Continental, Alaska Airlines end mileage cooperation

A decal soon to disappear: Continental is leaving SkyTeam for Star Alliance by fall 2009. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel,file)

Continental Airlines has dropped reciprocal mileage benefits with partners Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, and American Eagle effective October 24, the airline said in a recent communication to OnePass members. The communication indicated Continental is aligning partnership programs in anticipation of membership in the Star Alliance, which it has received DOT approval to join this fall. While the agreement with American Eagle was limited to select intra-California code share flights only, the loss of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air to the program may be more damaging to Alaska Mileage Plan than it will to OnePass.

Alaska Mileage Plan has long touted the benefits of extensive partnerships with many different airlines, a major value-add for frequent travelers throughout Alaska/Horizon’s very regional route system. Without the partnerships, Alaska faces threats from travelers whose travel frequently takes them “offline” (that is, on another carrier), and who might benefit from maintaining loyalty with a larger airline with more global reach. To counteract that effect, Alaska has built many mileage partnerships with airlines as diverse as Oneworld dominators American Airlines, British Airways, QANTAS and LAN, to SkyTeam anchors Delta, and Air France/KLM. Notably missing were any Star Alliance participants. Mileage Plan even makes it possible for members living completely outside of Alaska’s route system to take advantage of “earn-and-burn” possibility with more carriers even a larger carrier might offer.

The partnership with Continental was in its tenth year, and while the benefits were more limited than with some of Alaska’s other partners (miles flown on Continental did not count toward Elite Status, although, curiously, miles flown by OnePass members on Alaska did, and Continental awards for Mileage Plan members required a Saturday night stay) the partnership offered Mileage Plan members another domestic option should other partner carriers be sold out of award space, as well as Continental’s unmatched access to Latin America and many secondary destinations in Europe. Continental also held distinction as being the only Mileage Plan partner that had never fully yielded service between Seattle and Anchorage in favor of an Alaska Airlines code share as the others had done. Mileage Plan partners Northwest, Delta, and American all once operated flights between the two cities - Alaska’s bread-and-butter market - having dropped their own flights in the face of Alaska’s dominance. With Continental among its members, Anchorage will be a less lonely place for Star Alliance. With only US Airways left serving Anchorage after Star Alliance partner United dropped the city from its system in 2008, Continental will join a small, albeit solid resistance to the Alaska Mileage Plan juggernaut.

Continental loses powerful feed in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest with the discontinuation of the Alaska Airlines partnership (new partner United has whittled away at both mainline and Express services in the Northwest for the better part of the past decade), but gains elsewhere, namely United’s dominance in California, the Upper Midwest, and the Pacific. Continental is not abandoning all non-Star Alliance partners however. The airline has not announced plans to drop any other partners, and Emirates, Hawaiian Airlines, Island Air, EVA Air, Virgin Atlantic, and Kingfisher Airlines are a few non-aligned airline partners the airline plans to retain. United Mileage Plus also has “extra alliance” agreements with several of these carriers, as well as a few of their own, including Qatar Airways and Aer Lingus.

Continental is still finalizing the future of reciprocal lounge agreements with Alaska Airlines. Previously, Continental President’s Club and Alaska Airlines Board Room members enjoyed access to the other carrier’s lounges. While neither carrier has yet announced an end to that program, it’s not likely to survive Continental’s transition.