JL president Kaneko in an interview
 

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a Japanese daily, Jan. 15, the morning edition, had an interview with JAL President Kaneko. I just quote a part on 'alliance.'

Q: What do you think is the competitor for JL?

Kaneko: 'Major airlines in the world. All Nippon has formed partnership called Star Alliance with United Airlines of the U.S. and Lufthansa of Germany. The immediate competitor is the Star Alliance that includes All Nippon.'

Well, what does this mean? I don't know. Readiness to join oneworld?

I wish the interviewer pursued a little on this but the subject changes immdiately thereafter to JL's integration with Japan Air System.

Chiangi san, I have really been suspecting as I posted earlier that JL has been waiting a better deal from OW regarding a OW membership participation now that the relative dominance of AA and BA are weaker in light of the current economic situation.

I, too, have been anxiously waiting for JL to join OW. But then a thought came across,
that JAL's participation to OW will bring in addtional 7 million JAL Mileage Bank members to OW. Can we handle them??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

What does it mean for JL to get "a better deal from OW"? What is the axis of value along which such deals are measured?

(I mean, when money changes hands between the oneworld partners -- paying each other for miles earned or redeemed on each other's flights, for example -- it must do so at standardized rates that are consistent throughout the OW alliance. Right? If so, I'm at a loss as to what JL would want here; it's not as if the OW alliance is in any position to give JL a lower rate for booking tickets for JL members on OW carriers than other OW members charge each other.)

(As I recall, prior discussion -- perhaps in the JAL forum here at Flyertalk -- suggested that the constraint here might be compatibility of the JAL compter systems with the rest of OW. This seems to me somewhat different from "holding out for a better deal" generally...?)

Kaoru-san, I once heard that JL typically carries over 100 top-tier elites on a 250-mile Tokyo-Osaka 'shuttle'! Not sure if this is true... but I am sure it would expand oneworld's customer base.

bedelman, Kaoru-san may be referring to the 'entry/admittance' fee an airline has to pay to join an alliance. This is a priviledge of being a founding member of an alliance.

I think somebody reported that when SQ joined Star, it wanted a recognition as founding member -- that is, they don't want to pay any additional fee to join the alliance.

Kaneko has also voiced his concern as to if there would be really a trade-off after JL joins oneworld.

In another interview, he also said to the effect that he has to value if it pays for JL to join it because if JL joins oneworld, JL would be the one paying for all the advertisements in Japan.

(NH -- All Nippon -- says it is paying quite a lot to advertise Star in Japan. But they also said it does bring in more revenue than what they pay for in advertisements for the alliance. NH is hardly known internationally and I think it makes sense for them to rely on an international alliance.)

As far as I know, JL's CRS/GDS runs on Sabre. I don't know how this can be a problem. JL can get last seat availablity with AA, BA, AY, CX, QF, LA (UA, NW, CO, LH, TG, SQ, etc. etc....)

JL has already partnership with AA, BA, CX, QF and I think JL uses the same award booking inventory codes with these partners as oneworld carriers use. JL-issued award tickets on CX and AA are no different from AA-issued awards on CX or JL. A lot of integration has already been achieved. (BA still seems to have a bit different contract on award tickets with JL, though.) These bilaterals also cover a lot of routes already.

So, for JL to join oneowolrd, they need an added incentive. Besides, JL would also have to give up their ties with carriers like LH and TG. (With TG, JL has a longer history of ties with NH.)

there are some IT problems to be solved.
heard that is the reason KA (Dragon) did not join OW. ('too expensive' to revamp such legacy system, i.e.)

BA uses Amadeus, i believe, so are IB/EI/LA
AA use Sabre
CX use has its own reservation, but linked to Abacus, a JV of Sabre and various Asian airline
JL has a similar structure like CX's, perhaps more "sabre" than CX's system

I also don't know if the CRS/GDS problem is indeed a big obstacle for joining an alliance.

When All Nippon (NH) joined Star a few years ago, their system was hardly integrated with other Star carriers in the first year at least. I remember I was surprised when they once told that they need 24 hours to confirm a booking for a NH coded flight operated by UA. (This problem has been 'redressed.' Star has developed a common interface system.)

JL doesn't have such a problem with most of oneworld carriers at least even though it is not part of it.