Tag Archives for oneworld.
One of the most frequent questions I’ve gotten over the past couple of months is from American AAdvantage members with tickets for travel on LATAM, wondering whether they’ll be able to credit the flights to their AAdvantage accounts and earn miles. It looks like the ability to do so will continue through September 2020, based on new information about when LATAM will leave the oneworld alliance.
Delta announced that they’re taking a 20% stake in LATAM, the largest airline conglomerate in South America comprised of LATAM Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Perú.
American Airlines had worked towards a joint venture with LATAM but it was rejected by Chile’s Supreme Court this spring. LATAM will exit the oneworld alliance, although no plans have been announced for their entrance to SkyTeam.
In December we learned that Royal Air Maroc would join oneworld by mid-2020.
Copyright: zhukovsky / 123RF Stock Photo
They offer service from New York JFK, Washington Dulles, and Montreal with Boeing 787 aircraft and they’re adding Miami service in April. Now comes word that they’ll launch Boston – Casablanca as well on June 22.
Currently both Star Alliance and SkyTeam run their own lounges at some major airports.. This is a different management model rather than a new customer benefit, although it may lead to there being a single larger lounge in a major airport where alliance member airlines co-locate in the same terminal, versus multiple smaller lounges operated by individual carriers.
oneworld hasn’t done this to date but that’s changing.
Two months ago Qatar Airways threatened to leave the oneworld alliance, a threat that their CEO Akbar al-Baker has repeated several times.
Qatar’s CEO did not attend the alliance’s annual meeting in New York where their existing partner Royal Air Maroc announced its pending entry into oneworld. Any exit would logically have been announced at that meeting, though Qatar has mentioned a Christmas deadline for a decision.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce welcomed Royal Air Maroc CEO Abdelhamid Addou into the oneworld alliance this afternoon at the Royalton Hotel in New York.
This is a big win for AAdvantage frequent flyers. Award travel on the carrier is abundantly available and with the addition of Miami service in April they’ll offer non-stop Boeing 787 travel from 4 North American cities to Casablanca with connections beyond.
Earlier I asked whether Royal Air Maroc is about to join oneworld. We now know that oneworld will be announcing a new member on December 5. Royal Air Maroc is my bet.
In addition Alaska Airlines says they are considering joining oneworld as a ‘connect’ member.
oneworld is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary. They have their governing board meeting next week in New York.
Government-owned Royal Air Maroc, based in Casablanca, would fill a huge gap for oneworld in Africa. The airline has been inching closer to oneworld members Qatar and Iberia, and an agreement to use Avios as their mileage currency. They start service to a new American Airlines hub in April.
One of the great frustrations of the American Express Membership Rewards program is that American Airlines does not participate as a transfer partner. What’s more, it’s nearly* impossible to use American Express points to claim an award seat on any oneWorld carrier (American, British, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, LanChile, Finnair, Aer Lingus). I say nearly because there are ways of working partnerships to get some seats, such as transferring points to Continental or USAirways to claim award seats on Qantas. But there aren’t any oneWorld partners in the Membership Rewards program. Right now there’s a brief window of opportunity, however, created by a confluence of two separate conversion bonuses. As I noted yesterday, transfers from American Express to Starwood earn a 50% bonus through March 31. And until January 31, transfers from hotel program into…
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
