Airline miles you earn are an asset. They represent a reward owed to you by the airline whose program you have earned the miles on. If that airline goes thru a merger, acquisition or bankruptcy, it can adversely affect the value of or even existence of all your hard earned miles. This article takes a look at airline mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcies and how they can affect your airline miles.
In today’s turbulent economic times, we are seeing the airline industry go thru serious consolidation. Just in the US, Frontier Airlines …

How to Maximize Airline Mile Earnings
In my previous articles in the series ‘Economics of Airline Miles’ I covered the Value of Airline Miles in part 1 and the Value of Elite Status in part 2. Continuing in the series, in this article I will discuss practical tips on how to maximize the airline miles you earn. As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, your airline miles are an asset. Treat your collection of airline mile accounts like a portfolio. To borrow a quote from the greatest portfolio owner …

Today Continental Airlines officially joined Star Alliance. They defected over from SkyTeam. Their coming over to Star Alliance makes Star Alliance the predominant airline alliance there is, especially in North America. Continental has become the fourth North America based Major Carrier in the alliance. The other three being United (a founding member of Star Alliance), USAirways and Air Canada. Overseas too they have massive presence with a total of 25 members worldwide. The list of airlines which will be joining them soon includes Air India. Rumored future members may be …

Continental Airlines is leaving SkyTeam and joining Star Alliance. Virgin Atlantic is considering joining Star Alliance after resisting joining any alliance all these years. Russia’s S7 airlines is joining OneWorld. Airlines seem to make a big fuss of Airline Alliances. Should you care? If you want to maximize your earning of miles and attaining Elite status and maximize your ability of redeem your miles for awards, alliances are something you need to understand and leverage.

Airlines enter in partnerships with other airlines thru two means. The first is a bilateral agreement …