airlines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaguar (Post 11167979)

I'll miss Northwest Airlines.

They may be the only ones in ST I will miss!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaguar (Post 11167979)

I'll miss Northwest Airlines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaguar (Post 11167979)

I'll miss Northwest Airlines.

You will miss them even if CO stays in Skyteam. ;)

This year UA had <$1,000 fares LAX/SFO-SYD in November...if something similar comes up this year (seems good given the state of the economy) I'll be all over those EQMs.

I just got the same email from CO and thought what a waste of email. It says absolutely nothing!

Need advice/help for OnePass redemptions, given this new info...

Figured I'd post my question on to this thread, as CO's email today has brought up a few questions for us:

Background: we have a BUNCH of CO miles we're planning on redeeming for reward travel in C to Asia (Indonesia) in May 2010. Until the announcement, was planning on redemption sometime in June/July on KE.

Now with this news, obviously, the carrier choices in *A are MUCH better (would love to route via BKK on TG again, or, more unlikely, on SQ.)

But I assume this means that CO will not be linking up to StarNet until late October, making the chances of a May redemption at that time of the year far less likely than doing this in June on SkyTeam. Anyone have any thoughts/words-of-wisdom?

Also, sorry for sounding naive by asking, but will CO still maintain their high redemption rates (120k+ miles) for C class on partner airlines once the switch happens? I really enjoyed UA's 90-95k redemption for the same A* seats.