Will United continue to codeshare with Virgin?
 

Apologies if this has been asked but I could not find it. Will United continue to codeshare with Virgin once UA and CO have completely combined operations and FF programs? I find the Virgin codeshares very convenient JFK-LHR. My company makes it very difficult to fly EWR-LHR which effectively makes Virgin the only way I can get to LHR non-stop and still earn UA/CO EQM.

Since when did UA have Virgin have a partnership and code-share agreement. I know CO has it with VS, but didnt know UA did and VS doesnt show up on ua.com when looking at its partners

If VS and UA had an agreement then I would have expected it to continue the problem is that CO & VS had 1 and its unknown if CO will bebale to bring Vs into UA

also if you put in JFK-LHR not 1 VS flight will appear on ua.com, which isnt the if you book it on co.com

CO is one half of the merged airline going forward. CO has existing airline partnerships that the old UA didn't have, and the old UA had some that CO didn't have. It's a perfectly valid question. However, we do not know the answer yet.

So it's not really a question of whether CO will be allowed to keep the partnership, more whether the management of the new merged airline see value in this partner airline.

I recently flew Hong Kong - London on Virgin Atlantic. I did not realize that they are a partner airline of Continental. Any way I can get credit for the miles (dont have a Continental MP #, only United).

By the way, I had pretty big expectations for the flight, as it was the first time I had flown Virgin. Wasn't bad, but did not overwhelm me. I think that the new United C/F class seats stack up well. One thing that was a minor irritant on Virgin was that you had to get up out of your seat and flip the cushion to make it lay flat. Then you had to repeat the process if you wanted to sit up. Liked the pj's that they gave out, ^, but service was just okay. Granted, it was an overnight flight, so I think they intentionally minimized service to allow people to sleep.

The codeshare is between CO and VS only and you can earn miles on codeshares but only codeshare flights.
You can, however, redeem miles on even a non codeshare flight - for example LHR-HKG but that is CO/VS only and not Star (so cannot earn UA or any other * carrier miles).

The CO/VS tie up will remain as long as the original agreement specified and will almost certainly not be cancelled when the merger goes through.
You can book a VS flight via the CO website easily well into 2012 so there are obviously no immediate plans.

As for the longer term outlook - my feeling is that VS will join StarA. They need to be in an alliance and already have numerous partnerships with * members (ANA, NZ, BMI, AIR CHINA, SAS, SOUTH AFRICAN) plus let' snot forget SQ who own 49% of VS.

Open a OnePass account. Credit to that account. Link your OnePass and Mileage Plus accounts.

As for your experience in-flight, I would say that you got the typical VS experience. It just isn't all that great these days. Ten years ago, sure, but they haven't kept pace with the changes in the industry.

this was a pleasant surprise to book reward flight for 32,500 one way from pvg to ewr when CO had no avail.

Not if you're stuck in Y on one of their 7th-hand 742s in 2000. Worst experience across the Atlantic for me ever.

I highly doubt it .......... unless you consider bringing virgin into star alliance which is an interesting conecpt and bring pressure to BA

When you peel through the mktg layer, it was always a bit of a mixed bag airline. It could feel kinda like UA might feel when you find yourself on an old config 777.

The business class experience with the bar with pastry stands and flower vases, the on board massage therapist, the Oswald Boateng amenity kits with super nice, super sturdy luggage tags I still have, the nice, long, proper metal pens I have lots of around the house, the Tanqueray Ten gin, full bottle, sitting behind the bar, which I was free to pour for myself, etc etc, was something else. It's all gone now, and the whole experience feels a lot more like he 742s in Y did - comparatively speaking. I would still be a 2p for my occasional internal flight, and a VS gold with my euro flights, if VS UC was still today what it was when the lie-flat seats were first introduced.

And yes, I do actually prefer UA stile C/F seats, really like the ability to fine tune how much recline I have. It's a major downside with the VS/DL/AC/ANZ style seat.

VS just introduced an I revenue biz class fare bucket, which suggests they might not be looking at *A as an alliance partner. I'd love for them to join *A, I'd fly their premium economy on a day flight from the UK in a heartbeat if my 1K status got me into the LHR clubhouse.

Personally I would prefer old UA C to VS Upper Class. Old UA with SWUs to F on long flights is a no-brainer UA F over VS C. I will say that VS is much better on the ground. The problem I have is the lack of *A flying JFK-LHR. The new CO should put some ps flight planes on JFK-LHR (especially if the rumors about getting rid of the ps 757s are true).

Lately I've been flying VS on Z type fares in the upper class cabin on the overnight to LHR from LAX and then coming back in Premium Econ on the return, often stopping on the east coast on a daytime flight. Those fares have been better than anything I can get on UA or other *A carriers. Was happy to get the CO EQMs for my VS flight it will probably be the deciding factor for making the new 1K in 2012. I really hope the partnership continues into 2012 and is transferred from CO to the new UA.

The p.s. product will continue to exist but not in the current form. It is going to be the CO BF seats, E+ and E-.

JFK/LHR is a huge miss for *A so, without VS, *A itself becomes much less attractive. However, I suspect that the matter is more in the hands of VS than UACO, since VS is up for sale, with Deutsche Bank publicly appointed to handle the process. Would already have happened but for SQ's stake, acquired for too high a valuation.

Actually, the DL/AC seats can be reclined into a fully flat bed without having to get out of the seat, unlike the VS/NZ seats.

Major :td: to the VS/NZ seats, IMHO.

Except SQ has been trying to sell its stake for years. And if anything reciprocal benefits/arrangements between SQ and VS have been diminishing over the years (for example SQ F used to get access to all VS clubhouses but no more).

An interesting question is whether UA sold or just leased the NYC-LON route authority that it bought from Pan Am and was using for JFK-LHR. I don't remember and while I could probably look it up, I'm sure someone here already knows.

If it was sold, then I doubt they can just add JFK-LHR even if they want to (unless someone is looking to dump the route). If it's leased, there's probably a term or cancellation provision that could give it back (if they cared).

With the current Open Skies policy between Europe and the USA all they need are slots at both ends, not specific route authorities.

Ah. Proves how out of touch I am...so then the question becomes whether UA sold it's old LHR and JFK slots, leased them, or are they still using them all but just from different airports?

Ostensibly UA sold the LHR JFK authority and slot pair to DL. Not long after, Open Skies meant that the authority sale was moot. However the slot sale stood so UA no longer has that slot pair. Having said that, it would be fairly easy to acquire further slots should it desire. UA has been one of the biggest sellers at LHR but separately CO has been acquiring.

VS is a legacy partner from CO's pre-*A days. I don't know if that's going to last now that everything's up in the air and UACO has a *A LHR partner in BMI.

They sold them: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/jsp_i...ondon%20Rights

***don't hold me to it*** But IIRC, in the spirit of sbm12's post. I seem to recall less then a year after UA sold this, some sort of agreement/treaty made the above sale worthless to DL.

However Id be very surprised if there wasnt a non-compete clause in the transaction. Basically for X yrs UA can not fly between JFK & LHR, so even if it was possible to do so they wouldnt be able to since DL would sue them and win.

Dont know if codeshares were also a part, if yes then look for the CO/VS sharing to end at least in regards to JFK, since it would be UA/VS

I'd be very surpried if DoT allowed a long term (3-5+ year) no compete clause in the original sale ;)

why would DOT care?? I for 1 dont think DL spent those hundreds of millions for just a couple of yrs of non-compete. Besides BA,AA & VS all served JFK-LHR anyway

I can see VS joining *A. It really makes sense. It's quite shocking that *A doesn't fly JFK-LHR. I wonder if BD would pressure against that. Although there was talk about VS and BD merging, before LH bought them.

They both had an agreement with EK...

That's a shame. I understand changing F and C to a single BF class, but why also regular Y. I would've hoped they'd have kept only E+ throughout.

UA & DL needed DoT approval on the above mentioned deal. The DoT still keep tabs on the airlines from a competition standpoint (much like they nixed (or made them jump through some financial hoops, that made the deal impossible) the original US/DL DCA/LGA gate/slot swaps). I believe the term they use is maintaining a "competitive landscape".

I really don't see the need for VS in the new UA. The partnership with CO was understandable because at its inception, CO had no access to LHR, and only a handful of flights to LGW (from EWR and IAH). UA, on the other hand, has a huge presence at LHR for an American carrier. Only if VS joins Star can I see this partnership to continue.

BD flies short and mid-haul routes. VS flies long-haul. They have virtually zero overlap. Pretending that they fill the same role at LHR is silly.
Agreed. Not that I care too much as I generally find the VS product to be mediocre up front and poor down the back. Still, they have great award inventory availability and it was nice having that option.