Q: What takes 16 months to do?

A: Switching global airline alliances.

In June of last year, Continental announced its plans to join the Star Alliance, thus exiting the partnerships and alliances with both Delta and Northwest. For a while, it looked like it wasn’t going to happen as the CEOs of each airline postured about how important they were to themselves. I still think that Continental outplayed United in this hand.

It can now be announced that Continental will end its participation in the SkyTeam Alliance after the last scheduled flight on Oct. 24, 2009. This means a lot for frequent flyers and I’ll be bringing you what you need to do and know over the next nine months.