The 2 biggest South American airlines, LAN and TAM have announced plans to merge with the new airline to be called LATAM. 

If it goes ahead then either LAN (and subsidiaries) will switch from Oneworld to Star Alliance, or TAM (and subsidiaries) will switch from Star Alliance to Oneworld.  Either way there will be a significant effect on airline alliance coverage in South America.  The following analysis is based on the current route networks – there may be some changes following the merger.

If LATAM is in Star Alliance

Oneworld will lose the following destinations from their network:

• Argentina – El Calfate, Iguazu, Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Gallegos, Salta, San Carlos de Bariloche, San Juan, Tucuman, Ushuaia
• Chile – Antofagasta, Arica, Balmaceda, Calama, Concepcion, Copiaco, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Iquique, La Serena, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Temuco, Valdivia
• Colombia – Cartagena
• Ecuador – Cuenca, Galapagos
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) – Mount Pleasant
• French Polynesia – Papeete (Tahiti)
• Peru – Arequipa, Cajamarca, Chiclayo, Cuzco, Iquitos, Juliaca, Piura, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado, Tacna, Tarapoto, Trujillo, Tumbes

Star Alliance will add the following destinations to their network:

• Argentina – Cordoba, El Calafate, Iguazu (note TAM already flies to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side), Mendoza, Neuquen, Rio Gallegos, Salta, San Juan, Tucuman, Ushuaia
• Chile – Antofagasta, Arica, Balmaceda, Calama, Concepcion, Copiaco, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Iquique, La Serena, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas, Temuco, Valdivia
• Colombia – Cartagena, Medellin
• Ecuador – Cuenca, Galapagos, Guayaquil
• Falkland Islands (Malvinas) – Mount Pleasant
• Peru – Arequipa, Cajamarca, Chiclayo, Cuzco, Iquitos, Juliaca, Piura, Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado, Tacna, Tarapoto, Trujillo, Tumbes

Star Alliance will also finally gain a link between the South Pacific and South America – directly on Santiago to Auckland and Sydney, as well as indirectly via Papeete.

If LATAM is in Oneworld

Oneworld will add the following destinations to their network:

• Brazil – Aracaju, Belem, Boa Vista, Campinas, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Fortaleza, Goiania, Iguazu Falls (note LAN flies to Iguazu on the Argentinean side) Ilheus, Joao Pessoa, Joinville, Macapa, Maceio, Manaus, Natal, Navegantes, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Santarem, Sao Luis, Teresina, Vitoria

Star Alliance will lose the following destinations from their network:

• Bolivia – La Paz, Santa Cruz
• Brazil – Aracaju, Belem, Boa Vista, Brasilia, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Goiania, Iguazu Falls, Ilheus, Joao Pessoa, Joinville, Macapa, Maceio, Manaus, Navegantes, Palmas, Porto Alegre, Porto Seguro, Porto Velho, Rio Branco, Santarem, Sao Luis, Teresina, Vitoria
• Uruguay – Montevideo

Aeroplan has introduced lifetime elite status for those who’ve flown a lot on Air Canada and Jazz.

1 million status miles for lifetime elite (Star Alliance gold)
2 million status miles for lifetime elite for yourself and a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)
3 million status miles for lifetime super elite for yourself and lifetime elite for a nominated partner (Star Alliance gold)

My post summarising all the lifetime elite statuses has been updated.  The new Aeroplan lifetime status levels are relatively difficult to earn (there are easier qualification criteria for some other lifetime elite statuses, American AAdvantage for example counts all mileage earning), but also offer relatively generous benefits.

The how to get to series of posts have now been updated for TAM and Aegean joining Star Alliance, Shanghai leaving Star Alliance, Vietnam Airlines and TAROM joining Sky Team.  Apologies for the delay.

Advice has been changed for:

• Bolivia
• Burma (aka Myanmar)
• China
• Vietnam

Flying to central Asia on an award ticket, an around the world fare or other discounted air fares has long been problematic.  This is because there have been few flights to Central Asia and most of these originate in Europe.  Backtracking between Europe and Asia is not permitted on round the world fares.  Availability of award and discounted paid seats are also relatively low.  Flying to central Asia is becoming easier as more flights to the region are being added, and with a rule change.

In Star Alliance, Asiana provides a Central Asia connection with South Korea through flights to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan), while various airlines fly from Europe.  In Sky Team, China Southern Airlines now provides flights from China to several cities in Central Asia with Aeroflot providing connections to Europe.  To date Oneworld has no service to central Asia other than on codeshares.

With the pending entry of S7 to Oneworld, the rules for the Oneworld Explorer RTW have been amended to include Central Asia within the Europe continental definition, which means back-tracking is permitted.  S7 flies to all the major cities in Central Asia so these will all be available from later this year.

Changes to the airline alliances continue with confirmation that Shanghai Airlines will leave Star Alliance at 31 October 2010. 

The alliance status of some of the Chinese airlines has been up in the air for a while due to the complicated and evolving cross-ownerships in each other – Shanghai is in the process of being merged with China Eastern, which earlier this year announced an intention to join Sky Team.  China Eastern is itself partly owned by both Cathay Pacific (Oneworld) and Air China (Star Alliance). So it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Shanghai Airlines would leave Star Alliance.

Travellers on Shanghai Airlines will now have a period of a year or two without alliance benefits but existing Star Alliance awards on Shanghai Airlines for travel after October will be honoured. Those flying on paid tickets on Shanghai Airlines from November will no longer be able to earn Star Alliance frequent flyer status miles.  Whether redeemable miles can continue to be earnt will depend on the frequent flyer program being credited to as some may continue to have Shanghai Airlines as a non-alliance partner and others may drop them.

Recently both EU and US regulators approved anti-trust immunity for American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia on the important trans-Atlantic routes with minimal conditions.  Oneworld was the last of the 3 main airline alliances to get approval to co-operate closely on flights between USA and Europe.  This means finally members of British Airways Executive Club and American AAdvantage will (in the near future) be able to earn and redeem on each other’s flights which has been a source of irritation for many frequent flyers for years.

Today, Oneworld announced Air Berlin will be joining the alliance (hat tip View from the Wing).  No firm date has yet been given but normally it takes 12-18 months for an airline to complete entry into an alliance (Air India joining Star Alliance being a notable exception to this rule of thumb).  Air Berlin is considered by some to be an odd choice – they aren’t quite full service nor low cost, and remind me a little of Australia’s Virgin Blue.  I’ll be watching how well they integrate into the alliance with interest.

Sky Team is offering a discounted around the world fare to mark their 10th anniversary.  According to the SkyTeam website this saves up to 30%.  I’m not sure which countries/class of travel this worthwhile level of saving applies to.  Please add a comment if you find some good fares.

There are some significant restrictions – maximum 20k flight miles (except for Kenya origin 22k miles), bookings by 30 September for travel commencing between 15 July and 31 December 2010, a maximum 6 months duration (minimum 10 days), and no more than 5 stopovers.

Last month The Economist had an article on the new gulf super hubs being developed at Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha in the Persian Gulf – largely as a result of the ambitions of their home airlines of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways respectively.  John Macilree’s comment on the article included a nifty diagram from Boeing showing some of their 777 aircraft can fly almost everywhere from the Persian Gulf.

I thought it may be useful to see where these airlines already fly. The map below (courtesy of Great Circle Mapper) excludes routes under 1500 miles from the hubs.

The combined route map of the 3 airlines is far flung. A hemispherical view centred on the gulf, shown below (also from GCM) shows more clearly how useful the Persian Gulf is located geographically for a super-hub, especially on the Europe to South Asia/Australia/NZ or Asia to Africa routes.

Each of the 3 airlines is now getting to the size where it’s route network is only one order of magnitude less than a full airline alliance, albeit with limited local flights (intra Middle East and some fifth freedom routes excepted).  No wonder these airlines haven’t been in any rush to join an alliance!

Wendy Perrin of Perrin Post recently put a reader question from Steve Belkin (you may recall my posts on his Competitours personal amazing race offering) to Richard Branson about the possibility of a future Virgin Alliance – you can see Richard talking about a Virgin alliance here.  Last week Gary Leff commented on which non-Virgin airlines might be interested in joining Virgin in a fourth major airline alliance.

For those who may be unfamiliar, the Virgin airlines are:

• Virgin Atlantic (51% owned by Virgin Group)
• Virgin Blue (26% owned by Virgin Group) – plus subsidiaries Pacific Blue (operates within NZ and across South Pacific), Polynesian Blue (operates to & from Samoa), and V Australia (operates longhaul)
• Virgin America (25% owned by Virgin Group)
• Air Nigeria (49% owned by Virgin Group)
• Air Asia X (20% owned by Virgin Group)
• Virgin Galactic (100% owned by Virgin Group) – not yet operating commercial service

The route network of these airlines together is fairly impressive (see below), although far short of the 3 main airline alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld, Sky Team).

(map courtesy of Great Circle Mapper)

If Singapore Airlines (49% owner of Virgin Atlantic) was added, the network is even better as seen below.  (Note Virgin Blue domestic flights not shown due to clutter.)

(map courtesy of Great Circle Mapper)

It has taken the 3 main Virgin airlines (Atlantic, Blue and America) a long time to do something as basic as offer earning and redemption on each other’s flights, and this still isn’t complete – see Virgin earning on other Virgin expands but not perfect.  Thus I’m not holding out hope of a Virgin Alliance any time soon.

In the meantime we are currently waiting on reviews by competition authorities in both Australia and New Zealand on the proposed alliance between Virgin Blue and Air NZ, which is a limited alliance restricted to co-operation on trans-Tasman routes only.

Scott McCartney has a nice summary on the Wall Street Journal of the pros and cons of the airline alliances.  Gary Leff‘s comments on the article focus on United’s starnet blocking.

Translating the global coverage of the alliances into useability for mileage earning and redemption takes care, and to be fair is a big enough topic on it’s own let alone in a summary such as this. Scott touches on some aspects such as the current restrictions on American and British Airways frequent flyer members for flights between USA and UK, the number of destinations served, and the influence the location of primary hubs has on travel useability.

Scott mentions one place where Oneworld is lacking coverage - China.  I think there are other significant holes in the Oneworld network, for example Africa.

The key advice is that choice of airline alliance is relatively important for most frequent flyers, and the single biggest factor in the choice should be based on where you travel (or want to travel).