kman73

Thanks everyone for the welcomes... Glad to be here.

Hopefully Continental will at least remain with Skyteam thru the end of 2009. I'll keep checking the Delta website hoping to book my February '09 trip to EWR when and if these CO nonstops show up again.

When CO leaves Skyteam it's gonna be a tough choice, whether to continue collecting Skymiles or switch to OnePass. Though Delta nonstops from SoCal to NY are not as convenient I absolutely rake in Skymiles thru various promotions. Since Feb. 2005 I've booked 11 award tickets using Skymiles, all on Continental. I've only purchased one round trip ticket on Delta in the last 5 years.

I'm a platinum AMEX cardholder (good for 55K SM/year), use the Delta Dining Network (bout 15K a year), and can't believe Avis.... I've easilly earned over 50K in Skymiles in the last 6 months (rental is sitting outside as I type this; 1day compact for 30 bucks, 10049 Skymiles!!!)

Earning Skymiles at this rate might leave my no choice but to fly Delta nonstops LAX-JFK.....

K

TTT

Bump.

I would assume this to also mean that a ticket purchased on CO for travel in Feb 2009 would eligible for SkyMiles/MQM accrual, no?

AndyTLe

Yes. CO has NOT announced anything regarding an end date. You're good to go with CO for Feb.

Quaker325

As mentioned upthread, CO can't leave SkyTeam until at least 9 months after DOJ approval of the DL/NW merger, which is not expected for a few months yet.

SAT Lawyer

Good information, but one big caveat: the parties could mutually agree to part ways anytime before then. A contractual agreement can always be revisited and modified or rescinded if all of its parties are game.

In this case, I suspect it is more likely that DL/NW and CO get together and decide to go their own separate ways before the merger approval plus nine months. Does SkyTeam really want a lame duck member? Does CO really want to delay its transition into Star Alliance? In both cases, I think the answer is "no."

As a NW elite that flies CO heavily, I hope that I am wrong. I'd love to have the merger drag on indefinitely and the parties to continue to remain married for nine months beyond that. But I don't think that's in the cards. In fact, my best guess is, come the start of the next frequent flyer year, the divorce will be final. We may be afforded an additional grace period to continue to redeem across airlines, but that window is closing fast.

TTT

Great! Thank you all for the help. In reading CO's FAQs it seems that the phasing out of Sky Team won't begin for at least a year from their announcement which would be June 2009. I will probably wait until October/November to book for Feb anyway, but will keep CO as the top choice for the trip - KE was the only other option and it is $1400/pp more than CO.

AndyTLe

Remember that some CO fares only accrue 0.5 miles instead of 1.

Caged

Where will you no longer be able to go on skyteam when CO leaves?

3Cforme

SkyTeam will probably lose some small Texas/southwest destinations. Mexico destinations will still be accessible via Aeromexico but with more circuitous routings for U.S.-originating travelers.

apoivre

The whole of Micronesia

SAT Lawyer

Except Guam. Very unfortunate for SkyTeam-flying scuba divers.

lofly

Caged, best to get with the program, try reading!

Sooner or later, you will want to ask a REAL question, and come up empty!

fishkill

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

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US.../alliance.aspx