Posted by Seth on March 27, 2012 under News | 
Panama‘s Copa Airlines is moving closer towards full membership in the Star Alliance; they’ve got a plane painted now:
(Image from Joe Walker/Aviation Week)
The carrier has previously announced a target of April 2012 for their join date and with the aircraft painted they seem to be progressing nicely towards that target.
Copa’s membership in Star Alliance will open up a number of additional routes and destinations for the group, They operate a fleet of 737s and E190s and don’t have a "real" premium cabin product but the majority of the routes they fly are also reasonably short, so the "domestic" first experience generally isn’t too bad.
Posted by Seth on February 26, 2012 under frequent flyer, News, points |
With just a week to go before the new MileagePlus program launches for United Airlines and the OnePas program of merger partner Continental officially disappears, there are still a number of unanswered questions about the new program. Earning rates for flying on partner airlines is among the major points still unknown. In the past couple weeks a test website for the newly merged web presence of the company has been available (http://pss.united.com) and even more recently some details regarding earning rates for partners has shown up on that site. I am hesitant to consider this data completely authoritative for many reasons, among them that the carrier has explicitly stated that the site is not official, but there is enough information there that I figured giving it a first pass was worthwhile.
Each of the programs had about 500-600 rules for earning on Star Alliance partners; the new program is no different in that regard. Of those, somewhere between 20-40% seem to have at least one aspect of the earning rates changing as part of the new program. That’s a lot of new information to process.
In most cases the changes reflect the company choosing the rates from one of the two programs which is being retired; there are, however, a few instance where the numbers are completely new. And, since many people like to wonder if the program is trending more towards the legacy United or Continental way of business, my rough count suggest that in those cases where the two were different and one of the legacy rates was chosen, Continental "won" at a 2:1 clip.
So, what are the changes of note? Here are a few, broken down by partner:
Aegean
- Four economy fare buckets – P, T, U & V – no longer earn at all. This is in line with the legacy United rates and worse than the legacy Continental rates.
- Two economy fare buckets – Y & B – will earn fewer EQMs per trip. The are now at 100%, the legacy United rate, versus the 150% rate that Continental offered.
- Four premium cabin fare buckets – A,C, D & Z – will now earn 125% EQMs per trip. This is a downgrade from the legacy Continental rate (150%) and an upgrade from the legacy United rate (100%).
Air China
- Eight full fare or premium cabin buckets – A, B, C, D, F, J, Y & Z – will earn 100% EQMs, matching the rates in the legacy United program. This is a downgrade from the OnePass program (150%).
Asiana
- Most full fare and premium cabin classes will see EQM earning set at 150%, matching the OnePass program and an increase from the United program.
- Two discount economy fares – G & T – will see earnings at 70%. This is an increase from both the OnePass program (50%) and the Mileage Plus program (0%).
Austrian
- Most full fare and premium cabin classes will see EQM earning set at 150%, matching the OnePass program and an increase from the United program (100%).
- Deep-discount economy fares – S & W – will earn only for flights within Europe, at the rate of 100%. This is a downgrade from the Mileage Plus program and an upgrade from the OnePass program.
bmi
- Two economy fare buckets – L & U – no longer earn at all. This is in line with the legacy United rates and worse than the legacy Continental rates.
- Three full fare economy and premium cabin buckets – I, S & Y – will earn 100% award miles and 150% elite miles. This is in line with the legacy Continental rates and an upgrade from the legacy United rates (100%/100%).
- Six premium cabin buckets – A, C, D, J, P & Z – will earn 125% award miles and 150% EQMs, matching the rates in the legacy Continental program. The EQM earning rate is an upgrade from the 100% earnt in the legacy United program.
- All fares earn 500 mile minimums, matching the OnePass charts and an upgrade from the United charts.
Blue1
- Eight full fare or premium cabin buckets – A, B, C, D, J, S, Y & Z – will earn 150% EQMs, matching the rates in the legacy Continental program. This is an upgrade from the legacy United program (100%).
- One discount economy fare bucket – O – will earn at 25% RDMs/EQMs. This matches the legacy OnePass rate and is an upgrade from the legacy United rate (0%/0%).
EgyptAir
- Most full fare and premium cabin classes will see EQM earning set at 150%, matching the OnePass program and an increase from the United program.
- Seven deep-discount economy fare buckets – G, L, S, T, U, V & W – will earn no credit, matching the legacy United program; this is a downgrade from the 25-50% rates they earnt in the OnePass program.
- Two economy fares – Q & K – will earn at 100%, matching the legacy Mileage Plus program and upgrading from the 75% rate in the OnePass program.
Ethiopian
- Three premium cabin fares – C, D & J – are upgrading from 100% to 150% EQMs. This is an upgrade from both legacy programs (100%).
Lufthansa
- Most premium cabin fares see an upgrade to the award miles earning rates, in line with the previously discussed earning rates for United flights. These rates are much higher in most cases than the legacy United or Continental rates.
- For discounted economy fares – L & T – the rates will match those of the legacy United program, earning 100% on intercontinental flights and on intra-Europe flights which connect to intercontinental flights. The OnePass program offered 50% credit on all flights in those fare buckets.
Swiss
- Similar to Lufthansa, most premium cabin fares will earn at much higher award miles rates. In addition, the EQM earning rates for those fares will be increased to 150%, matching the legacy Continental rates and improving from the 100% that United used to offer.
- Three discount economy fares – K, L &T – disappear from the earning charts completely, a downgrade from both legacy programs.
US Airways
- No more 500 mile minimums for flights, a downgrade from the OnePass program and matching the United program.
- Only 100% EQMs on Y and B fares, a downgrade from the United program and matching the OnePass rates.
Croatia AIrlines, Singapore, Thai & TAP
- Most full fare and premium cabin classes will see EQM earning set at 150%, matching the OnePass program and an increase from the United program.
For Air Canada and TAM the earning rates are not yet loaded on the site, and the TAM page shows some data from bmi and some from TAM. For Copa it does not show an elite earning bonus, though that is unlikely to actually be the case.
The only chart that appears to remain the same across the board is that of partner Turkish Airlines.
Non-alliance partner EVA will see a much broader partnership, with many more fare buckets available for earning. The rest of the non-alliance partners look to be pretty much the same, though I didn’t give those charts as thorough a review.
Again, please remember that the analysis here is from unofficial data and should not be considered necessarily accurate, though it is accurate from what was on the website when I looked at it today.
And, should these rates end up being accurate, it would appear that this is a case where the company being somewhat one-sided in where they favor a legacy program will work out well for customers. In nearly all the cases that the legacy OnePass rates were picked it was an upgrade for the Mileage Plus rates. The same cannot be said for the cases where the legacy Mileage Plus rates prevailed.
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Tags: Air Canada, Asiana, bmi, Continental, Copa, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, frequent flier, frequent flyer, Lufthansa, points, Swiss, TAM, United, United Airlines, US Air
Posted by Seth on November 22, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
April 2012 is going to be a busy month for Star Alliance. That’s when Copa and Avianca-Taca are expected to become full members of the global alliance, culminating a process that has been ongoing for many months now. The official invitation to join was extended just earlier this month and it seems that the integration process will be completed incredibly quickly by global alliance standards. Normally the integration takes 12-18 months (or even longer if you’re Air India) but these carriers plan to do it much faster.
For Copa the process shouldn’t be too hard. They already use the same OnePass loyalty program as Continental and that will merge into the new MileagePlus program from United. There will still need to be bilateral agreements drawn up with the other alliance members and some adjustments on the inventory and computer systems side of things but they are pretty far ahead in the game.
For Avianca-Taca there is definitely some more work involved. Although the carrier has frequent flyer relationships with Star Alliance members United and Lufthansa there are still more steps required to get fully integrated. Still, Copa CEO Pedro Heilbronn confirmed that join date for both programs so it looks pretty good, at least for now.
One interesting bit about Copa joining the program is that, as of today, there are no long-haul flights into the Panama City hub from overseas. There are connection options from Dulles, O’Hare, Los Angeles, Houston and Newark, giving great integration to the United Airlines network, but not much beyond that. It will be interesting to see if joining into Star Alliance can bring some more long-haul traffic into that hub.
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Tags: Avianca, Chicago, Continental, Copa, frequent flyer, houston, Los Angeles, Lufthansa, Newark, Panama, points, Star Alliance, Taca, United, Washington DC
Posted by Seth on September 21, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
United Airlines announced a number of details regarding their 2012 Mileage Plus program rules today on both MilePoint and FlyerTalk. The announcement puts to an end much of the speculation about the future of the loyalty program for the world’s largest airline. The news is, unsurprisingly, a mixed bag. There are plenty of winners and losers with the upcoming changes. On the whole the changes appear to be a net positive (they certainly are for me) though there will be plenty of upset customers, too.
Qualification Tiers
The qualification tiers are pretty much staying the same, though some of the names are changing. The "Premier" tag from the legacy United is sticking around as are the metallic tier levels from the legacy Continental. The 1K and Global Services names survive as well. Qualification will be based on Premium Qualifying Miles or Points and the qualification levels are 25/50/75/100K PQMs or 30/60/90/120 PQPs. These numbers are consistent with previous announcements from the company. Global Services remains invite-only for the most part (more on that below).
Also of note is that qualifying for status will now require actually flying on United or Copa metal. Only four segments are required which isn’t particularly burdensome.
The benefits for each tier are changing a bit, especially on the award miles earning front. Most notable are the changes to the bonus miles earnt for being elite. Gold and Platinum elites will now earn 50% and 75% bonus miles respectively, down from the 100% they currently earn. This is a definite downgrade for those customers. At the same time the number of bonus miles accrued for buying a premium fare is going up. At the top end a full F fare on a 3-cabin aircraft will now net a 150% bonus on award miles; that’s way better than the current 50% bonus.
Upgrades
Complimentary upgrades are mostly following the legacy Continental pattern with pretty much every route that is not marketed as a premium product being eligible for free upgrades. Additionally the regional upgrades will be valid on all flights between Hawaii and the Mainland US, making the legacy CO wide-body service eligible while it is not currently. The exclusion of Guam – Honolulu is a surprising one from this list given the aircraft configuration but other than that the list is quite favorable for all customers.
The legacy Continental policy for "instant upgrades" will continue on full-fare economy tickets. Y fares will book into F for all elites with no capacity controls. B fares for all elites will book into a capacity-limited upgrade bucket. M fares for 1Ks will also book into the capacity-limited bucket. I’m a big fan of this policy balancing the value of long-term and immediate value to the company though I know some others disagree.
Companion upgrades will be implemented as a combination of the best of both programs going forward. A companion in the same reservation as an elite customer will be eligible at the same tier level as the elite, akin to the current United policy. The benefit will also apply to the Y/B/M-Up Instant upgrades described above. Finally, a companion that is not in the same reservation as an elite can be added to the upgrade list at the airport, keeping the legacy Continental approach to the benefit live.
Another significant change is in the access to Economy plus seating. The new program will restrict advance access to those seats to Gold elites and higher. A definite loss for the lowest elite tier on this one, though the Silvers will still have access once the flight opens for check-in.
Lifetime Status
Perhaps the most significant changes are coming with the lifetime status recognition program. The policies from Continental and United were quite different historically and aligning them was the subject of much consternation and debate amongst travelers. It looks like the company hit a home run on this one. Going forward the qualification for this status will be based on actual miles flown on United metal. Going into 2012, however, the existing lifetime mileage balances between the two programs will be combined. Even better, legacy United customers will have their existing actual miles balances upgraded to their lifetime EQM balances. That’s a HUGE win for those customers.
The benefit levels will mostly match those of the legacy United program, with Gold at 1MM, Platinum at 2MM, 1K at 3MM and Global Services at 4MM. Yup, Global Services now has a published qualification level. Additionally, the legacy Continental benefit of a spouse/partner getting the same status as the lifetime elite will survive. These changes make the new lifetime status program arguably the most compelling in the industry.
The rest
At the top end the benefits package remains pretty impressive. Platinum and 1K elites will receive a reimbursement for the Global Entry application fee and no charges for award bookings inside 21 days, award changes or award redeposits. Gold elites and higher get free same-day changes to tickets, 3×70# checked baggage and they’re keeping Star Alliance Gold status.
Silver elites are the biggest losers coming out of these changes (they lose a free bag, too) which isn’t all that surprising given the size of that customer pool. A credit card will likely get you the same benefits as Premier Silver status with a lower cash outlay. At the top end the benefits are top notch, particularly in the lifetime status benefits.
I can certainly see where there are winners and losers in the new scheme. I’m mostly just happy I’m in the former category.
Posted by Seth on February 10, 2011 under frequent flyer, News |
When arch-rivals agree to start cooperating in the airline industry that’s a pretty good indication that strange things are afoot. The announcements by Copa Airlines and Avianca-Taca, the aviation leaders in Central and Northern South America and strong competitors in those markets, that both would be joining Star Alliance was one of those moments. The strange continues as the two have announced their plans to begin codesharing on each others flights in the region and beyond.
Taca has an existing codeshare relationship with United Airlines while Copa has an existing relationship with Continental Airlines. The Copa/Continental relationship extends to the operation of the Panamanian carrier’s frequent flyer program as well. Given these relationships it makes sense to see the combined Continental/United operation working to get their partnerships aligned as their merger integration efforts proceed. It is even better to see that the alignment is opening up more opportunities for customers rather than reducing them.
Posted by Seth on October 5, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I’m a pretty big fan of visiting Panama. Each of my previous three visits to the country has been spectacular. Still, the 5 hour flight from New York City and the associated time and expense can make frequent visits a bit difficult. Imagine my joy when I was visiting a friend last week and found out that I would not only get to enjoy Washington, DC, but also Panama. Woohoo!
It turns out that there was an event that evening being hosted by the Panamanian Ambassador. I was not necessarily invited, per se, but my friend was and she added me on as a guest. So there I was, in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, visiting Central America in the middle of Washington, DC.
The event was even more entertaining for me because I was the only member of our group attending who had previously met the Panamanian Ambassador to the United States. It was a meeting of chance at the Continental/Copa Presidents Club in Panama City this past March. Some friends and I were on our way back home from a fantastic day of partying in Panama and Mexico City and we were preparing for the redeye flight with a few Soberanas at the bar. It was also the middle of March Madness and they had the Duke-Baylor game on TV. It turns out that Jaime Alemán Healey, the Ambassador, is a Duke alum and a pretty big fan. He was at the bar cheering and having a blast. There were the pesky issues that with only a couple minutes to play the game was still very close and his flight back up to Dulles was getting ready to depart, but a true fan would never let that get in the way. Suffice it to say that Duke won and he made his flight.
Fast forward seven months and I got to retell that story to him and some other guests in his home. That was entertaining, particularly as he nodded along, acknowledging his rather vocal support of the Blue Devils during the game. It was quite an enjoyable moment for me.
Moral of the story? Make friends with folks in Washington, DC who have access and go to Embassy parties. They’re a lot of fun and a great way to get a bit of access to the countries without having to travel all the way there.
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Posted by Seth on April 2, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Of the five flights last week I managed to get decent video on takeoff for two of them: Mexico City to Panama City and Orlando to Newark. Leaving Mexico is fun because of the many random airplanes around the airport that you get to see. Their military has an Anatov An-32 prop out on the tarmac and there are a few very classic 737s (-200s) out in the charter operations area.
Take-off from Orlando isn’t all that exciting but still fun to watch.
Posted by Seth on February 16, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Four flights covering 7,400 miles is not really all that much for a weekend of travel. Nothing to sneer at, to be sure, but not a ton of miles covered. The fact that I’m earning 150% credit thanks to the booking class helps to justify the trip, as does the rather great sale fare that I got the tickets at. Plus, there is the fun of flying on Copa Air, a/k/a bizarro-world Continental.
Continental and Copa share a lot of similarities in their operations. That makes sense considering that Continental used to own a decent chunk of the Panamanian carrier. And even now that Continental has divested their ownership share Copa still seems to behave a lot like Continental. They share a frequent flyer program – OnePass – and the Copa flight attendant uniforms strongly represent the last generation of Continental’s, for example. And then there is the fact that their logos are significantly similar and that the two carriers operate with immunity from the United States to Panama and connections beyond. Looking around in the galley on one of the flights I noticed that a couple of the bins are labeled as Continental rather than Copa. Yeah, they are very tight.
But not everything is exactly the same. There are just enough differences to make flying on Copa a somewhat jarring experience. Sure, the upgrades still come through generally (I got all 4 this weekend) but Copa serves real meals on all their flights and serves booze from real bottles rather than minis. As it would be described in India, “Same same, but different.”
I was conscious for three of the four flights this weekend. The first – a 5:07am departure from New York City – I slept through entirely. The others, however, were rather pleasant experiences. We had printed menus on one of the three and the meals were consistent enough that I got to try one of everything that they are serving these days, I think. There were ice cream sundaes at the end of each meal, and that goes a long way towards making a flight a success. Of course, unlike Continental Copa doesn’t serve Grand Marnier on their flights. Instead they offer a “Rum of the Month” program in Classe Ejecutiva and I took full advantage of that. Sortof.
It turns out that this month the catering folks only put the good rum in the carts in the back of the plane. So the first two times I ordered the ron especial I was actually drinking Bacardi. I knew that it wasn’t that good but I just assumed I didn’t like the special rum. It was only on my last fight, flight from Panama City back to New York, that I was able to have the conversation with the flight attendant and understand what was being served and solve that problem. Thank goodness, as the special this month – Abuelo Añejo 12 year – was much, much, much better than the Bacardi. I’m no longer wondering why I have to use so much ginger ale to cut it to provide decent flavor, for example.
Beyond the rum there are a number of other nice things about the Copa experience. Full meals on all the flights, for example. It isn’t gourmet by any stretch but the food is pretty decent. I had steak, chicken and different chicken as my three meals and all were completely tolerable. Sure, there was a strange double salad first course on one of the flights but, well, it didn’t kill me.
Oh, and they serve ice cream sundaes on all the lunch and dinner flights. Yummy!
The food service was also much slower than I’m used to. On one of the flights it was 45 minutes before the flight attendant showed up to ask what we wanted and another 30 minutes before drinks showed up. Certainly not the end of the world, but less attentive than I would expect from most airlines in the forward cabin. There’s a decent enough explanation for the slow service. There is only one flight attendant working in the front cabin, expected to serve 14-16 passengers. It simply isn’t possible for that to play out well. But that’s the way they roll. Maybe they have to since they serve a full meal in coach to the 150+ folks back there and that needs the extra body but it does diminish the service up front a bit.
Beyond the food and booze the flights were a great opportunity to meet people. I was wearing my jetBlue shirt on the outbound flights and that was enough for the guy across the aisle on the JFK-Panama segment to start up a conversation. Turns out that he used to work for jetBlue and now works for Copa in their airport operations group. He commutes between Panama and New York most weekends. We had an interesting conversation about impending expansion of the terminal in Panama City, the needs of the terminal (showers in the Presidents Club!) and how incredibly convenient it is as a connection point heading to Central or South America.
I met Tony, a guy who works in the elevator business. We talked about our shared inability to speak Spanish, random visits to various Central American cities and how to better take advantage of the miles he’s been earning all these years. I truly hope he does better than he has with them because he has never redeemed any and, quite frankly, that is a shame. On the plus side, I think I’ve started the education process for him and explained some of the better options he has with all those points.
And then, sitting in the Presidents Club in Panama City, I saw a guy who was obviously from New York (the Duane Reade bags give it away) and who looked pretty familiar. I introduced myself and it turns out that we had met a while back at a FlyerTalk event. We chatted for a bit in the lounge and then ended up sitting next to each other on the flight back to New York. He was wrapping up a weekend in Buenos Aires and me from Mexico City. Similar stories and adventures though also completely different.
Such is the life of the frequent fliers.
Posted by Seth on November 22, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Copa shares the OnePass program with Continental, so when Continental announced their intention to shift from SkyTeam to Star Alliance there was a large question mark over the future fate of Copa. That question seems to have been answered with some comments made by their CEO at an airline conference in Cancun late last week.
Copa chief executive Pedro Heilbron, meanwhile, said on the sidelines of the forum that the Panamanian carrier has decided to leave SkyTeam and is in exclusive talks with Star.
Heilbron says Copa has no “commercial choice” but to leave SkyTeam because its main partner, Continental, decided earlier this year to leave SkyTeam for Star. Continental sponsored Copa’s entrance into SkyTeam. Continental is scheduled to formally leave SkyTeam for Star late next year but Heilbron says “we have some time” to decide what it should do.
“We’re looking at all our options,” he says. “We won’t rush it.”
But those options do not include staying in SkyTeam or joining oneworld, according to Heilbron. So it seems the only thing Copa needs to decide is whether it should join Star as a full or regional member and when it should make the switch. Copa is now an affiliate of SkyTeam rather than a full member.
This is very bad news for SkyTeam, as they are losing their largest presence in Latin and South America, but great for Continental and Star Alliance. This isn’t particularly surprising news based on the shared loyalty program, but this is the first time I’ve seen anything in writing that suggests it is actually happening.
