The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has just issued final approval for Aer Lingus joining the oneworld transatlantic joint venture, which comes just over a month after tentative approval was issued for this. What does that mean?
Continue reading: Aer Lingus Approved To Join Oneworld Transatlantic Joint Venture
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It's interesting to note Lucky, that the DOT views this as good for passengers from a cost perspective as several of the airlines interline, particularly the IAG ones, which creates double marginalisation as both airlines add their profit margin on the ticket price whereas now they share the profits, they do not.
It also argued that Aer Lingus is such a small part of the transatlantic market (at 3%) that it doesn't really change the market all that much. I view this as a positive in that BA tickets via Aer Lingus will become cheaper due to no double marginalisation and will allow for BAEC benefits to be applied which is not guaranteed if you book the flight separately.
With Aer Lingus planning to launch transatlantic services from the UK (Manchester) In 2021, I think it’s a given that they will join the Immunised JV. EI will stand to gain from IAG support as they look to take on DL/VS in the north of England - something BA has little appetite to do under their own ‘flag’. Membership of oneworld is a different matter.
These "joint ventures" sounds more partial/temporary consolidation (without the usual antitrust regulatory considerations) for the purpose of price fixing. lol
Making slots available at Heathrow? As in ... they just locked JetBlue out of Heathrow. I see nothing good for consumers in any of this.
This will wind up a shitshow for consumers. And of course, it eliminates my favorite benefit — booking via BA Avios to avoid those pesky surcharges. Drat, foiled again!
Making slots available at Heathrow? As in … they just locked JetBlue out of Heathrow. I see nothing good for consumers in any of this.
– Bobo
I read it as the other joint venture partners – BA & AA – will have to give up some slots at Heathrow to pass regulatory approval. That could work to the benefit of B6, though I’m unfamiliar with the current state of their TATL project. Also note that B6 is now a major partner for AA in NYC; American won’t do anything drastic to jeopardize that new business relationship before the ink is even dry. If anything they probably want to help JetBlue in their launch.
Sorry, just missed the article slightly earlier about B6 initially acquiring slots only at Gatwick and Stansted. I’ve flown out of Gatwick a fair number of times, and honestly it’s more or less as convenient as Heathrow. It just falls behind on connection opportunities and infrastructure, though it’s not lacking for transit accessibility. Given JetBlue aren’t part of any of the major alliances, they may be able to market their flights more towards passengers terminating in London.
This is something else that caught my eye. one of the conditions of approval by DOT is that they will have to DROP Royal Jordanian Airlines from the One World Transatlantic ? What Gives? Jordanians are not as Important to US like The Saudis & UAE? they were The First allies of USA in that minefield.
Lucky: It’s not fuel surcharge BA adds to their redemptions . They’re simply carrier imposed surcharges (coded as YQ on your ticket). They’re ridiculously high. I once checked an OSL-LHR-NRT return ticket in First on BA and they wanted £1600 on top of the miles. Qatar were selling revenue J tickets for about £1300 on the same route.
BAEC has some sweet spots, like upgrades, but longhaul premium tickets on their own carrier are bad value.
As long as AerLingus is not part of OW I will not consider them in my travel plans. Period.
The EI/UA cooperation is very small, very limited (IAD-Ireland only) and likely will be discontinued. UA flies to Ireland from some of its hubs already and had an established presence there inherited from the CO merger. DUB is LHR's third runway and a way to shift some cost out of LHR and help lock in higher fares there, once the market recovers. There is no magic or surprise here. EI is part of IAG. It was bound to be the case that it would enter the alliance fully, eventually.
I do agree that as a first step, we may likely see EI joining the oneworld connect platform with AA, BA, FY and IB (+ possibly AS/QR) as partners.
Ever since IAG acquired EI & given IAG’s toes to AA & oneworld, what exactly prevented them from switching over from UA to AA as partner nonetheless? They even went to the extent of cutting ties with QF & CX. Was there some termination penalty that they didn't want to pay unless the there was a JV? Or was it that the ex-CEO simply had a different agenda?
If they add the surcharges, that will put a halt to booking Aer Lingus award flights. I refuse to pay BA's surcharge and I won't pay it on Aer Lingus.
Yes, It is definitely less competition. I guess DOT is supporting the airlines due to the current situation which will not be good once the economy recovers.
