By the time you’re reading this, Continental (CO) and United (UA) will have legally tied the knot. Now comes the hard part of integrating the operations end, which is expected to continue through the first half of 2012. At that point the FAA will award the new company a single operating certificate, the Continental name will be history, and the two will be United, for better or worse.
I wrote about my view of airline mergers and the possible implications this one would have in June’s FCF, after the merger was announced. My analysis, which highlighted the likely benefits and drawbacks, included a section called “Wishful Thinking”. Over the last two months, two of the items on that list, low holiday Business Class fares and a better credit-card-transfer option for United flyers, have been decided on, and for you and me, it’s a case of better and worse.
Good News:
Low holiday Business Class fares are alive and well. Not only did United and Continental show a united front, coming out with the same holiday Business Class fares simultaneously, but many of their Star Alliance partners (Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, and US Airways, among them) did so, too. That put pressure on other major airlines, such as Air France, American, Delta, and KLM, and sure enough, within three days most of the majors had joined in.
That means you have access to one of my favorite upgrades: Buy a Business Class ticket for $950 (i.e., NY to London) and use miles to upgrade to First Class on American or United (see last month’s issue for more details), a seat that otherwise easily costs more than $15,000.
Bad News:
The credit-card-transfer option, via the Continental Amex Reward partnership will be discontinued on Sept. 30, 2011.
Keeping this perk alive was a real long-shot wish, since United’s credit- and debit-card partnerships are with Chase. However, Amex Rewards members have nearly a year to stockpile and transfer miles to Continental, which will rollover to (the new) United program. But do not wait until the last minute because the OnePass mileage program—and thus the transfer option—could disappear once the two mileage programs are integrated into one, and the OnePass name disappears.
Keep in mind the Amex Rewards partnership with other Star Alliance carriers: Air Canada, All Nippon, and Singapore. In fact, Air Canada offers a better redemption award rate than CO and UA on some routes. For example, it charges only 80,000 miles for a Business Class seat to Europe via its Star Alliance chart, whereas CO and UA charge 105,000 so no loss for Amex Reward members. And remember: depending on the flight distance, similar savings can be found on All Nippon.
Coming Soon:
United and Continental announced to elite members last Nov. 17 (see FCF December 2009) a new joint elite venture; elite members in both mileage programs would be eligible for free unlimited domestic elite upgrades and preferred seating on both airlines—this was a pre-merger announcement. It was due to start by mid-2010, and I assume the merger sidelined it, because it is now scheduled for the end of this month.