This is hands down the worst frequent flyer news of the year so far. Continental has just announced that as of February 13, 2012, they’ll be discontinuing their OnePass partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Per the announcement:

Effective February 13, 2012 we will discontinue our OnePass partnership with Virgin Atlantic. Mileage accrual benefits are valid for travel through February 13, 2012. Please refer to the Mileage Credit Request Form for information regarding obtaining missing mileage credit. OnePass reward reservations for travel on Virgin Atlantic must be confirmed and ticketed by February 13, 2012, and they are valid one year from the date ticketed.

I think we all saw this coming, though I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. I’m not so concerned about the mileage accrual side of things, though redeeming OnePass miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic in Upper Class was always a real bargain. Virgin Atlantic has a phenomenal business class product, and their lounge in London is one of the best business class lounges out there.

Anyway, you can still make reservations for travel over the next year, though if you need to change your reservation  after February 13, it will need to be for travel on a different airline that’s still a OnePass partner airline.

Keep in mind that you can use Continental miles to fly from the US to Asia via Europe, so you could conceivably book Virgin Atlantic Upper Class from Los Angeles to London to Tokyo for 60,000 miles one-way, for example.

The worst part of this news is that I think once this relationship ends, there will be no way to redeem miles for travel on Virgin Atlantic without paying fuel surcharges.

For about a year now it has been possible to transfer miles freely between Continental OnePass and United Mileage Plus accounts in the same name. While that’s nice in order to be able to combine miles, people tend to overlook the usefulness of transferring United Mileage Plus miles to Continental OnePass in order to book awards through Continental, even if you otherwise have no miles with them. Why, you may ask?

1. Continental lets you book Star Alliance awards online, which saves you $25. United charges a phone ticketing fee of $25 for non-1Ks, which is unfortunate since most Star Alliance awards can’t be booked through United’s website. By transferring the miles to Continental you can book through them and save money.
2. Continental partners with Virgin Atlantic, while United doesn’t. Virgin Atlantic has surprisingly good award space in Upper Class, and for the time being they’re still partners with Continental OnePass, while they aren’t partners with United Mileage Plus.
3. Continental’s computers auto-price award tickets. Don’t underestimate the beauty of this. Try booking an award ticket through United from the US to Asia, one way via the Atlantic and one way via the Pacific. Most United agents will say that’s a round the world ticket, and needs to be priced as such. Continental’s computers correctly price this as a US to Asia award. All the time I’ll book ten segment itineraries that sound crazy to agents, and United agents almost always question me. Continental agents almost never do, since the computer will tell them if an award isn’t permissible.
4. Continental lets you book mix cabin itineraries on the same records. Say you want to fly from Los Angeles to London in business class and London to Los Angeles in first class. That would cost you 117,500 miles (50,000 miles for the outbound, 67,500 miles for the return). United would make you book this as two one-way tickets, meaning you potentially have to pay two booking fees and two cancellation or change fees if you were to make a change or cancel. Continental, on the other hand, will allow you to have mixed cabin itineraries at different price levels on the same record. So that means that with United, if your outbound is in business class your return has to be as well. With Continental, on the other hand, if your outbound is in business your return can be in coach, business, or first class, either at the standard or saver level.
5. Once ticketed, Continental will let you change the type of award you have. Say you book an award ticket in business class roundtrip from Los Angeles to London for 100,000 miles. Say, then, that a week before departure Continental opens up award space from Los Angeles to London in first class, and you wanted to switch the outbound to first class. United would require you to cancel your reservation and start over (meaning you would lose your award space on the return), while Continental would be able to reprice the itinerary and charge you the mileage difference, while not messing with the return portion of your itinerary.
6. Continental has more liberal change rules. Up until 21 days before departure both airlines now allow free “simple” changes to itineraries. The difference is how the airlines define simple changes. For Mileage Plus, the origin, destination, carriers and routing would have to remain the same. For OnePass, on the other hand, the change would have to be made at least 21 days in advance and the origin and destination must remain the same. The routing and carrier, however, may change. That means that Continental lets you change the routing for free up until 21 days before departure, while United charges you for that.

So do the smart thing and always book through Continental when ticketing your awards.

Continental OnePass and United Mileage Plus are both offering 50 miles per Top Guest check-in at participating airports. You simply have to register your “smart” phone with Top Guest and then use either Facebook or Four Square to make those check-ins.

The page says you need to be “at or near” select United/Continental airports, so as long as it’s within range and you’re checking in, you should be fine (no need to actually be flying that day). You should be able to check-in once per 24 hours.

Priority Club has a similar program whereby you can earn 50 points per “check-in,” so that’s an easy way to rack up 18,000+ Priority Club points per year, and the same seems to also be the case with United now. Now, Top Guest has been known to close the accounts of those that check-in every day at multiple reward-earning businesses (Hilton, Priority Club, Virgin America, etc.), so proceed with caution.

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

Just a reminder that today (Friday, September 30) is the last day to transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards to Continental OnePass. Not only is it the last day to transfer points, but as of tomorrow the American Express Platinum card will no longer get you access to the Presidents Club.

I shared my thoughts as to whether or not to transfer points from Membership Rewards to OnePass here, which is about all the advice I can give on the topic, since everyone’s circumstances are different.

As I wrote about on TravelSort, this is indeed a huge loss for the Membership Rewards program.

Yesterday United finally unveiled the details of their 2012 Mileage Plus program.

Many of you probably remember that I posted about rumored changes to the Mileage Plus program back in August based on what I was told by an inside source. Ultimately there were six weeks between when I posted the rumor and the program was officially published, so it’s no surprise that some things changed. Actually, what I was told six weeks ago was spot in, with the exception of two things — top tier status will be called Premier 1K status and not Premier Diamond status, and there won’t be a revenue requirement to qualify for status. Of course that latter point is HUGE.

When I published the rumored changes post it was based on a possible program they were considering. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the program United was actually planning on implementing until they saw the outcry online over the possible changes. After all, feedback to airlines can make a huge difference. We saw this in the past with the elimination of 500 mile minimums for elites, and also with the expiration of 500 mile upgrades, where online feedback changed their mind.

Anyway, UA Insider‘s post is very thorough and self explanatory for the most part, so check it out here.

If you’re a 1K this announcement is probably a relief, since 1K status isn’t being devalued, at least on paper. The one key thing to keep in mind is that all elites on a full fare ticket will clear ahead of 1Ks on a non-full fare ticket. Furthermore, upgrades supported by mileage or instruments will be prioritized over complimentary upgrades. This means that a non-elite using miles will now clear their upgrade ahead of a 1K hoping for a complimentary upgrade. Does that make sense? I don’t know, on one hand they are paying for the upgrade, so I see where they’re coming from, though I suspect these two changes will impact 1K upgrades in a substantial way.

If you’re a Platinum (or fly more than 75,000 miles per year), you win and you lose. Your mileage bonus goes from 100% to 75%. That being said, you’ll finally clear ahead of those that fly 50,000-74,999 miles per year. So I’d say it’s a wash for the most part.

If you’re a Premier Executive (or fly more than 50,000 miles per year), you’re getting screwed pretty bad. Your mileage bonus goes from 100% to 50%, and you’ll now clear your upgrades behind those that fly over 75,000 miles per year, while it was previously a free for all for those that flew between 50,000 and 99,999 miles per year.

If you’re a Premier you’re also getting screwed. You can now only select Economy Plus seats  at check-in (within 24 hours of departure), and your upgrade window is only 24 hours before departure. Furthermore, you can now only check one 50 pound bag for free.

Overall the changes are… fair. As we saw, it could have been a lot worse.

The one huge positive is United’s new million miler program. They’re literally taking the best of both worlds. When’s the last time that happened with a merger?

United and Continental will be combining previous totals for million miler programs, though starting next year only actual flown miles will count towards million miler (Continental previously counted all elite qualifying miles).

One million miler gets you Gold status, two million miler gets you Platinum status, three million miler gets you 1K status, and four million miler gets you Global Services status. Furthermore, million milers can appoint the same elite tier to a companion, even if they earn a higher status level than their million miler. That means if I were a 1K million miler, my companion would be a 1K as well as long as I maintain it. They just don’t earn the upgrade instruments.

So the only major thing they’re eliminating is a lifetime Red Carpet Club membership at two million miler, but with the other gains with the million miler program, that’s a very fair trade off. And all of this comes as American substantially devalues their million miler program.

Anyway, aside from the new million miler program these changes aren’t really positive. They’re negative for anyone that flies under 100,000 miles per year, and for those that fly more than 100,000 miles per year they’re only slightly negative given that non-elites using miles will now clear an upgrade list ahead of them (don’t expect to clear upgrade lists on Airbus 320 transcons anymore!). Still, they’re better than they could have been…